GLORIES OF SRI ISOPANISHAD

When young and new to Krishna consciousness I related to the first four mantras of Sri Isopanishad (Iso.Inv.-4):

"The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.

Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.

One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.

The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.
Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence."

As I continued to try to practice Krishna consciousness I began to appreciate the next few mantras...  (Iso 5-8):

"The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.
He who sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all living entities as His parts and parcels, and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or any being.

One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?

Such a person must factually know the greatest of all, the Personality of Godhead, who is unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated, the self-sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone's desire since time immemorial."

When I tried to share what Krishna consciousness I had been able to realize the next few mantras (Iso 9-12) became crystal clear:

"Those who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so-called knowledge. 

The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge and that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience.
Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.

Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance, and still more so do the worshipers of the impersonal Absolute."

Approaching advanced age mantras Iso 13 and 14 make perfect sense:

"It is said that one result is obtained by worshiping the supreme cause of all causes and that another result is obtained by worshiping what is not supreme. All this is heard from the undisturbed authorities, who clearly explained it.
One should know perfectly the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes, as well as the temporary material creation with its temporary demigods, men and animals. When one knows these, he surpasses death and the ephemeral cosmic manifestation with it, and in the eternal kingdom of God he enjoys his eternal life of bliss and knowledge."

It is said that one result is obtained by worshiping the supreme cause of all causes and that another result is obtained by worshiping what is not supreme. All this is heard from the undisturbed authorities, who clearly explained it.

As death comes closer Iso 15 through 18 are a reality:

"O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.

O my Lord, O primeval philosopher, maintainer of the universe, O regulating principle, destination of the pure devotees, well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind, please remove the effulgence of Your transcendental rays so that I can see Your form of bliss. You are the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, like unto the sun, as am I.

Let this temporary body be burnt to ashes, and let the air of life be merged with the totality of air. Now, O my Lord, please remember all my sacrifices, and because You are the ultimate beneficiary, please remember all that I have done for You.

O my Lord, as powerful as fire, O omnipotent one, now I offer You all obeisances, falling on the ground at Your feet. O my Lord, please lead me on the right path to reach You, and since You know all that I have done in the past, please free me from the reactions to my past sins so that there will be no hindrance to my progress."

SRI ISOPANISHAD VERSES AND TRANSLATIONS

SRI ISOPANISHAD TEXT AND COMMENTARY AC BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA

THE FIRST TIME

The first time ever I was instructed
to approach someone "out there" with Krishna conscious literature.

In 1971 the temple life was very simple stream-lined ashram life.
We were all young adults, only one married couple.
The day began with
cold shower 3 am..
mangal arotika,
Tulsi puja,
japa,
guru puja,
bhagavatam
and breakfast.
Maintenance duties. For me it was Tulsi devi
and then cleaning the ashram and the bathroom.

Then the whole temple led by the temple president,
except for the cook and pujari, went on sankirtan.
Chanting all day in the park. Same location everyday downtown.
Noon a devotee would arrive with white buckets
filled with kitchari and corn bread.
What a great day that was. Rain or shine.
It was the days of brahmacharis with socks that didn't match.
Not a care in the world. Krishna would provide for all our needs.
Just chant, chant, chant. Like baby birds in a nest.
There were no books for distribution yet.

Then the "Back To Godhead" magazines arrived in quantity.
The next phase began.
While the main party of devotees were chanting
half the group of about five of us were to circulate
through the nearby onlooking crowd,
still remaining within hearing range of the kirtan
and distribute the magazines.
We were to get at least a quarter for them.
They were beautifully illustrated.

I was the first one in the first group assigned to go out to the people.
We all wore saffron, even the ladies. saffron saris.
My parents were so grateful to Srila Prabhupada
for helping me come out of my confusion in my search for meaning in life, something which they admitted they were not able to do,
that they brought an entire roll of saffron material
for the devotees to make the clothing.
They brought many other things too.
They were the only parents that I can remember who offered anything.

