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yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny
ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ
tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka
ekatvam anupaśyataḥ

SYNONYMS

yasmin—in the situation; sarvāṇi—all; bhūtāni—living entities; ātma—the cit-kana, or spiritual spark; eva—only; abhūt—exist as;vijānataḥ—of one who knows; tatra—therein; kah—what; mohaḥ—illusion; kaḥ—what; śokaḥ—anxiety; ekatvam—oneness in quality; anupaśyataḥ—of one who sees through authority, or one who sees constantly like that.

TRANSLATION

One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, knows things as they are. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?

PURPORT

This mantra of Sri Isopanisad introduces us to the point of view of the self-realized soul. Ekatvam anupasyatah means to see the qualitative unity of all living entities with one’s intelligence by hearing from the revealed scriptures. In the beginning such clear and certain realization of the Absolute Truth may seem far off, but it is readily attainable through the guidance of the Esoteric Teaching.

A person in material consciousness is always in illusion, because the senses of the material body are imperfect. For example, our sense of sight can be interrupted by a mere sheet of tissue paper; the frequency range of our hearing is less than a dog’s. Because of our imperfect senses, we do not know things as they are; in other words, we are in illusion. Because we are in illusion, we make mistakes, but then we try to deny our imperfections because we have a tendency to cheat.

The only remedy for the imperfections, illusions and anxieties of material existence is to take knowledge from a source that is not subject to illusion; the Vedic Esoteric Teaching is that perfect source. The Esoteric Teaching is originally spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. When we become sincere disciples of the Esoteric Teaching, accept the instruction of the Lord and surrender unto Him, all illusion, misunderstanding and anxieties are vanquished because we attain direct consciousness of the Absolute Truth.

Even though the neophyte disciples of the Esoteric Teaching (kanistha-adhikaris) are striving to realize the spiritual nature of the self, they are still in material conditioned consciousness (the Exoteric Circle). The madhyama-adhikaris of the Mesoteric Circle actually realize the transcendental spiritual position of the living entity (jivatma or soul). But only the uttama-adhikaris, the Master Teachers of the Esoteric Circle, have complete realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The living entities inherit the spiritual qualities of the Supreme Lord, just as the sunshine inherits the qualities of the sun. But the sunshine cannot equal the sun in quantity, for the emanated energy can never quantitatively equal its source. The self-realized students of the Esoteric Teaching see the soul as one with the Lord, but only in the sense that everything is the energy of the Supreme Lord. The sense of oneness comes from the qualitative similarity of the energy to its energetic source.

The sunshine is simultaneously quantitatively different from, and qualitatively one with, the sun. Similarly, the infinitesimal living entity is simultaneously quantitatively different from, and qualitatively one with, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This simple idea is incomprehensible to ordinary materialistic Aristotelian logic. Therefore the Esoteric Teaching includes a complete system of transcendental ontology and logic, presented in Vedic scriptures like Vedanta-sutra and Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, allowing us to think clearly and reason accurately about Transcendence.

The relationship between the individual soul and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is easy to understand by analogy. For example, the percentage of salt dissolved in a drop of seawater is qualitatively equal to the percentage of salt in the entire ocean. But there is no comparison of the quantity of salt in the drop to the quantity of salt in the entire ocean.

When two things are similar, some comparison can be drawn between them. But when they are vastly different, no comparison is possible. It is meaningless to compare the amount of salt in a drop with the amount of salt in the entire ocean, just as it is meaningless to compare a grain of sand with the whole universe. Then what is the use of trying to compare the subatomic spiritual spark with the Complete Whole? It would be like dividing infinity by zero.

Yet, according to the transcendental ontology of the Esoteric Teaching, the individual spiritual sparks display 78% of the known qualities of the Complete Whole, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Of course these spiritual qualities are present in the living entity in minute quantities, because he is but a minute part and parcel of the Supreme Lord.

The impersonalist school tries to misinterpret the word ekatvam in this mantra to signify the complete identity of the individual spirit soul with the Supreme. But their theory fails to explain how the living entity is overwhelmed by the material energy. If the living entities were equal to the Supreme Lord—both qualitatively and quantitatively—they could never come under the influence of illusion in the first place.

Mantra Four of Sri Isopanisad states that no jiva soul can equal or surpass the Supreme Being in any way—not even the powerful demigods. If ekatvam meant that a living entity is completely equal to the Supreme Lord, Sri Isopanisad would be self-contradictory. However, there are no such errors or imperfections in the Esoteric Teaching.

