Bhakti Shastri (009) – Sri Isopanisad Mantra 07

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Today we will discuss mantra seven. Yesterday we discussed mantra six, which talked about equal vision.
So let’s look at this section first. And then we will go into the mantra. So this is the second section of the Isopanishad, which is talking about understand Ishvara by spiritual vision.
So in that mantras four and five first talked about how to our normal vision and normal level of consciousness, Ishvara is inconceivable. And then before we can understand Ishvara, we need to develop spiritual vision towards the things, people and events of this world. So that’s the second section six, seven.
And with this spiritual vision, then we will be able to apply spiritual vision towards the Supreme Lord. So this is the last part, seventh verse of the second subsection within the second section of the Isopanishad. So let’s look at the verse.
यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूताणि आत्मेवा भूदवि जानतः तत्रको मोहकः शोकः एकत्वमनुपश्यतः यस्मिन् that person. This is a continuation of the thread of thought from the previous verse. यस्मिन् that person was mentioned in the last verse also.
सर्वाणि भूताणि आत्मेवा भूदवि जानतः तत्रको मोहकः शोकः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्यतः एकत्मनुपश्य For such a person, what is the moha? What is the shoka? What is the illusion? What is the lamentation? Why there is no moha or lamentation? Because एकत्मनुपश्यतः Such a person sees oneness and अनुपश्यतः. We discussed the word अनुपश्यतः was there in the previous verse also. यस्तु सर्वाणि भूताणि आत्मन्येवानुपश्यते सर्वभूतेशुचात्मानम् ततोनविजुगुपसते सद्धात्मन्येवानुपश्यते So in both these mantras, the emphasis is on seeing with knowledge.
अनुपश्यतः So let’s look at the translation. One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, आत्मेवाभूत, शब्रोपथ, explains what that आत्मेवाभूत is, not only in the purport but also in the translation. In quality one with the Lord becomes a true knower of things.
What then can be illusion or anxiety for him? त्रकोमोह कहशोक The purport can be divided into five distinct sections. The whole purport is basically an elaboration on एकत्वम् Because the word एकत्वम् is like a feast for the impersonalists. And the Upanishads are generally considered to be books which talk about impersonalism.
And that’s why the impersonalists use them a lot. However, the Upanishads also talk about personal features of the absolute truth. Although they are not the emphasis, they are talked about.
So, Srila Prabhupada is elaborating on the concept of एकत्वम् based on the broader understanding of the Vedic scriptures. Because here just the word एकत्वम् comes, oneness. But what does oneness mean actually? So, Srila Prabhupada will explain this.
First he talks about energy and energetic. And he gives the example of fire and heat and light. Then he uses that oneness, energy and energetic are one, but then they are different also.
What is the difference? With respect to drop and ocean. The drop is one in quality, but is different in quantity. And then Srila Prabhupada gives the example of how the oneness is actually not just in quality, but is also in interest.
It is in inclinations, in desires, in intentions. So, he gives the example of family. Every member in a family is different, but all of them are united in their interests.
In a country, every citizen is an individual. But at the same time, the nation is united as one cohesive whole. So, like that, oneness in interest.
Now when the family is united together, then the family will be happy. But if every individual wants to pursue his or her own interests and doesn’t care for others, then the family will be chaotic. Similarly, in the spiritual realm also, when everybody becomes one in interest, then there is enjoyment.
And that is the point elaborated in the next paragraph. That is, separate interests cause shoka and moha. They cause lamentation and illusion.
And therefore, the conclusion is that we should become one in interest with God. We should make the will of God as our own will. Now, let us look at these themes one by one.
So, complete realisation of ekatvam has two aspects. First is that we realise our oneness with the Absolute Truth in quality. Now when that happens, it brings detachment.
Why? Because when I understand that I am not jada tattva, I am not matter, I am chitkana, I am spirit, I am conscious being, then I understand that the dead matter cannot give me happiness. And temporary things will only cause me misery because I am eternal. So, when I understand that I am different from matter, because I am in quality one with the Absolute, aham brahmasmi, at that time, I become detached from matter.
Because now I understand that matter cannot give me happiness because matter is unconscious, matter is temporary. I am conscious and eternal. I should seek happiness at the spiritual level.