So there I was, saffron sari, tilak, head covered, and BTG's in hand.
What do I say? I didn't have the slightest idea how to approach anyone
from new position of devotee student.
I approached a clean looking young man
probably on his lunch break in the busy park.
There were hundreds of people everywhere....
mothers with baby carriages,
secretaries on park benches eating sandwiches,
businessmen with brief cases scurrying here and there.
Children running and playing.
He was standing under a tree apparently watching the Harinam.
I handed him the magazine.
He took it... looked at it... looked me... looked at it again and then....
in the middle of everything and everyone....
He unzipped his pants and held his male private part in one hand...
in the other hand he held the BTG and said...
"I already have my Godhead."

What to do? I totally did not expect anything like that.
Must be my karma.
I just didn't know what was the Krishna conscious thing to do.
I thought... "He isn't going to give a donation for the BTG
I need to take it back."
And then I thought, "This isn't going to be easy.
These people can't understand anything. They are just like animals."

If we think the residents of the material world are somehow different now
we are mistaken. It is all still there. They are all still just like animals
and they still can't understand anything.

This Krishna consciousness process is perfect and it works.
It is the only hope for us. Let's not be fooled into thinking otherwise.
Even within our own ranks the animal tendencies are still influencing.
It takes time for the process to work. But it works.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada and all the Vaishnava acaryas.

KALI YUGA...THE WINTER

The mode of ignorance is where the destructive forces are.
Very active during this time.
All the harmonious natural designs
authorized by the ultimate creator Lord Narayana
and carried out by the subsequent creator Lord Brahma 
are experiencing the deterioration.
It's like a mini death of the universe... Kali yuga... the winter....

Time is connected to the three modes...
Unfortunately I can't remember the interesting passage I read
where the exact connection was discussed.
It may have been Srila Jiva Goswami's commentary on the Bhagavam.
I had to give it a break.... getting way ahead of myself in the reading.
When "the time" is right and I catch up with myself
I want to revisit his writings.

Nothing is as it seems. Our window of perception is very narrow.
Just like there are wave lengths of light our eyes cannot perceive....
of sound our ears cannot hear....
the working of the universal affairs are beyond our direct perception.
We can know of them by hearing from the acaryas.

Or as Krishna says to Arjuna....
"But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe." BG 10.42 smile emoticon

THE VALLEY OF LOST SOULS

My parents thought I was crazy and I was "missing it."
They called the temple "The Valley of lost souls."
But they were still supportive.
My mother said, "This Prabhupada and Hare Krishna are a miracle.
They have done for you what no one else was able to do. 
Not doctors, not teachers, not even your father and I could help you."

When I think back they did a lot of service.
That is how I will always remember them.
Walking alongside the Harinam party wearing the Deities garlands
on a Friday night in Georgetown Wash, DC.
Serving the devotees lemonade break-fast
just before the Janmastami feast.
Bringing crates of carrots and string beans to the temple kitchen door.
And then helping to clean them up.
Always writing a generous check for the temple whenever they visited... Always being respectful.
But then adding, "We don't believe in this Hare Krishna.
It's not for us. But you do, so we respect that."

Later when my mother developed Alzheimer
and was in the final stages she could not use words.
No sentences. Just sounds.
But when I said Hare Krishna to her
she would break out into the "full Maha mantra"
with very clear pronunciation and a big smile.
It was the only thing my mother could say.
I pray that I may be so fortunate....

I shouldn't be amazed at anything anymore...
but I am ever amazed...

HAND SHADOW PUPPETS

Really meditating on this beam thing.
I am the stream of energy (conscious energy)
like the flashlight beam and I am directed by desire.
When I develop a desire to Lord over and control,
Supersoul arranges for me to contact the material energy.

Like a hand puppet, the hands form the shape of my desire
and then the shadow is formed.
I identify with the movements of the shadow.
I then think I am the shadow and forget
that I am the conscious stream of energy forming the shadow.
So I move through the 8,400,000 species
in forgetfulness of my original nature.

Not just me. All of us...
Krishna is supplying everything.

Amazing Hand Shadow Performance

more videos on http://www.fuiyooworld.com An awesome hand shadow performance with a background song - a wonderful world. Worth watching it!

YOUTUBE.COM

NO FEAR

I wonder what is happening?
I have no fear.
I don't care what people think of me.
It is as if there I am a projection, a beam of light
being guided everywhere.

Like if you held a flash light in a dark room
and followed the beam up the wall or along the floor.
And sometimes just for fun
configured your hand and held it in front of the beam to cast a shadow
in the shape of different animals and signs.

