PAMHO devotees,
Many appologies for my extended absence from the forum. I have been away from technology for the last month, but I am back now. As always, I welcome any comments you might have on this penultimate commentary. Hare Krsna!
Comment on Mantra 16 and 17 of Sri Isopanisad:
The 16th mantra merely builds upon the previous. It simply asks that since the effulgence which emanates from the Godhead keeps one from seeing clearly that the Lord might remove this effulgence so that we might see rightly the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In the 17th Mantra, Srila Prabhupada comments that “the highest development of one’s spiritual sense is described in this mantra: One should give up the material body, which will be turned to ashes, and allow the air of life to merge into the eternal reservoir of air” (p.125). We have seen that the material body is not the true self. The material body is subject to the whims of desire and evolutionary fate. One continues to be reborn into this world based upon their desire. One might be born as human or animal based upon their longing for sense gratification, and as long as that desire remains the body will continue to change. The human may escape from this bondage due their developed sense of consciousness, which must be perfected over a long course of time. Prabhupada writes: “the culture of knowledge reaches perfection only when the knower comes to the point of surrendering unto the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva. Otherwise, even after attaining knowledge of one’s spiritual identity, if one does not come to the point of knowing that the living entities are eternal parts and parcels of the whole and can never become the whole, one has to fall down again into the material atmosphere” (p.126). The Bhagavad-Gita is very clear on this point. Whatever a person is thinking about at the time of his death determines where he shall be reborn, so only one who has taken refuge in Sri Krsna will attain Him.
Comments
Beautiful, as always, Prabhu. Thanks so much, yes, frankly we were wondering where you had gotten, the sequencing considered, but expected you would return from pilgrimage soon and in good time. Love your posts; concise and data rich, quite free of external maya influences, yet never merely repeating either. Jaya!
PS; TSU is fun, do drop by and post something etc again soon? Trying to make it all work... lol