So therefore, realising that I am spiritual, I am in one quality with the Absolute Truth, is desirable. But it is not the complete realisation. One subordination quantity to the Absolute Truth brings humility.
So, if I just think that I am spirit, then that will bring pride, especially when I consider that all the other people are attached, I am detached, that can bring pride. But, when I understand, yes, I am spirit, but there is a supreme spirit. And I am tiny, I am amshay of that spirit.
So subordination quantity to the Absolute Truth brings humility. So, on the impersonal path, the oneness and quality is emphasised, that aham brahmasmi, aham brahmasmi, aham brahmasmi. Whereas, on the path of devotion, the subordination and quantity is emphasised.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told Sanatana Goswami, jivera swaroop hoye, krishnaera nitya das. So, that we are servants of Krishna is the primary emphasis of the devotees. The devotees also know that we are not the body, we are the soul.
But the soul is not just some formless spirit. The soul has a real living relationship with the Absolute Truth. And that relationship is based on love and service.
So, when we understand that God is great and I am small, and my smallness is not just at a material level, even at a spiritual level I am small, that brings humility. So, detachment and humility both are important. But if detachment alone comes first, and that is the primary focus, if the exclusive focus, then the detachment leads to pride.
On the other hand, if humility comes first, I am not the engineer, I am the servant, and let me serve. Then that service gives a higher taste. And when that higher taste leads to detachment, that detachment doesn’t bring pride.
Because already the foundation of humility has been established, based on the knowledge that I am the servant of God. We see in the Shikshashtakam, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu emphasises this progression when He says, in the third verse, humility. So, be humbler than a blade of grass, be more tolerant than a tree.
These are examples of humility in classic sense. So, He first recommends humility, exalts humility, and then He talks about detachment. So, the conclusion of both these verses is, advancement towards devotion.
It is, third verse concludes with, which is advancing towards devotion. And fourth verse concludes with, So, both are talking of progress in devotion, but first, humility, then humility, but it brings us closer to Krishna, gives us a higher taste by making us fixed in our service to Krishna. Then that makes detachment easier.
So, the error of impersonalism is, by focussing only on detachment, they become vulnerable to pride. And the greatest of all pride is, I am God. We will discuss about this particular aspect of impersonalism, which is called Mayavada, later.
But here, our focus is Ekathvam, is not in absolute oneness sense. There are gradations and there are subtleties over there. Let’s look further at this Ekathvam.
Srila Prabhupada is given the example of fire. So, Jiva Goswami, in his Sandarbhas, analyses these examples further. So, we know fire and light.
Wherever fire is there, heat and light will be there. So, like that, the fire is the organic whole, but the fire spreads its influence to heat and light. Similarly, the Supreme Absolute Truth is there, and the Absolute Truth’s influence spreads through heat and light.
Now, when we want to talk about the difference between energy and energetic, for example, yesterday we talked about fire illuminates, fire burns. Now, burning and fire are essentially interconnected, but still they are different. Fire burns.
Now, in this, we don’t have the gradation of energies. Although energy and energetic are same, but if there are different distances between the energies and the energetic, some energy is closer, some energy is further, that cannot be understood through the example of fire and heat or light. Jiva Goswami gives another example to talk about energy and energetic.
This example is of Sun. Now, normally we use the example of Sun to talk about three aspects of the Absolute Truth. The Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagwan.
So, the all-pervading effulgence is the Brahma Jyoti, the localised orb, the reflection of the Sun, different places the analogy is given differently, the orbit of the Sun, the orb of the Sun, which when reflected in many places, in many rivers, is the Sun, but its reflection is still expanded. One Supreme Lord manifests in many places. On the Sun planet, when we enter and see the Sun God, there is Bhagwan.
That is the normal example that we give. Here, Jiva Goswami is giving the example not to explain the three aspects of the Absolute Truth, but he is explaining the various energies of the Absolute Truth. So, let’s look at this example.
When you look at the Sun, the Sun God is Krishna. So, now, the Sun God is the predominating deity of the Sun and from there onwards, there is a radiance around its orbs. That means the Sun is there and the effulgence that comes out all around.
This is very intense, which is very close to it. That is the Swaroopa Shakti. So, we know that Krishna has three energies.