Ekatvam does imply that there is a common interest among the Supreme Lord and His parts and parcels, the living entities. The interest of all members of a family, nation or other organization is one. The members receive the benefits of belonging to that family or organization by serving their common interest. Every spiritual living entity is the energy of the Supreme Being because they emanate from the marginal potency of the Lord. Because they belong to the family of the Supreme Being, there is a strong common interest. And when they serve this common interest, the living entities derive the benefits.

yaj jñātvā na punar moham
evaṁ yāsyasi pāṇḍava
yena bhūtāny aśeṣāṇi
drakṣyasy ātmany atho mayi

“And when you have thus learned the truth, you will know that all living beings are but part of Me—and that they are in Me, and are Mine.” [Bhagavad-gita 4.35]

apareyam itas tv anyāṁ
prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām
jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho
yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat

“Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine: all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.5]

What is the common interest of the Supreme Lord and the living entities? The constitutional nature of every living being—both the Supreme Lord and His parts and parcels—is eternal pleasure-seeking. The pleasure principle is the prime motivation for all spiritual entities because they are meant for ananda, bliss and enjoyment:

ananda-mayo 'bhyasat

“[The word] anandamaya [in the Vedic literatures must refer to the Supreme Brahman, for it is] repeatedly used [to describe Him].” [Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12]

Anandamaya means that the very nature of the Lord is that He is full of bliss. All living entities seek pleasure, because that is the nature of their source, the Lord. Living beings who are conditioned by the material conception of life constantly seek pleasure, but they are looking for it on a temporary platform. We want eternal bliss, unending pleasure, but can never find it in this temporary material world. However, unending enjoyment is available in the spiritual world, where the Supreme Lord enjoys Himself eternally with innumerable associates.

In material consciousness there is always competition for the objects of pleasure because no one knows the the real object of enjoyment. In the spiritual world there is no competition because the center of enjoyment for everyone is the Supreme Lord. The spiritual living entities are meant to associate with Him in the spiritual world, enjoying eternal life with one center: Kṛṣṇa—one transcendental interest: eternal pleasure pastimes with Him—and without any competition. This common spiritual interest is the real spiritual oneness, and once we attain that consciousness there is no more illusion, suffering or lamentation.

The heartless material culture sponsored by the modern politicians simply creates anxieties. Because it is based on the temporary material platform, it is unstable and can fall into chaos at any time. Such godless civilizations arise from the illusion of the imperfect participants, therefore its only result is loss and lamentation.

But Kṛṣṇa says:

daivi hy esa guna-mayi
mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante
mayam etam taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.14]

Those who voluntarily surrender at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord can overcome the laws of material nature by following the higher laws of the spiritual nature. The secret of conquering illusion and anxiety, transcending material suffering and realizing the unity of interest of all living beings, is to make God the center and object of all our activities.

The results of our work and other activities should be dedicated to serving the interest of the Lord. This process of dedication allows us to directly experience the atma-bhuta interest mentioned in this mantra in the line atmaivabhud vijanatah. This atma-bhuta interest is the same interest mentioned in Bhagavad-gita 18.54 (brahma-bhutah prasannatma) and Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.30.20 (brahmaitad brahma-vadibhih).

The supreme Brahman, the Lord Himself, is the supreme atma, or Paramatma, and the living entities are the minute atma. The Supreme Lord alone emanates and maintains all the individual living beings. Why? The Supreme Lord derives pleasure out of affectionate relationships with them. We see the same motivation in ordinary family life: the parents extend themselves through their children, and derive pleasure from maintaining them. If the children serve the common purpose of the family, their affairs run smoothly in a pleasing atmosphere. Similarly, when we serve the interest of the spiritual family of the Parabrahman, the Supreme Spirit, we enjoy life eternally in a very pleasant spiritual atmosphere.

The conclusion we should take away from this mantra of Sri Isopanisad is that the Supreme Lord is a person, just like the individual living entities. All transcendental personalities are naturally full of bliss, exalted consciousness and eternal life. Anyone who can realize this transcendental consciousness at once surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Being, Sri Kṛṣṇa, and lives happily ever after in the spiritual world.

Such a great soul is very rare because complete transcendental realization requires many births of sincere and dedicated spiritual practice. But once we attain the spiritual brahma-bhuta consciousness, the miseries of material existence—birth, old age, disease and death—no longer affect us, and illusion and lamentation are completely vanquished. This prime interest of all living entities is attainable through the Esoteric Teaching of Sri Isopanisad.

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