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Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama Rama Rama, Hare Hare
And now, Mantra Fifteen hiranmayena patrena
satyasyapihitam mukham tat tvam pusann apavrnu
satya-dharmaya drstaye TRANSLATION
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.
PURPORT In the Bhagavad-gita (14.27), the Lord explains
His personal rays (brahmajyoti), the dazzling effulgence of His personal form, in this way:
brahmano hi pratisthaham amrtasyavyayasya ca
sasvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikantikasya ca
"I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal
and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness." Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan
are three aspects of the same Absolute Truth. Brahman is the aspect most easily perceived
by the beginner; Paramatma, the Supersoul, is realized by those who have further progressed;
and Bhagavan realization is the ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth. This is confirmed in
the Bhagavad-gita (7.7), where Lord Krsna says that He is the ultimate concept of the
Absolute Truth: mattah parataram nanyat. Therefore Krsna is the source of the brahmajyoti as
well as the all-pervading Paramatma. Later in the Bhagavad-gita (10.42) Krsna further
explains: atha va bahunaitena
kim jnatena tavarjuna vistabhyaham idam krtsnam
ekamsena sthito jagat "But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this
detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire
universe." Thus by His one plenary expansion, the all-pervading Paramatma, the Lord maintains
the complete material cosmic creation. He also maintains all manifestations in the spiritual
world. Therefore in this sruti-mantra of Sri Isopanisad, the Lord is addressed as pusan,
the ultimate maintainer. The Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, is
always filled with transcendental bliss (ananda-mayo 'bhyasat). When He was present at Vrndavana
in India five thousand years ago, He always remained in transcendental bliss, even from
the beginning of His childhood pastimes. The killings of various demons-such as Agha, Baka,
Putana and Pralamba-were but pleasure excursions for Him. In His village of Vrndavana He enjoyed
Himself with His mother, brother and friends, and when He played the role of a naughty butter
thief, all His associates enjoyed celestial bliss by His stealing. The Lord's fame as
a butter thief is not reproachable, for by stealing butter the Lord gave pleasure to
His pure devotees. Everything the Lord did in Vrndavana was for the pleasure of His associates
there. The Lord created these pastimes to attract the dry speculators and the acrobats
of the so-called hatha-yoga system who wish to find the Absolute Truth.
Of the childhood play between the Lord and His playmates, the cowherd boys, Sukadeva
Gosvami says in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.12.11): ittham satam brahma-sukhanubhutya
dasyam gatanam para-daivatena mayasritanam nara-darakena
sakam vijahruh krta-punya-punjah "The Personality of Godhead, who is perceived
as the impersonal, blissful Brahman by the jnanis, who is worshiped as the Supreme Lord
by devotees in the mood of servitorship, and who is considered an ordinary human being
by mundane people, played with the cowherd boys, who had attained their position after
accumulating many pious activities." Thus the Lord is always engaged in transcendental
loving activities with His spiritual associates in the various relationships of santa (neutrality),
dasya (servitorship), sakhya (friendship), vatsalya (parental affection) and madhurya
(conjugal love). Since it is said that Lord Krsna never leaves
Vrndavana-dhama, one may ask how He manages the affairs of the creation. This is answered
in the Bhagavad-gita (13.14-18): The Lord pervades the entire material creation by His
plenary part known as the Paramatma, or Supersoul. Although the Lord personally has nothing to
do with material creation, maintenance and destruction, He causes all these things to
be done by His plenary expansion, the Paramatma. Every living entity is known as atma, soul,
and the principal atma who controls them all is Paramatma, the Supersoul.
This system of God realization is a great science. The materialistic sankhya-yogis can
only analyze and meditate on the twenty-four factors of the material creation, for they
have very little information of the purusa, the Lord. And the impersonal transcendentalists
are simply bewildered by the glaring effulgence of the brahmajyoti. If one wants to see the
Absolute Truth in full, one has to penetrate beyond the twenty-four material elements and
the glaring effulgence as well. Sri Isopanisad points toward this direction, praying for
the removal of the hiranmaya-patra, the dazzling covering of the Lord. Unless this covering
is removed so one can perceive the real face of the Personality of Godhead, factual realization
of the Absolute Truth can never be achieved. The Paramatma feature of the Personality of
Godhead is one of three plenary expansions, or visnu-tattvas, collectively known as the
purusa-avataras. One of these visnu-tattvas who is within the universe is known as Ksirodakasayi
Visnu. He is the Visnu among the three principal deities-Brahma, Visnu and Siva-and He is the
all-pervading Paramatma in each and every individual living entity. The second visnu-tattva
within the universe is Garbhodakasayi Visnu, the collective Supersoul of all living entities.
