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pūṣann ekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya
vyūha raśmīn samūha
tejo yat te rūpaṁ kalyāṇa-tamaṁ
tat te paśyāmi yo ’sāv asau puruṣaḥ so ’ham asmi

SYNONYMS

pūṣan—O maintainer; eka-ṛṣe—the primeval philosopher; yama—the regulating principle; sūrya—the destination of the sūris (great devotees); prājāpatya—the well-wisher of the prajāpatis (progenitors of mankind); vyūha—kindly remove; raśmīn—the rays; samūha—kindly withdraw; tejaḥ—effulgence; yat—so that; te—Your; rūpam—form; kalyāṇa-tamam—most auspicious; tat—that; te—Your; paśyāmi—I may see; yaḥ—one who is; asau—like the sun; asau—that; puruṣaḥ—Personality of Godhead; saḥ—myself; aham—I; asmi—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

In this mantra, Sri Isopanisad continues to emphasize the personal form of the Absolute Truth. As the first of the 108 Upanisads written by the author of the Vedas Srila Vyasadeva, Sri Isopanisad sets an important precedent for the interpretation of the subsequent Upanisads. There are seven contextual rules in the interpretation of difficult Sanskrit texts:

upakramopasamharavabhyaso ‘purvata-phalam
artha-vadopapatti ca lingam tatparya-nirnaye

“The upakrama (beginning), upasamhara (ending), abhyasa (what is repeated again and again), apurvata (what is unique and novel), phalam (the general purpose of the book), artha-vada (the author’s statement of his own intention), and upapatti (appropriateness) are the factors to consider in interpretation of obscure (non-obvious or ambiguous) Vedic passages.” [Nyaya-sastra]

Therefore when an Upanisadic text seems to describe the Lord as impersonal, the first principle we have to consider is whether the Isopanisad confirms this interpretation. But we see from study of Sri Isopanisad that this upakrama (beginning) of all the Upanisads always describes the Lord as personal. Sri Isopanisad treats the Lord’s glaring effulgence as an obstacle to complete self-realization; this sloka and the previous one beg Him to remove it so we can realize His personal form.

This view is confirmed by the version of the Esoteric Teaching:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
brahmeti paramātmeti
bhagavān iti śabdyate

“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.11]

The implication is that one who knows only the Brahman (the spiritual effulgence) or Paramatma (the indwelling Supersoul) does not have complete knowledge of the nondual Absolute Truth. The impersonal Brahman effulgence is only the beginning of transcendental realization. The ultimate conclusion of all Vedic literature and the goal of self-realization is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna.

The sun and its effulgent rays are qualitatively the same. The sun’s rays are certainly part of the sun, but the sun is the source, and the innumerable photons of sunlight are its energy. The sun and its rays conjointly constitute the complete sun. Still, the sun itself is superior to its light, which could not exist without its energetic source.

Similarly, the Lord and the living entities correspond in spiritual qualities. In one sense, the living entities are part of Krsna, because He is everywhere and in everything. At the same time, they are separate because both Krsna and the living entities possess eternal existence and individual identity. Krsna and the living entities together form the Complete Whole, yet Krsna is superior to the living entities because He is their source. He maintains them in all respects and they cannot exist without Him, for like the sun, He is the energetic source.

This is verified in the Esoteric Teaching as follows:

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upanisads, which being differentiated from the mundane universe appears as the infinity of glories of the indivisible, infinite, limitless truth.” [Brahma-samhita 5.40]

Brahman is the effulgence of the Lord, and in the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vrndavana, from which the brahmajyoti effulgence emanates, the Lord enjoys His eternal pastimes, described as follows:

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhir abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows, fulfilling all desires in abodes filled with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of wish-fulfilling trees. He is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of Laksmis, or goddesses of fortune.” [Brahma-samhita 5.29]

The brahmajyoti is simply the effulgence emanating from that supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vrndavana, just as the sun’s rays emanate from the sun globe. One cannot realize the eternal abode of the Lord until he surpasses the blinding glare of the brahmajyoti., Blinded by the brahmajyoti, more dazzling than millions of suns, the impersonalist philosophers cannot realize the abode of the Lord or His transcendental form. Impersonalists cannot understand the all-blissful transcendental form of Lord Krsna because they are limited by a lack of spiritual knowledge. In this prayer, therefore, Sri Isopanisad petitions the Lord to remove the effulgent rays of the brahmajyoti, so the pure devotees can view His all-blissful transcendental form.

Realization of the Lord’s energy in the form of the impersonal brahmajyoti is certainly auspicious. And realizing the Paramatma, or all-pervading feature of the Supreme, is even more auspicious. But meeting the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face is the most complete, wonderful and ecstatic realization of the Supreme. Since Sri Isopanisad addresses Him as the primeval philosopher, maintainer and well-wisher of the universe, the Supreme Lord cannot be impersonal. This is the conclusion of all the Vedic scriptures.