Antaranga Shakti, Bahiranga Shakti and Tattvastha Shakti. So, internal energy, external energy and marginal energy. So, internal energy is spiritual, the external energy is material and the marginal energy is also spiritual.
All of us souls are the marginal energy. But we can go towards the Bahiranga or Antaranga because our position is variable. So, we are called as marginal energy.
So, now, Jiva Goswami is using the example of Sun to explain these three energies and their relationship with the Absolute Truth. So, when the Sun is there, the effulgence around the Sun, just close around, not its distant sun rays that are going all around, just around the Sun there is a blazing effulgence. That is the Swaroopa Shakti.
And then the rays that shoot out from the Sun and go far away, they are also coming from the Sun but they are spreading far. That is the Tattvastha Shakti. And then the Sun may be reflected in a river or in a pot and that is the Bahiranga Shakti.
So, here, the point of the example is that although all these three, the radiance around the Sun, the rays of the Sun and the reflection, these all three are, so radiance, rays, reflection, all three are coming from the Sun. In that sense, all three are the energies of the Sun. But although all three are the energies, all three do not manifest the Sun’s power in the same degree.
The radiance is much much closer to the Sun whereas the reflection is further away and the heat of the Sun, the blaze of the Sun will not be manifested in the reflection. So like that, the Antaranga Shakti is conscious. So the Supreme Consciousness of the Supreme Absolute Truth is also manifested in the Antaranga Shakti.
The Sun ray also has the heat and the illuminating capacity of the Sun but that is less and as the Sun ray keeps going further and further away then what will happen is eventually it will become cold and old and it will perish. So the potency of the Atma to act spiritually becomes lesser and lesser when the Atma becomes more and more distant from the Soul. So that is the Tatastha Shakti.
Tatastha Shakti is coming from the Supreme Lord but it has a tendency to go away and the further it goes away the more it becomes sentimental influence. The less it shows its spiritual nature. Now the reflection in the water of the Sun is also coming from the Sun but actually neither the heat nor the illuminating capacity of the Sun will be manifested through the reflection.
So therefore here the Jada Tattva, the matter is talked about now matter also comes from the Absolute Truth. Matter is also an energy of the Absolute Truth. Matter does not exhibit Consciousness.
Matter is not eternal. So in this way the Lord is the source of all energies yet there are gradations in His energies. So here the point is that not only are the energies non-different from the Lord but they are also different.
Not only are they different from the Lord in one sense but they are also different internally. There are different kinds of energies. So this Achaitya Veda is a very profound concept which explains the relationship of the Lord with the Absolute or with the world, with various components of the world, with the souls also.
So this is the nature of the Lord and His energies. So again what are we talking about over here? Exploring the concept Ekatvam. So there is oneness because everything ultimately is dependent on the Sun but still within the oneness there is variety.
So see the full picture of oneness. Oneness nowadays it’s a popular slogan, unity in diversity. For example there may be a nation which has many people from different races, different religions different languages, different cultures.
They say we should all be united. We want national integration. So unity in diversity is a popular phrase and there is importance to unity in diversity but at the same time in the spiritual reality there is not just unity in diversity, there is also diversity in unity.
What does that mean? That actually there is material variety. So there is male, there is female, there is Brahma, there is Shudra, there is wealthy there is poor. All this variety is there at the material level.
But beyond that there is unity. Unity is that all of them are souls and as souls all of them are equal. So from the variety of this world we come to the unity.
So this is the first step in spiritual realisation. However beyond that unity there is diversity also. What is the diversity? That all those souls they are all souls, none of them are whatever their material bodies presently are.
But as souls they are not entirely just Xerox copies of each other, clones of each other. Every soul is an individual and every soul is individually unique and every soul has a unique relationship with Krishna. So in the spiritual level they are all distinct.
So now what is the unity if they are all distinct? They all love Krishna. They all serve Krishna and they all delight in loving and serving Krishna. So there is diversity in unity also.
So bhakti takes us beyond unity in diversity to diversity in unity. Let’s understand this further. Prabhupada uses the example of the rasa dance in this particular purport.
And what is the principle of the rasa dance? All the gopis were united in the sense that when Krishna called with his flute all the gopis came to Krishna. They were united in their love for Krishna. At the same time every gopi is uniquely individual and her love for Krishna is uniquely individual.
