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agne naya supathā rāye asmān
viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān
yuyodhy asmaj juhurāṇam eno
bhūyiṣṭhāṁ te nama-uktiṁ vidhema

SYNONYMS

agne—O my Lord, as powerful as fire; naya—kindly lead; supathā—by the right path; rāye—for reaching You; asmān—us; viśvāni—all; deva—O my Lord; vayunāni—actions; vidvān—the knower; yuyodhi—kindly remove; asmat—from us; juhurāṇam—all hindrances on the path; enaḥ—all vices; bhūyiṣṭhām—most numerous; te—unto You; namaḥ uktim—words of obeisance; vidhema—I do.

TRANSLATION

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.

PURPORT

The student of the Esoteric Teaching progresses on the path of complete self-realization by surrendering to the Lord and praying for His causeless mercy. The Lord is addressed as agni or fire because He burns the sins of the surrendered soul to ashes. The mantras of Sri Isopanisad describe the impersonal brahmajyoti feature of the Absolute as a dazzling covering over His ultimate aspect as the Personality of Godhead, and pray to Him to reveal His real face.

The karma-kāṇḍa stage of self-realization, which recommends fruitive activities under the rules and regulations of the scriptures, is the lowest stage on the path. We know this school of thought in the West as ‘abundance theology.’ But karmic activities are dangerous; as soon as karma deviates even slightly from the regulative principles of the Vedas, it becomes vikarma, or acts against the interest of the actor. Vikarma means working simply for sense gratification, and all results of activities performed by the living entity in illusory material consciousness become causes of further material bondage and obstacles on the path of self-realization.

There are 8,400,000 species of life in the material world, but self-realization is possible only in the human form of life. The only opportunity to obtain realization of transcendence when the human form becomes qualified by knowledge of the Esoteric Teaching. As we have discussed elaborately herein, the practice of the Esoteric Teaching begins from truthfulness, sense control, forbearance, simplicity, complete spiritual knowledge and full faith in God.

But this is only the beginning. Material qualifications have no value for attaining self-realization. Total enlightenment requires years of specialized education, training and practice. Most people have so much investment in material consciousness and activities that attaining complete self-realization in this lifetime is very unlikely. Nevertheless, even an unsuccessful attempt at self-realization confers very desirable benefits unobtainable by any other means.

“The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy. Or he takes his birth in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom. Verily, such a birth is rare in this world. On taking such a birth, he again revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru.” [Bhagavad-gītā 6.41-43]

The Lord assures us that souls fallen from the path of self-realization receive a chance to rectify themselves and progress further. They take birth either in wealthy mercantile families or in families of good brāhmaṇas. Such births afford material convenience, education and sufficient leisure to pursue higher self-realization. If we have these facilities, we should take care to utilize them properly for spiritual advancement. If we misuse them due to illusion, we may lose the blessing of human life granted by the merciful Lord for our continued spiritual progress.

One who understands the ontological principles of the Esoteric Teaching and follows its regulative principles advances from the material platform of fruitive activities to the spiritual platform of transcendental knowledge. The most important principle is to regularly chant the Holy Names of the Lord. One should also study the Vedic scriptures, especially Bhagavad-gita, refrain from eating animal products, taking intoxication, indulging in illicit sex and all gambling and speculation. One attains perfection after many, many lifetimes of cultivating transcendental knowledge when he surrenders unto the Lord.

But if one surrenders at the very beginning, as recommended in this mantra, he surpasses the preliminary stage immediately by devotional consciousness.

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” [Bhagavad-gītā 18.66]

The Lord kindly accepts such a surrendered soul, and frees him from reactions to his previous material acts. Karma-kāṇḍa activities produce many sinful reactions, whereas the sinful activities in jñāna-kāṇḍa, the path of philosophical development, is smaller. But in the path of bhakti, devotional service to the Lord, there are practically no sinful reactions because of following the regulative principles of the Esoteric Teaching.

A student of the Esoteric Teaching automatically attains the qualifications of an expert brāhmaṇa and is therefore authorized to perform Vedic sacrifices, even though he may not have taken birth in a brāhmaṇa family. One who is surrendered to the Lord attains all the good qualifications of the Lord Himself, what to speak of those of a brāhmaṇa. He can make a man born in a brāhmaṇa family as degraded as a lowborn dog-eater, due to performing sinful activities such as meat-eating. And He can make a lowborn dog-eater superior to a qualified brāhmaṇa simply on the strength of his complete surrender in devotional service. That is the omnipotence of the Lord.

The omnipotent Lord is situated within everyone’s heart; therefore He can give His sincere devotees directions by which they can attain the right path. These potent spiritual directions are especially offered to the devotee, even if he desires something else. The Lord directs him from within so that even if he accidentally makes a mistake, he is immediately brought back to the path of spiritual progress.

sva-pāda-mūlaṁ bhajataḥ priyasya
tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ
vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid
dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ

“The Lord is so kind to the devotee who is fully surrendered to His lotus feet that even though the devotee sometimes falls into the entanglement of vikarma — acts against the Vedic directions — the Lord at once rectifies such mistakes from within his heart. This is because the devotees are very dear to the Lord.” [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.42]

In this mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad, the devotee prays to the Lord to rectify him from within his heart. “To err is human.” A conditioned soul in the beginning stage of the spiritual path often commits mistakes, but the Lord provides a remedial measure against such unintentional sins: one must give oneself up to the lotus feet of the Lord, and beg Him to guide him to avoid such pitfalls.

The Lord lovingly takes charge of souls fully surrendered unto Him; thus we can solve all problems simply by surrendering unto the Lord and accepting His merciful directions. The Lord gives us the sincere devotee directions in two ways: externally through the scriptures, spiritual master and other saints, and internally from the Lord within the heart. Thus the Lord fully protects His devotee by fully enlightening him with Vedic knowledge.

Vedic knowledge is transcendental, and cannot be understood in material consciousness or by any amount of mundane education.

yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau

“One can understand the real meaning of the Esoteric Teaching — pure devotional service — only by the grace of the Lord and the spiritual master.” [Śvetasvatara Upaniṣad 6.23]

If one takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, he has certainly obtained the grace of the Lord. The Lord appears as the spiritual master for the devotee and instructs the sincere disciple. Thus the spiritual master, the Vedic injunctions and the Lord Himself from within all guide the surrendered devotee. Thus there is no chance for a devotee to fall down into the mire of material illusion. The devotee, expertly protected by the Lord, is sure to reach the ultimate destination of spiritual perfection. The entire process is hinted at in this mantra, and the Esoteric Teaching explains it further:

“Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted. By regular attendance in classes on the Esoteric Teaching and by rendering service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact. As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy. Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association.” [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.17-20]

Thus end the Bhaktisiddhartha Purports to Śrī Īśopaniṣad, the knowledge that brings one nearer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.