The word pusan (maintainer) is especially significant, for although the Lord is similar to the individual spirit souls in many respects, He is unlimited in potency and intelligence. Therefore He emanates and maintains all beings, especially His devotees. The Upanisads proclaim,

nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam
eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman
tam pitha-gam ye ’nupasyanti dhiras
tesam santih sasvati netaresam

“Among all the eternal, conscious individual persons, the one Supreme Lord supplies the needs of everyone else. The wise souls who worship Him in His abode attain everlasting peace. Others cannot.” [Katha Upanisad 2.2.13]

After surpassing the impersonal brahmajyoti and seeing the personal aspect of the Lord in His most auspicious eternal form of Bhagavan, the devotee realizes the Absolute Truth in full devotional ecstatic trance. The definition of the word Bhagavan is given in the Esoteric Teaching as follows:

“The impersonal Brahman feature of the Supreme is unmanifested, free from old age, inconceivable, birthless, free from decay and diminution, indescribable, formless, without hands, feet, or other limbs, all-powerful, all-pervading, eternal, the origin of all material elements, causeless, present in everything, although nothing is situated in it, the source of the material cosmos, the object of vision for the demigods, and the object of meditation for they who aspire after liberation. The impersonal Brahman is the supremely subtle spiritual effulgence and abode of Lord Visnu, which is described in the mantras of the Vedas. Brahman is the effulgence of the Bhagavan feature of the Lord, and the all-pervading Supersoul (Paramatma) is the partial manifestation of the transcendental form of the imperishable Supreme Person, Sri Bhagavan.” [Visnu Purana 6.5.66-69]

The Visnu Purana further explains:

“O sage, the word Bhagavan may be explained in the following way: the syllable ‘bha’ may be understood to mean ‘bharta’, or ‘sambharta’, the maintainer and nourisher of the devotees, and the syllable ‘ga’ may be understood to mean ‘gamayita’, the leader of the devotees, or the original creator of the good qualities present in the devotees. The word ‘bhaga’ also means ‘opulences’. There are six opulences: wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation. “Bhagavan” means the person who possesses all these opulences in full. In the word ‘bhagavan’, the syllable ‘va’ stands for the verb ‘vas,’ to reside. Because all material elements and all living entities rest within the Supreme Lord, and because He is present in the heart of all conditioned souls, He is addressed by the syllable ‘va’.” [Visnu Purana 5.6.73-75]

It is also said:

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead possesses all strength, beauty, wealth, fame, knowledge and renunciation, and therefore He is known as Bhagavan. He is free from all faults.” [Visnu Purana 6.5.79]

As the leader of His devotees, the Lord fully protects and maintains His unalloyed devotees, guiding them on the progressive devotional path to spiritual perfection by His Esoteric Teaching. He ultimately awards the desired results of devotional service by giving Himself to them. The devotees of the Lord know the Lord personally and see Him face-to-face by His causeless mercy. Thus the Lord helps His pure devotees reach the highest spiritual planet, Goloka Vrndavana. The Lord can bestow all necessary qualifications upon His devotees with His unlimited potency, so they ultimately reach Him.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna is the cause of all causes. He has no cause, thus He is the original cause. He enjoys His absolute existence and pastimes by His own internal spiritual potency. He does not manifest the external material potency directly, but He creates, maintains and annihilates the cosmic manifestation through the purusas, or Visnu incarnations.

The individual spiritual living entities are differentiated expansions of the Lord’s Self, known as the tatastha-sakti or marginal energy. Because some of them desire to imitate the Supreme Lord and become controllers and enjoyers themselves, He allows them to live in the material creation to fully utilize their separatist propensity. The presence of His parts and parcels, the living entities, stirs the entire phenomenal world into action and reaction by the laws of karma. He gives the living entities full facility to enjoy and control material nature, but because they are acting for their own benefit, they have to experience the unintended consequences of karma. The ultimate controller of the material energy is the Lord Himself, in His plenary feature as Paramatma, the Supersoul.

Thus while the living entities share many of the spiritual qualities of the Lord, there is huge difference in quantity between the living entity (atma) and the controlling Lord (Paramatma), or the soul and the Supersoul. Paramatma is the actual controller, and the atma is always controlled; Paramatma is unlimited, and the atma is infinitesimal. Therefore the atma and Paramatma are in different ontological categories. Nevertheless the Paramatma fully cooperates with the atma, remaining his loyal friend in his long sojourn through the material existence. The Paramatma is therefore the constant companion of the living being.

The Paramatma is the all-pervading feature of the Lord who accompanies the spirit soul in all circumstances, in all states of consciousness, and from which the living force in both conditioned and liberated souls emanates. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan Sri Krsna is the origin of both Paramatma and Brahman. Therefore He is the ultimate origin of all living entities and all else that exists. An intelligent person who understands this Esoteric Teaching properly, engages himself at once in the devotional service of the Lord. Such a pure and fully spiritually conscious devotee of the Lord loves and serves Him with all his heart and soul.

Whenever such devotees meet, their only purpose is the glorification of the Lord’s transcendental name, qualities and activities. Those who have realized only the Brahman or Paramatma features of the Lord cannot appreciate the activities of the pure devotees of Krsna. The Lord dissipates all the darkness of ignorance from the hearts of the pure devotees by imparting all necessary knowledge. Thus He enlightens them confidentially by His special favor. The speculative impersonalist philosophers and bogus yogis cannot understand this at all. Because they more or less depend on their own strength, their limited intelligence cannot stretch to the unlimited transcendental Autocrat situated eternally in the spiritual sky.

yam evaisa vrnute tena labhyas
tasyaisa atma vivrnute tanum svam

“Only one who is fully surrendered and engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Lord can understand the Supreme Lord as He is.” [Katha Upanisad 1.2.23]

All the Upanisads and other Vedic literatures agree that the Lord can be known only by those whom He favors, and not by anyone else. Such special favors are bestowed upon His pure devotees only. Sri Isopanisad thus gives the secret of gaining the favor of the Lord, which is discovered by the pure devotees in His eternal loving devotional service, far beyond the impersonal glare of the brahmajyoti.