In Krishna’s relationships every gopi adds a special flavour that would not be there if she had not been there. So Krishna is rasa raj. He is the lord of all rasas and he enjoys rasas in relationship with each gopi.
So each gopi has her own flavour of relationship. So now for example in the 10th canto the chapters 29 to 33 are called as the rasa panchadhyar and they are considered to be the climax of the shimad bhagavatam. Actually the 10th canto is the face of the supreme lord and rasa panchadhyar is like the beautiful smile of the supreme lord.
So if the rasa panchadhyar is like the smile within that the 31st chapter which is the gopi’s prayers of separation they are the most intense in their devotional forever and those prayers are started by Shukadeva Goswami with a generic describer Shri Gopya Uchuhu. So uvach is singular. Uchuhu is plural.
So Shri Gopya Uchuhu. So the gopis said So now is it that when all those prayers are described. One of those prayers is the famous Tavakathamritam Taptajeevanam This is a very famous prayer which talks about how the devotees glorify the supreme lord and they extinguish the blazing fire of material existence.
So when the gopis are singing these prayers starting from jayatite dhikam janmanam rajam. So like that they recite various prayers. So are all the gopis actually collectively singing these prayers? Have they all thought of it? Have they done some rehearsal of all these prayers so that they can all recite in chorus? No Actually speaking, Jiva Goswami in Gopal Champu analyses each prayer and he describes based on the knowledge of the mentality, on the attitude, the heart of each devotee he says this prayer is said by Lalita Devi.
This prayer is said by Vishakha Devi. This prayer is said by Radharani This prayer is said by Champaklata. So he describes that.
But the point is Shukadeva Goswami was describing all the gopis have one common aspiration. They are all heartbroken in separation from Krishna and they all are longing for Krishna to come back and all the gopis, whatever prayers they are offering they are intended to call Krishna back So there is that unity. The unity is that they all love Krishna, they all want Krishna to reappear but at the same time every gopi has their heart and from her heart’s longing comes forth a prayer a prayer that begs to Krishna, please come back So this is a symphony of love.
In a symphony there are all different musical instruments but there is a main orchestrator where all the instruments come together and produce a magnificent musical performance. So like that all the gopis they are individuals so they are all different but at the same time they are one in their desire to love Krishna to call to Krishna to appear and to serve Him and please Him. So this is how in the spiritual realm there is not just unity in diversity, there is diversity in unity also.
So the gopis there is ekatvam in what sense they all love Krishna, they all want to please Krishna but the ekatvam is not a barren oneness the ekatvam is a fertile reciprocation, it’s a rich reciprocation and that is what the Vedic scriptures ultimately lead to. Now we may say that where is this given in the Ishopanishad? Actually the Upanishads are transitional literature they take people from material forms to spiritual forms so they will hint at the personal aspect and we will see this as we go in the last section of the Ishopanishad more clearly where we will see from mantras 14 to 18 how the personal aspect of the Lord is invoked and absolute to the soul. Please reveal your face.
So please show your face, please show your true nature please remove the covering so that is actually talking about something very deep and what is that deep thing being talked about? That is that the Lord has a personal form but that personal form is not talked about in the Upanishads. So Srila Prabhupada is giving us the full understanding of ekatvam based on not just what the Upanishads are talking about but based on what the full body of Vedic literature is talking about. Now let’s move forward so here Srila Prabhupada hints at the example of the river, the drop and the ocean this is the drop is one in quality the drop is different in quantity so the impersonalists often take this example and they say ok they take the ocean metaphor and they use it normally for the river.
So when the river goes into the ocean the river merges into the ocean and like that all of us have to go to the absolute truth and we merge into the absolute truth so this is also a very visually evocative metaphor. Imagine a river rushing down and entering the river so people think this is the goal of spiritual life that we have to merge into the absolute truth however this example of river going to the ocean it doesn’t just talk about merging it actually talks about meeting. So there is an aspect of this metaphor that is completely neglected by the impersonalists and that aspect is talked about in the Vedic literature repeatedly, especially in the Bhakti literature that aspect is the flow aspect so the devotees talk about let my heart flow towards Krishna so actually this metaphor, the same river ocean metaphor comes twice in the Srimad Bhagavatam once it comes in 3.29.11 where the Lord is describing the characteristics of His devotees and second time it comes in 1.8.42 where the devotee is calling out to the Lord and the devotee is praying to the Lord, my dear Lord please allow me to love you.
