Īśo 18: Śrī Īśopaniṣad

This surrendering process and praying for the causeless mercy of the Lord leads the devotee progressively on the path of complete self realization. The Lord is addressed as the fire because He can burn anything into ashes—including the sins of the surrendered soul. As described in the previous mantras, the real or ultimate aspect of the Absolute is His feature as the Personality of Godhead. His impersonal feature of the Brahma-jyoti is a dazzling covering over the face of the Lord. Fruitive activities, or the karma-kāṇḍa path of self realization, is the lowest stage in this endeavor. As soon as such activities become even slightly deviated from the regulative principles of the Vedas, such activities are transformed into vikarma, or acts against the interest of the actor. Such vikarma is enacted by the illusioned living entities simply for sense gratification, and thus such activities become hindrances on the path of self realization.

Self realization is possible for the human form of life, but not for other forms. There are 8,400,000 species or forms of life—of which the human form, with the qualifications of Brahminical culture, presents the only chance to obtain knowledge of the Transcendence. Brahminical culture means truthfulness, controlling the senses, forbearance, simplicity, full knowledge, full faith in God—and not to become simply proud of one's high parentage. To be the son of a Brāhmaṇa is a chance to become a Brāhmaṇa, just as being the son of a big man is a chance to become a big man. But such a birthright is not everything, because one still has to attain the Brahminical qualifications for himself. As soon as one becomes proud of his birth as the son of a Brāhmaṇa and neglects to acquire the qualifications of a real Brāhmaṇa, he at once becomes degraded and drawn from the path of self realization, and his life-mission as a human being is defeated.

In the Bhagavad-gītā [6.41-42] it is assured us by the Lord that the yoga-bhraṣṭas, or souls fallen from the path of self realization, are given a chance for rectification by taking birth either in the families of good Brāhmaṇas or in the families of rich merchants. These are the higher chances for self realization: to become a rich man's son, or to become the son of a good Brāhmaṇa. And if these chances are misused by the illusioned human being, the result is that such a man loses the good chance of human life offered by the Almighty Lord.

The regulative principles are such that one who follows them is promoted from the plane of fruitive activities to the plane of transcendental knowledge, and from transcendental knowledge he becomes perfect, after many, many births, when he surrenders unto the Lord. This is the general procedure. But one who surrenders at the very beginning, as is mentioned in this mantra, at once surpasses all the stages of progression by simple adoption of the devotional attitude. As is stated in the Gītā [18.66], the Lord at once takes charge of such a surrendered soul and makes him free from all the reactions to his sinful acts. In the karma-kāṇḍa activities there are many sinful actions, and in jñāna-kāṇḍa, the path of philosophical development, the number of such actions is less. But in devotional service, to the Lord, the path of bhakti, there is practically no chance of sinful reactions. One who is a devotee of the Lord attains all the good qualifications of the Lord Himself, not to mention becoming a Brāhmaṇa. A devotee automatically attains the qualifications of an expert Brāhmaṇa authorized to perform sacrifices, even though such a devotee may not have taken his birth in the family of a Brāhmaṇa. Such is the omnipotence of the Lord that He can make a man born in the family of a Brāhmaṇa as degraded as a lowborn dog-eater, and He can also make a lowborn dog-cuter more than a qualified Brāhmaṇa, simply on the strength of devotional service.

The omnipotent Lord, being situated within the heart of everyone, can give directions to His sincere devotee as to the right path. Such directions are especially offered to the devotee, even if he desires something else. For others God gives sanction to the doer only at the risk of the doer, but in the case of a devotee the Lord directs him in such a way that he never acts wrongly. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam [11.5.42] it is said that the Lord is so kind upon His devotee that even though he sometimes falls into the entanglement of vikarma—acts against the directions of the Vedas—the Lord at once rectifies the mistakes of the devotee from within his heart, because such devotees are very dear to the Lord.

Here in this mantra the devotee prays to the Lord to rectify him from within his heart. To err is human: A conditioned soul is very often apt to commit mistakes, and the only remedial measure for such unknown sins is to give oneself up to the Lotus Feet of the Lord, so that He may guide the devotee. The Lord takes this charge for the fully surrendered souls, and thus all problems are solved simply by surrendering oneself unto the Lord and acting in terms of the Lord's directions. Such directions are given to the sincere devotee in two ways. One is by means of the saints, scriptures, and spiritual master; and the other is by the Lord Himself, residing within the heart of everyone. Thus the devotee is protected in all respects.

The Vedic knowledge is transcendental and it cannot be understood simply by mundane educational procedures. One can understand the Vedic mantras only by the grace of the Lord and the spiritual master [ŚU 6.23]. If one takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, it is to be understood that he has obtained the grace of the Lord. The Lord appears as the spiritual master for the devotee. And so the spiritual master, the Vedic injunctions, and the Lord Himself from within all guide the devotee in full strength, and there is no chance of such a devotee falling again into the mire of material illusion. The devotee, thus protected all around, is sure to reach the ultimate destination of perfection. The whole process is hinted at in this mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad, and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam [1.2.17-20] still further explains this.

Hearing and chanting of the glories of the Lord are themselves acts of piety. The Lord wants everyone to do this, because He is the Well-wisher of all living entities. And by practicing this hearing and chanting of the glories of the Lord, one becomes cleansed of all undesirable things within himself. His devotion becomes fixed upon the Lord. At this stage the devotee acquires the Brahminical qualifications, and the resultant reactions of lower qualities become completely vanished. He becomes fully enlightened by such devotional service and thus knows the path of the Lord and how to attain Him. All doubts become diminished, and he becomes a pure devotee.