Beyond these two is Karanodakasayi Visnu, who lies in the Causal Ocean. He is the creator
of all universes. The yoga system teaches the serious student to meet the visnu-tattvas
after going beyond the twenty-four material elements of the cosmic creation. The culture
of empiric philosophy helps one realize the impersonal brahmajyoti, which is the glaring
effulgence of the transcendental body of Lord Sri Krsna. That the brahmajyoti is Krsna's
effulgence is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (14.27) as well as the Brahma-samhita (5.40):
yasya prabha-prabhavato jagad-anda-koti- kotisv asesa-vasudhadi vibhuti-bhinnam
tad brahma niskalam anantam asesa-bhutam govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
"In the millions and millions of universes there are innumerable planets, and each and every one
of them is different from the others by its cosmic constitution. All of these planets
are situated in a corner of the brahmajyoti. This brahmajyoti is but the personal rays
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, whom I worship." This mantra from the Brahma-samhita
is spoken from the platform of factual realization of the Absolute Truth, and the sruti-mantra
of Sri Isopanisad under discussion confirms this mantra as a process of realization. The
Isopanisad mantra is a simple prayer to the Lord to remove the brahmajyoti so that one
can see His real face. This brahmajyoti effulgence is described in detail in several mantras
of the Mundaka Upanisad (2.2.10-12): hiranmaye pare kose
virajam brahma niskalam tac chubhram jyotisam jyotis
tad yad atma-vido viduh na tatra suryo bhati na candra-tarakam
nema vidyuto bhanti kuto 'yam agnih tam eva bhantam anu bhati sarvam
tasya bhasa sarvam idam vibhati brahmaivedam amrtam purastad brahma
pascad brahma daksinatas cottarena adhas cordhvam ca prasrtam brahmai-
vedam visvam idam varistham "In the spiritual realm, beyond the material
covering, is the unlimited Brahman effulgence, which is free from material contamination.
That effulgent white light is understood by transcendentalists to be the light of all
lights. In that realm there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, fire or electricity for
illumination. Indeed, whatever illumination appears in the material world is only a reflection
of that supreme illumination. That Brahman is in front and in back, in the north, south,
east and west, and also overhead and below. In other words, that supreme Brahman effulgence
spreads throughout both the material and spiritual skies."
Perfect knowledge means knowing Krsna as the root of this Brahman effulgence. This knowledge
can be gained from such scriptures as Srimad-Bhagavatam, which perfectly elaborates the science of
Krsna. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, the author, Srila Vyasadeva, has established that one will describe
the Supreme Truth as Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan according to one's realization of
Him. Srila Vyasadeva never states that the Supreme Truth is a jiva, an ordinary living
entity. The living entity should never be considered the all-powerful Supreme Truth.
If he were the Supreme, he would not need to pray to the Lord to remove His dazzling
cover so that the living entity could see His real face.
The conclusion is that one who has no knowledge of the potencies of the Supreme Truth will
realize the impersonal Brahman. Similarly, when one realizes the material potencies of
the Lord but has little or no information of the spiritual potencies, he attains Paramatma
realization. Thus both Brahman and Paramatma realization of the Absolute Truth are partial
realizations. However, when one realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna,
in full potency after the removal of the hiranmaya-patra, one realizes vasudevah sarvam iti: [Bg. 7.19]
Lord Sri Krsna, who is known as Vasudeva, is everything-Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan.
He is Bhagavan, the root, and Brahman and Paramatma are His branches.
In the Bhagavad-gita (6.46-47) there is a comparative analysis of the three types of
transcendentalists--the worshipers of the impersonal Brahman (jnanis), the worshipers
of the Paramatma feature (yogis) and the devotees of Lord Sri Krsna (bhaktas). It is stated
there that the jnanis, those who have cultivated Vedic knowledge, are better than ordinary
fruitive workers, that the yogis are still greater than the jnanis, and that among all
yogis, those who constantly serve the Lord with all their energies are the topmost. In
summary, a philosopher is better than a laboring man, a mystic is superior to a philosopher,
and of all the mystic yogis, he who follows bhakti-yoga, constantly engaging in the service
of the Lord, is the highest. Sri Isopanisad directs us toward this perfection.