Commentary on Mantra 10 of Sri Isopanisad:
Building upon the notions laid out in mantra 9, this mantra explains that there is a culture of knowledge (vidyaya) and a culture of nescience (aviddaya). Most of society belongs to the culture of nescience, which is why business and science classes swell, and religion and ethics classes go by the wayside. People are concerned with making money, and gaining fame, so much so that they do not understand what they are doing. This is why we have war, poverty, and so many other problems. One can split the atom and create a bomb. One can create new ways of strip mining to destroy the mountains. Of course, one can also cure diseases, but that too is done in the name of profit and fame.
The knowledge that our culture tries to attain is a knowledge of destruction. People of this culture seek the money and fame as a way of masking the miseries of this existence. We all want to be happy, and so we seek ways to amuse ourselves, and avoid the pains. Some actions will mask but not cure. The happiness is only temporary. It is an illusion. What else could one expect from this world?
Few people belong to the culture of real knowledge. Modern scientific society tells us to walk away from myths and illusions; but these poor rascals who say this don't realize that they are the ones caught up in myth and illusion. Those who have submitted themselves to the service of the Lord and embraced the Absolute are the only ones who will destroy the myth and illusion, and find eternal happiness by returning home to Godhead.
A member of this culture of knowledge is a dhira, one who is not disturbed by material illusion, and who is spiritually realized. Srila Prabhupada explains, “one can become a dhira only by submissively hearing from a bona fide spiritual master. Arjuna, for example, became a dhira by submissively hearing from Lord Krsna, the personality of Godhead Himself. This is the perfect disciple must be like Arjuna, and the spiritual master must be as good as the Lord Himself. This is the process of learning vidya from the dhira (p. 74).”
We are instructed that there are the 18 items which form the process through which real knowledge can be developed :
1. Become a proper gentleman and give respect to others. (Here is the notion of the Golden Rule or even the Categorical Imperative in action. All individuals, regardless of who they are, share this globe, its resources, and its miseries. Each person has the opportunity to strive for what matters or to waste their time on other pursuits. Regardless of the choice, each should be treated with respect and dignity within their pursuits. It is not our place to judge or impose our will upon others. All those who make their way back to Godhead began by making a free choice. The more you force, the further away people will run.)
2. Do not pose as a religionist for name and fame. (There are countless people in all walks of life that use religions to boast their own egos. This is not the proper reason to follow or preach a religion. One should be fixated only on rendering service to the Supreme.)
3. Do not become a source of anxiety to others through thought, action, or words.
4. Learn forbearance even when provoked. (This is very similar Lord Jesus’ statement “turn the other cheek”. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in the disputes of this world.)
5. Learn to avoid duplicity in all dealings. (Here is a basic moral concept, be honest and trustworthy towards all. Try not to be Janus-faced).
6. Search out a bona fide spiritual master who can lead you to realization. Submit to him, render him service, and ask relevant questions. (This, of course, is of crucial importance since no one can simply pick up an ancient scripture and interpret it on his own. Each devotee needs the guidance of a genuine spiritual master as discussed in mantra 9, and Srila Prabhupada is that perfect spiritual master.)
7. Follow the regulative principles (Since an individual needs a sense of discipline in order to avoid the material and seek the spiritual, Vedic scripture has established the following regulative principles which all devotees should follow: 1. No meat, fish, or eggs, 2. No intoxicants, 3. No gambling, 4. No illicit sexual activity)
8. Be fixed in the tenets of the revealed scripture.
9. Refrain from all practices which are detrimental to self-realization.
10. Do not accept more than is required for the maintenance of the body. (In the material world, the emphasis is upon the notion that more is better; as a result we live in a “super-size” society. We demand more food, more drink, more entertainment, etc. Yet this is not good for us on many levels. It is better to take only your due portion as discussed earlier in Sri Isopanisad).
11. Do not falsely identify with the material body. (Remember, you are not this physical body, so do not act as if the body is you. This body is merely a house you temporarily inhabit on your spiritual journey.)
12. Remember that a material body means repeated birth, old age, disease, and death. (The four sufferings of the flesh only occur for one who lives in the maya. Those who are self-realized no longer face these miseries).
13. Do not be attached to more than is needed for spiritual advancement.
14. One should not be more attached to others than the scriptures ordain.
15. Do not find happiness or distress over desirable or undesirable things. These feelings are only in the mind. (Most people are so attuned with the material world that all their pleasure depends upon worldly possession and position. One seems unable to find happiness unless they have “one-upped” their neighbour, but this is only the mental pull of the material world. On a spiritual path, one will no longer find happiness or distress in material things. One will realize that true happiness in found in the service of the Lord).
16. Become a devotee of Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and serve Him with rapt attention. (As in the previous point, service to Sri Krsna is crucial to self-realization since one can never truly know the self unless one knows the Lord. There are many ways to serve, but very important is the chanting of the maha-mantra—HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE/ HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.)
17. Develop a liking for secluded areas with an atmosphere favourable to spiritual culture, and avoid places that are crowded and noisy, or frequented by non-devotees.
18. Become a scientist or philosopher and conduct research into spiritual knowledge, a knowledge that is permanent rather than the finite knowledge of material pursuits. (This final point feeds nicely into mantra 11. Those who seek knowledge in the fields of science and philosophy frequently pursue nescience and as a result discover nothing of lasting value; but the philosopher or scientist who pursues spiritual knowledge is on the path to discovering everything.)
These 18 points demonstrate how genuine, meaningful knowledge can be obtained. To pursue anything else is nescience.
Comments
I was watching a sci-fi video in which an individual was hooked up to a computor, Matrix style. Within the video-imaged computor-generated dream scape, the individual had a youthful energetic non-aging body, lived in a beautiful and pleasing place, could eat unlimitedly, and could not die; a superior technology could create this dream-improvement upon the normal earthly experience. For a while, one could imagine one was in heaven.
By comparison, this "real" world has so many restrictions, is so limited and clumbsy. One has to struggle, just to survive, and an end is inevitable. matra sparsas..sitosna sukha dukha da... always changing, happiness then distress.
If I was Godhead and creator of all these things, I would surely prefer to create an existence more akin to the unlimited and wonderful computor-dream. Why create something full of pain and death, like the material worlds? Happiness and distress come and go like the winter and summer seasons here.
Lord Krishna describes that there is a superior realm, a superior enegy beyond the mundane material worlds. There is a higher technology, so advanced it is unlimited, each tiny portion is fully cognizant and blissfull, forever. What we have in material creation is a broken program, a fatally flawed limited cheap replica of the spiritual realm.
A bad dream... from which we are assured that there is an awakening, if we but grasp the message and desire to arise, by attempting to apply ourselves with due diligence to the transcendent process and the goals, and we will find somehow, that we have become part of the process and the goal, servitors and associates of the very sources of mercy, and thus have become re-eligible to enter the perfect and eternal spiritual dreamscapes, the ultimate realities.