Driving the car but I am not driving the car.
It is as if there is no car, no traffic..
really what there is... is no fear.

Talking with people and there is no fear.
They have to engage in conversation.
They can't help themselves.
And we have known each other forever.

There are so many difficulties.
Health problems, financial difficulties,
but nothing can stop or interfere with this beaming.
Actually the worse it gets... the more the beaming is there
And the "difficulty" seems to resolve itself.
But even it doesn't. It doesn't matter.
Will this be like the moment of death?
The beaming continues....

HARDLY ONE

It is hard for me to discard the avocado seed.
They sprout so easily.
So eager to live and grow into a tree.
I have planted as many of them as I can... given the space available.
Actually more than the space available.
There are five trees here now. One is covered with blossoms.
Whether they will become fruit or not time will tell.
She is only three years old. A little young for fruit.
But it is hard for me to just through the seed away.

And there are the papayas.
Why do they have so many seeds?
It is not possible to plant all of them.
There are hundreds and hundreds of seeds in one fruit.
And they also sprout very easily.
But they all are discarded.

"Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth. " BG 7.3

NO BODY THINKS ABOUT IT

No body thinks about it.
It's like when people go to the supermarket and buy meat in a package by the pound.
They don't think about where it came from or how it's a living entities body.

Vegetables are living entities.
The material world is such miserable place.
Every living entity is food for another.
We sit down to a nice vegetarian meal because it's healthy and non violent.
No one had to die to become our meal.
But is that really so?

What does it mean to offer to Krishna?
The "lives of those living entities" are offered in sacrifice.
Whose sacrifice?
Theirs.

JUST KNOWING IS NOT ENOUGH

My father...almost 97... in a nursing home is waiting for his discharge papers.
He sits all day waiting for the papers so he can go to the bank
take out some money to buy gas and pick up his car.

He has macular degeneration. His license was revoked three years ago
and the car was towed away after he totaled it on the freeway
claiming the other two cars were parked
in the passing lane by the troopers as a trap to catch him.

He asks the head nurse fifty times a day when she will have his discharge papers ready.
But then he forgets especially when it is meal time and if I guide the conversation.
Thank God he can still eat and even talk. Many of the people there can do neither.
But just knowing is not enough.

Just knowing that there are discharge papers than can be written.
Just knowing there is a bank somewhere, a car... is not enough.
He is not qualified to access those things.
He just knows they are there and wants them.

This is the same with Krishna and the spiritual world.
Just knowing there is Krishna...the spiritual world is not enough.
Just knowing simply provides a kind of detachment from the immediate suffering.
But does not provide a permanent solution.

There are two kinds of knowledge.
Jnana and Vijnana.

Jnana is knowing "of" ...
Vijnana is knowing "by experiencing"

We can see how this relates to the offenses in chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
Especially the terrible trap of sinning on the strength of the holy name.
Someone may know that by chanting Hare Krishna they can be delivered
but they do not experience that deliverance.
They can go on chanting Hare Krishna for millions of lifetimes.
They do not qualify due to their sinful attachments.

This is different from Ajamila. He did not sin on the strength of chanting
although he was a most sinful man.
When he called out for Narayana he called out in complete helplessness.
Thus his call was accepted and he qualified for further advancement.

Vijnana is not merely a cognitive exercise.
To acquire vijnana requires the participation of the mind and senses.
The activities of the mind and senses engaged in acts of devotion under the guidance
of someone who already has vijnana.

Krishna discusses this in Chapters Four and Five of the Bhagavad gita.
"The Blessed Lord said: The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of works." BG 5.1

Later Krishna explains what He means by work... first according to the varnashram
and then by pure devotion.

Above, a devotee is engaged in various devotional activities for the Deities (authorized incarnations of the Lord, who comes in this form to accept our service). Below, a sankhya-yogi engages in the analytical study of matter and spirit. After some time he realizes the Lord (the forms of Radha and Krsna include all other forms of the Lord) within his heart, and then he engages in devotional service. Bhagavad-gita 5.4-6

MICROWAVES

Devotee got me thinking on this one...
Bhagavatam canto 1 or 2...
where the description of the the material universe is manifested...
how from each material element the next more gross element is generated...