So let’s look at these two metaphors these two expressions so this is 3.29.11 here Kapil Dev is instructing His mother Devahuti and He is describing the characteristics of His devotees and He says Ganga Ambasa is the water of Ganga moves towards the ocean. Similarly when my devotees hear about my glories they hear about me and I am in their heart. So what happens their consciousness is drawn towards me without any distraction, without any obstacles just as the river flows towards the ocean what flows? They said the mind of the devotee flows It is not that the devotee emerges.
So Lord is saying He is describing His pure devotees and glorifying them that their consciousness flows towards me just as the river flows towards the ocean Now the same example this is from the Lord’s perspective Now Kunti Maharani also prays the same thing from her perspective So 1 in 842 she says that My dear Lord let my consciousness flow towards you just as the Ganga flows towards the ocean So now in this 1842 purport Vishwanath Chakravartha gives a very beautiful insight He says that when a river flows towards the ocean two things happen that when the river flows towards the ocean the river holds nothing back and nothing holds the river back What does it mean? And he says similarly a devotee holds nothing back and nothing holds a devotee back So a river holds nothing back means that when the river is flowing towards the ocean the river doesn’t think Oh I want to keep some water for myself The river lets all its water flow towards the ocean and similarly when the river is flowing towards the ocean nothing holds the river back means there may be some obstacle so the river will go down below the obstacle, around the obstacle to the right around the obstacle towards the left above the obstacle the river will somehow or the other find its way beyond the obstacle sometimes it may just go right through the obstacle pushing it apart, eroding it, burrowing it whatever way so just as a river moves towards the ocean similarly the devotee actually the devotee’s mind goes towards Krishna so a devotee holds nothing back and nothing holds a devotee back so nothing holds a devotee back refers to external obstacles in the path of devotional service and a devotee holds nothing back refers to the internal commitment to devotional service so nothing holds a devotee back means no matter how difficult the situation may be a devotee finds some way to keep serving Krishna some way to keep remembering Krishna so sometimes a devotee may get some accident because of which the devotee may not be able to serve the Lord physically the devotee will find some other service, even if I am not physically steady let me find some other way by which I can serve Krishna sometimes a devotee may not be able to speak, the throat may get spoilt devotee may not be able to chant, devotee can chant in the mind the devotee can think of the deities, we can even do manas puja even if you are not able to physically do services you can do manas puja and keep serving Krishna that way so nothing holds a devotee back there are many occasions when devotees are put in very difficult situations because of their determination to practise devotional service in places where the culture and the people were hostile to the practise of devotional service so once the devotees were distributing books in America and in a particular city there were the mayor and there was the sheriff and the mayor had given permission to the devotees to distribute books but the mayor and sheriff had a cross with each other and the mayor had gone outstation and the sheriff was there and the police reported these devotees are dancing and singing and they are creating a nuisance and the sheriff said arrest them and the devotees were arrested and put in jail just for distributing books and then when they were in the jail, actually it was Sunday morning and they were planning to go back to the temple and there was going to be a Sunday feast and they were dancing, singing and feasting and all that was there so what the devotees decided that they were so crestfallen initially that we will not be able to go back to the temple, we have been away from the temple for so long but then one of them got the idea that actually Krishna accepts Manas Puja also, so let us have a Sunday feast in the jail we will have a Manas Sunday feast so all the devotees had to say, I will cook puris I will cook pakoras, I will cook pulava, I will cook halwa I will cook paneer sabji and all the devotees got busy cooking and they became so busy in their mind, they were planning preparing and praying, let this cook, let this get cooked deliciously and all of them were busy cooking and then in the jail itself they had a real Sunday feast a senior devotee gave a class over there and after that they had real kirtans and then when they sat down for feasting so all the devotees sat down and some devotees were serving and when the devotees had Sunday feast over there normally the devotees, when we have Sunday feast the item that we like there is sometimes too less or even we like them and they are a lot also, we can’t eat them enough so devotees said this was the best Sunday feast we ever had no item was in shortage and nobody suffered from digestive problems so now the devotees are jubilantly doing this sort of Manas Sunday feast and they were happy and the guards in the prison they were watching what are these devotees doing? they look like crazy but actually they are happy they are inside