पूषन्नेकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह रश्मीन्समूह तेजः
यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि यो ऽसावसौ पुरुषः सो ऽहमस्मि
pūṣann ekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya
vyūha raśmīn samūha tejaḥ
yatte rūpaṁ kalyāṇatamaṁ tatte paśyāmi
yo 'sāvasau puruṣaḥ so 'hamasmi
Synonyms
pūṣan—the Maintainer; ekaṛṣe—the primeval Philosopher; yama—the regulating principal; sūrya—the destination of the Sūris (great devotees); prājāpatya—the well-wisher of the Prajāpatis (progenitors of Mankind); vyūha—kindly arrange; raśmīn—the rays; samūha—wind up; tejaḥ—effulgence; yat—that; te—your; rūpam—form; kalyāṇa-tamam—auspicious; tat—that; te—your; paśyāmi—I may see; yaḥ—one who is; asau—the sun; asau—that; puruṣaḥ—Personality of Godhead; saḥ—He; aham—myself; asmi—I am.
Translation
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.
Purport
The Sun and the Sun's rays are one and the same qualitatively. Similarly, the Lord and the living entities are one and the same in quality. The Sun is one, but the molecules of the Sun's rays are innumerable. The Sun's rays constitute part of the Sun; the Sun and the rays conjointly are the complete Sun. Within the Sun planet there is the Sun god, and similarly within the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvan, from which the effulgent Brahma-jyoti is emanating, there is the eternal Lord, as is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā [5.29]:
The transcendental Abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa is the land of touchstones, of which the houses are built, shaded by desire trees. The Lord is engaged there in herding the surabhi cows, and is always served and surrounded by thousands of Goddesses of Fortune, who wait upon Him with all respect.
The description of this transcendental Abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa is in the Brahma-saṁhitā, and the Brahma-jyoti is described there as the supreme rays from that planet, just as the Sun's rays come from the Sun globe. Unless one surpasses the Brahma-jyoti glare, one cannot have any information of the land of the Lord. The impersonalist philosopher, being blinded by the dazzling Brahma-jyoti, cannot realize the factual Abode of the Lord, nor His transcendental form. Affected by such a poor fund of knowledge, the thinkers cannot understand the all blissful transcendental form of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Īśopaniṣad, therefore, offers this prayer to the Lord to remove the effulgent rays of the Brahma-jyoti, so that the pure devotee can see His all-blissful transcendental form.
By realization of the impersonal Brahma-jyoti, one experiences the auspicious aspect of the Supreme; by experience of the Paramātman, or all-pervading feature of the Supreme, one experiences a still more auspicious enlightenment, and by meeting the Personality of Godhead face to face, the devotee experiences the most auspicious feature of the Supreme. Being addressed as the Philosopher, the Maintainer, the Well-wisher, and so forth, the Supreme Truth cannot be considered impersonal. That is the indication of Śrī Īśopaniṣad. The word Maintainer is especially significant: The Lord maintains His devotees specifically, although He is the Maintainer of one and all beings. By surpassing the impersonal Brahma-jyoti, when the devotee sees the personal aspect of the Lord and His most auspicious eternal form, then the devotee realizes the Absolute Truth in full. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says in his Bhāgavata-sandarbha as follows:
The complete conception of the Absolute Truth is realized in the Personality of Godhead, because, He is Almighty, with full potency in transcendence. In the Brahma-jyoti the full potency of the Absolute Truth is not realized, and therefore Brahman realization is only partial realization of the Personality of Godhead. O learned sages, the first letter of the word Bhagavān is twice significant: first in the sense of "one who fully maintains," and second in the sense of "guardian." The second letter—ga—means guide, leader or creator. The letter va (or ba) means that every being lives in Him, and He also lives in every being. In other words, the transcendental sound Bhagavān represents the infinite knowledge, potency, energy, opulence, strength and influence, all without any tinge of material inebrieties.
The Lord fully maintains His unalloyed devotees, and He guides such devotees progressively on the path of devotional perfection. As Leader of His devotees, He ultimately awards the desired result of devotional service by giving Himself to His devotees. The devotees of the Lord see the Lord eye to eye by the causeless mercy of the Lord, and thus the Lord helps His devotees to reach the supermost spiritual planet, Goloka Vṛndāvan. As Creator, He can create all the necessary qualifications in His devotee so that the devotee can ultimately reach Him. The Lord is the Cause of all causes, and there is no cause of Him, for He is the Original Cause. As such He enjoys His own Self by manifesting His own internal potency.
The external potency is manifested not exactly by Himself, for He expands Himself as the Puruṣas, and it is in these forms that He maintains the features of the material manifestation. By such expansions does He create, maintain and annihilate the cosmic manifestation.
The living entities are also differentiated expansions of His Self, and because some of the living entities desire to be lord, imitating the Supreme Lord, He allows them to enter into the cosmic creation, with the option of fully utilizing their propensity for lording it over. On account of the presence of His parts and parcels, the living entities, the whole phenomenal world is stirred into action and reaction. The living entities are given full facility to lord it over material Nature, but the ultimate controller is the Lord Himself in His plenary feature of Paramātman, the Supersoul, which is one of the Puruṣas.
Therefore, there is a gulf of difference between the living entity known as ātman, and the controlling Lord, known as Paramātman—the soul and the Supersoul. Paramātman is the controller, and ātman is controlled; therefore they cannot be on the same level. The Paramātman fully cooperates with the ātman, and thus He is known as the constant companion of the living being.
This all-pervading feature of the Lord, Which exists in all circumstances of waking and sleeping, and also in potential states, and from Which the jīva-śakti (living force) is generated—as both the conditioned and the liberated souls—is known as Brahman.
Thus the Lord is the Origin of both Paramātman and Brahman, and therefore He is the Origin of all living entities, and all else that exists. One who knows this engages himself at once in the devotional service of the Lord. Such a pure and fully cognizant devotee of the Lord is fully attached to Him in heart and soul, and whenever such a devotee assembles with similar devotees, they have no other engagement but to glorify the Lord in terms of His transcendental activities. Those who are not as perfect as the pure devotees, those who have realized only the Brahman feature or the Paramātman feature of the Lord, cannot appreciate the activities of such perfect devotees. But the Lord always helps such pure devotees by supplying necessary knowledge within their hearts, and by His special favor He dissipates all the darkness of ignorance. This the philosophers and yogis cannot imagine, because they more or less depend on their own strength. As is stated in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad [1.2.23], the Lord can be known only to those whom He favors, and not to anyone else. And such special favors are, bestowed upon His pure devotees only. Śrī Īśopaniṣad here, indicates such favor of the Lord, beyond the purview of the Brahma-jyoti.