This wireless stuff... is sound waves at a frequency
that is inaudible to the human ear. Microwave sound, I believe.

If so then it is traveling through the ether...
When it reaches the appropriate receiver...
a cell phone or computer made out of
gross earth elements (dense material energy)
it is transformed through binary coding ...
according to the desires of the coder... consciousness...
into energy perceivable through the ear and/or the eye.

Just really fascinating how the Bhagavatam holds true on every level...
It is the Science of all Sciences.

THINKING, FEELING AND WILLING

We can only act on the outside
What we are thinking, feeling and willing (desiring) on the inside.

Our basic desire is for pleasure.
When we desire to surrender to the guidance
of a bonafide spiritual master who is a representative
of the Reservoir of Pleasure, Sri Krishna,
they guide our actions on the outside with rules , regulations
and practical (practice) acts of devotional service
while transmitting messages of Godhead that revives our original consciousness.
Krishna consciousness. The Lord within the heart. The source of everything.

A taste develops that is far superior to anything
derived from contact with the material energy.
The spirit soul then is like an appliance that is plugged in.

In the contaminated state of consciousness ...identification with material nature...
there is a planned depreciation aspect.
The material form that has been produced from
identifying with the material energy wears out.

But the conscious entity that is receiving messages of Godhead does not.
Freed from the identification with the material form as the self
and relishing messages of Godhead the spirit soul does not take another material form.
His thinking feeling and willing now
with no trace of non devotion (desire for material contact)
His guidance coming from within.
He takes an eternal form according to his purified spiritual desires.

It is a great science but it must be received
through the chain of disciplic succession
from a bonafide Representative of Sri Krishna, the Reservoir of Pleasure,
in order to be successfully plugged in.

For someone like me it is more like a series of spiritual shock treatments.

ILLUSORY ENTICEMENTS

Sometimes devotees feel guilty. 
Sometimes ashamed. 
Or embarrassed. 
For all the truly dumb things they've done...
stumbling around in the darkness and illusion.

And then fearful... can they trust themselves not to make more painful mistakes?
Will they fall for the allurement and false promise of the illusory energy again? 

Become a victim once again?
There is no guarantee.

For the less intelligent the learning is there...
After putting a hand in the fire over and over again 

and experiencing.. yes it burns...
At some point......
We stay awake...
We do not become hypnotized by the illusory enticements.
We trust ourselves and when we can do that...
Trust ourselves to make the Krishna conscious decision in all matters
then we also love ourselves...forgive ourselves
Then we are free to love others and forgive others,.
And Krishna is there.

EVERYTHING IS BACKWARDS

EVERYTHING IS BACKWARDS.
Bad is good, good is bad... debt is money, lies are truth, lust is love,
It is a "perverted reflection... Reality seen in a mirror.
Most amazing times we live in...
The Lord's illusory energy is most wonderful...

FACTORS BEYOND OUR CONTROL

Sometimes there are factors beyond our control.

Environmental factors we may not even be aware of.

For instance my mother was very proud of winning

a baby photo contest using my picture.

The prize was a full set of club aluminum cooking pots.

She used those pots for years and years.

But now we know that aluminum is very bad for cooking.

The aluminum leeches into the foods

and accumulates in the body as poison.

It is a difficult time to live. Everything is influenced heavily

by the modes of passion and ignorance.

After a visit to India in 1977 and 1978 I became infected with parasites.

I did not know what was wrong or how to treat it.

But I could not eat at all for many months.

And then digestion was very poor for almost 20 years.

During that time my body was not getting nutrients properly.

Everything was affected. Teeth, nails, hair... skin... eyes...

Conventional medicine here in the West in the late 70's

could not diagnose properly. And there was no internet to run a search.

One doctor told me it was all psychosomatic

and to go home and have a big meal.

Then Krishna sent a miracle. Someone who knew what my problem was.

But 20 years of malnutrition had taken its toll. It is my bad karma.

Hopefully I am winding all that karmic stuff down.

That is what this lifetime is for.

The opportunity to transcend the laws of karma

which is only possible by becoming Krishna consciousness

and engaging in devotional service. Hare Krishna.

But karma is not just bad karma ,

that is an easy one to want to become free from...

But karma is also good karma...

that is not so easy to want to become free from.