the jail, we are outside and we are not as happy as they are, what are they doing? and as they were doing like this the temple president of the temple contacted the mayor and got the permission and then they got a letter and the letter came and the devotees were released from the jail and they came out of the jail and they went to the Sunday programme and they had a real feast over there also so the point is that nothing holds a devotee back a devotee can keep serving Krishna in any and every situation Sri Prabhupada, even when he was old so old and so sickly that practically his voice was not audible but still his consciousness was clear, he was thinking of Krishna and the devotees were keeping a dictaphone right next to his lips and he was dictating and he was giving his commentary on the Srimad Bhagavatam so this is the glory of an exalted devotee, nothing holds a devotee back and similarly a devotee holds nothing back that means just as a river does not hold any water back all its water it offers to the ocean similarly a devotee offers everything to Krishna so all the heart in 5.17 in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna describes how one’s buddhi, one’s faith, one’s mind one’s goal everything one offers one moves swiftly and quickly on the path back to Godhead so in this way this is actually the essence of this river-ocean metaphor it is not merging but it is meeting and meeting means meeting in a way that nothing can stop in fact the same example of river and ocean is used even by the Yajik Brahmin patnis in the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam in chapter 23 the Yajik Brahmin patnis and they come to Krishna and Krishna tells them please go back, I am happy that you have come and you have offered this food, I accept it, now you can go back so Kavi Karnapur in Anandavan Champu has elaborated on this pastime based on his divine realisations and he says that the Yajik Brahmin patni is described to Krishna Krishna, you are telling us to go back how can we go back? When a river leaves the mountain and comes to the ocean how can the river go back to the mountain? The river must stay with the ocean the river must stay with the ocean, the river cannot go back and Krishna is moved by the devotion and he says yes, you don’t have to go back your hearts will always be with me you have come here, you have offered your hearts you have offered your whole being to me, I accept your hearts but because you are already married because you are Brahmin patnis I request you that I have accepted your hearts but the way I want you to serve me is by going back and doing your duties so actually you are not going back, the river that has come to the ocean the meeting has happened and the meeting is forever meeting of the hearts is going to be forever but because of social obligation you go and continue your duties and I will be there with you in your heart so the point is ekatvam is not simplistic that we just go into the, the river goes into the ocean merges into the ocean and everything is finished no, the ekatvam is dynamic, it’s constantly it’s not a merging but a meeting when two people are in love, they are two and yet they are one they are two as individuals but they are one in heart they both want to please each other they want to have a constant meeting of the hearts so that is the essence of the ekatvam metaphor and this is the meaning which is revealed in the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Puranas which actually clarify and illuminate what is being taught in the Upanishads over here so now let’s look at the verse further so the verse is essentially talking about Anupashyati so what is Anupashyati? one person sees oneness so what is that oneness? yesterday we discussed about how oneness is with respect to the potentiality of the students not the qualification of the teacher so now this Anupashyatah so actually if somebody just had to see ekatvam to see oneness is not difficult Prabhupada gives the example that when there is dark we see nothing and everything seems to be one at that time now if there is a dark over here I would see nothing and everything is one but when light comes then I see oh there is a wall here there is a computer here, there is a chair here so then I understand oh there is variety also so actually if one just has to see oneness that is possible at a spiritual level that is actually the preliminary spiritual vision but Anupashyatah means one sees that there is a variety within the oneness also so ekatvam anupashyatah not just ekatvam pashyatah, ekatvam anupashyatah so now we will look at the way there can be different objects and there can be different visions towards the object and this brings about different consequences so let us look at this so there is object which will be material or spiritual there is vision which will be material or spiritual and depending on the particular combination there will be a particular consequence and we will give an example of that so firstly the object is material and the vision is material then the consequence is that there is bondage so for example a man sees a woman and he sees not a soul but he is in a good looking form a woman sees a man and she does not see a soul she just sees a male form then what happens in such situations a man sees a woman as a sex machine, a woman sees a man as an ATM machine and both of them have material vision so what it leads to is pradaya granthimahu, it leads to bondage so people get attracted to sense