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sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam
asnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham
kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr
yāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ

SYNONYMS

sah—that person; paryagat—must know in fact; sukram—the omnipotent; akayam—unembodied; avranam—without reproach; asnaviram—without veins; suddham—antiseptic; apapa-viddham—prophylactic; kavih—omniscient; manisi—philosopher; paribhuh—the greatest of all; svayambhuh—self-sufficient; yathatathyatah—just in pursuance of; arthan—desirables; vyadadhat—awards; sasvatibhyah—immemorial; samabhyah—time.

TRANSLATION

Such a person must factually know the greatest of all, the Personality of Godhead, who is unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated, the self-sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone’s desire since time immemorial.

PURPORT

In this mantra, Sri Isopanisad reveals some of the transcendental qualities of the Personality of Godhead as directly perceived by the self-realized soul. The Supreme Lord is not formless, but His form is transcendental, or made from pure spiritual energy. This transcendental form is completely different from the material bodies of the mundane universe. The conditioned living entities of the material world are trapped in machines made of material energy; but the transcendental body of the Supreme Lord has no veins, bones, muscles or nerves, because He is the reservoir of unlimited pure transcendental existence, consciousness and bliss.

Because Kṛṣṇa is the Complete Whole, there is no difference between His mind, His body and Himself. He is never forced to accept an external covering body by the law of karma like the materialistic living entities. When the mantra says that He is unembodied, it means that His body is not material but spiritual, and that His body and soul are not separate entities.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

“Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His transcendental form is eternal, full of unlimited bliss and pure consciousness.” [Brahma-samhita 5.1]

Sac-cid-ananda-vigraha means that He is the complete transcendental form of eternal existence, all-pervading knowledge and inexhaustible bliss. Therefore He does not require a separate body or mind, as we do in material existence. Because the Lord’s transcendental body is of a completely different quality from ours, sometimes the Vedic literature describes Him as formless or without qualities. This does not mean that He has no form at all; it means that His form is not separate from Himself.

Brahma-samhita further states:

aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti
paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti
ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth and substantiality, and is thus full of the most dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in Himself, the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and eternally sees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and mundane.” [Brahma-samhita 5.32]

In other words, the Lord can walk with His eyes, accept offerings with His feet, see with His elbows, eat with His ears, etc. These are not contradictions for the Absolute Lord. In mantras 4 and 5, Sri Isopanisad also describes how the spiritual qualities of the Lord sometimes appear paradoxical and contradictory. The Lord can effortlessly do the impossible, as confirmed in this mantra by the word sukram, omnipotent. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Kṛṣṇa expands an unlimited number of divine forms like Baladeva, Ramacandra, Nrsimha and Varaha. All these spiritual forms, collectively known as visnu-tattva, are different transcendental bodies of the same Absolute Personality of Godhead.

Similarly, the arca-vigraha or Deity form worshiped in Vedic temples also expands from the original form of the Lord. The Lord is invited to appear in temples in this form by fully self-realized Master Teachers described in mantra Seven of Sri Isopanisad. Out of a desire to interact with and encourage His devotees who are still in the material world, the Lord accepts a worshipable form called the arca-vigraha or Deity, apparently made of material elements.

The arca-vigraha of the Lord is not just any doll or statue; He appears at the request of a Master Teacher. Although this form is ostensibly made of metal, stone or wood, He is qualitatively identical with the original form of the Lord. The Lord manifests this special form so that we can easily approach Him by worship of the arca-vigraha in the temple. The Lord expands His omnipotent internal energy into the Deity form to kindly appear before us and accept our service.

People who are not self-realized and have no knowledge of sruti-mantras like Sri Isopanisad wrongly consider the arca-vigraha to be made of material energy. Foolish people or neophyte students of spiritual life see the Deity form as material because they are looking with imperfect material vision. But this form is worshiped by Master Teachers and other completely self-realized pure devotees. They know that the Lord, being omnipotent and omniscient, can perform any kind of action with any one of the senses of His transcendental body. He can effortlessly transform matter into spirit or spirit into matter. Besides, God is omnipresent; so He is certainly present everywhere, even in a Deity apparently made of matter.

“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be. Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities, and their culture of knowledge are all defeated.” [Bhagavad-gita 9.11-12]

One can realize the Supreme Lord only as much as one surrenders unto Him. The Lord does not reveal Himself to the fallen conditioned souls. The suffering of the living entities in material existence is due only to forgetfulness of their relationship with God. Such spiritually ignorant persons cannot understand or appreciate the omnipotence of the Lord. The Lord regrets that His spiritual children have fallen into such ignorance that they deride Him when He appears in this world. Out of His loving kindness, He does not interfere with their autonomy. Nevertheless, such recalcitrant souls suffer as a result of their struggling against the spiritual purposes of the Lord.

Many Vedic mantras clearly state that the Lord is the maintainer and supplier of all necessities to His created living entities. The Lord responds to one’s desire in proportion to his qualification, but it is not a mechanical process. For example, one who wants to be a doctor or lawyer must first acquire the necessary qualifications; then he can apply for a license to practice. The qualifications are necessary, but not sufficient, to practice; the license must be awarded by a superior authority. Similarly, the Lord reciprocates with the living entities according to their surrender, but good qualifications are not sufficient without the mercy of the Lord.

Unfortunate people whose consciousness is conditioned by material nature act against their actual self-interest and waste valuable time by asking the Lord for fallible material boons. Ordinary living beings do not know what kind of benediction they should ask from the Lord. They pray for cheap, temporary material things that will be vanquished in due course of time. But a self-realized soul never asks for anything material; he begs for the association of the Lord to render eternal transcendental loving service unto Him.

vyavasāyātmikā buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca
buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām

“Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.41]

Spiritual intelligence aims at attaining liberation from material entanglement by the devotional service of the Lord. Mundane intelligence is divided into many conflicting and contradictory aims.

“Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both. Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Visnu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.30-31]

People who are fascinated by temporary external pleasure forget that the real aim of human life is to go back to Godhead, back to our eternal spiritual home. Material enjoyment is like chewing what has already been chewed, because anything we may aspire to enjoy has already been enjoyed by other living beings. Nevertheless, the Lord is so kind that He allows the forgetful living entity to continue in this way without interference. Thus this mantra uses the word yathatathyatah, indicating that the Lord responds to the living entities appropriate to their desires. If someone wants to go to hell, the Lord does not interfere, and if he wants liberation, the Lord helps him to go back home, back to Godhead.

Therefore He is described here as paribhuh, the greatest Master. No one is greater than or equal to Him. The Lord supplies everything the living entities need. Only the Supreme Lord is self-sufficient; all others are simply beggars seeking their necessities from Him. If the subordinate living entities were omnipotent and omniscient, they would not need to beg benedictions from the Lord, even for liberation. But in fact we are completely dependent upon His good will.

Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa appeared on this planet about five thousand years ago, displaying His complete manifestation as the Personality of Godhead. He proved His identity by performing many wonderful activities. Even as an infant He killed many powerful demons, though He was far too young to acquire mystic powers. He lifted Govardhana Hill without ever practicing weightlifting. He danced with the gopis without social restriction and without reproach.

Nevertheless, the Lord is always pure, therefore this mantra of Sri Isopanisad describes Him as suddham (transcendentally pure) and apapa-viddham (free from all sin). The Lord is free from all sin because even if He superficially appears to act sinfully, His actions are all-good and most beneficial for all concerned. The sun extracts moisture from many untouchable places on the earth, yet it remains pure. In fact, it purifies all impure things by the power of its association. If the sun is so purifying, then we can only imagine the purifying power of the Lord. He is so pure that any impure person can become purified just by hearing and chanting His Holy Names.