objects so with a material object and a material vision that leads to bondage and that is what is predominantly there for most people now the second possibility is that the object is material and we have a spiritual vision to that and then with such a vision there is purification utility is the principle so for example now we have a laptop here we have a projector we have various technological devices the technological devices themselves are material but we see them as the energy of Krishna and we see them as meant for Krishna’s service so when the object is seen with a spiritual vision then it can engage in Krishna’s service and by engaging in Krishna’s service there is purification that happens so the underlying point is that utility is the principle for this so Srila Prabhupada demonstrated this in a very graphic way Srila Prabhupada started the first ISKCON centre in New York and then he went to San Francisco and Srila Prabhupada was always thinking of newer and newer ways to engage devotees in Krishna’s service Srila Prabhupada writes in one purport that actually this Krishna consciousness movement was practically invented by me invented means what? not that he wrote the Bhagavad Gita, no, the Bhagavad Gita was there, the Vedic scriptures were there but how to get people to practise devotional service how to engage them practically Rupa Goswami says that somehow or the other think of Krishna Padma Purana also says but how to get people who have whose only regularity principle was to break the regularity principles so how to get such people to actually start practising devotional service to think of Krishna so it is not easy so for such people Prabhupada thought of many ways and one of the ways was the brilliant Rath Yatra festival that he came up with so the Rath Yatra festival became immensely popular because the hippies at that time they liked to dance and sing and do wild things and the wildest of all things was you dance in front of a on the right in a public street and you are just pulling a chariot and having fun so earlier if they would have done that they would have been arrested but when Srila Prabhupada started Rath Yatra the hippies were dancing and singing on the streets and they were escorted by the police because it was a cultural festival coming from an ancient tradition so this was Srila Prabhupada’s genius but how did the Rath Yatra festival start? One day in San Francisco in the balcony of the temple the quarters where he was staying Srila Prabhupada was chanting and walking along and he saw a truck, a flatbed truck so all of us have seen flatbed trucks many times Srila Prabhupada saw the flatbed truck and he saw that as a pedestal for putting Jagannath Baldev Subhadra and he thought if you put Jagannath Baldev Subhadra here and then tie it and get people to pull it and that way we can have Rath Yatra festival and then from that time onwards that’s how Jagannath Yatra festival started so this is a material object which Srila Prabhupada saw as the spiritual vision and that led to the purification for so many people like that now third possibility is that there is a spiritual object and there is a material vision to that so if this happens then there is Aparadh there is offence there is a famous verse in the Padma Purana which says that if we see the deity to be stone then that is Naraki Buddhi that is hellish mentality, that is offensive it will lead to suffering so actually speaking what happens when we see the deity as material somebody may say but the deity is made of material elements how can I not see the deity as material yes the deity is made of material elements but the deity is no longer material because Krishna has manifested over there so here the point is to not see the transcendental element at all and to reduce that which is transcendental to the material platform that is an offensive vision so because of this offensive vision many people get misled and when they get misled they commit Aparadh and they suffer so to see the deity materially is to miss out on the enormous spiritual potential that is available for devotional advancement which can be got by worshipping the deity so the essence of offence is to see something spiritual materially so for example some people may say that actually my spiritual master is more advanced why? because my spiritual master was born from a Brahmin family and your spiritual master is born in a low caste family this is an offensive vision we should not see the Jati of Vaishnava actually devotees, especially advanced devotees who have now become advanced enough to be spiritual masters they have practised devotional service for decades and to consider them as lower or higher just based on their background which was long a long time ago that is an erroneous vision, seriously erroneous vision so we are not, yes they may have skin of a particular colour they may have come from a particular background but that is only the external shell the heart is a heart that has been sold out to Krishna for decades and if we don’t see that devotional side and just see the external material side then we are committing a serious mistake so to not see the material, to not see the spiritual to see the material and to highlight the material to the exclusion of the spiritual that is offensive so by offence at best we miss out on spiritual advancement so if I don’t see the deity as spiritual, what will happen? I won’t pray to the deity, I won’t get the blessings of the deity to the same extent and I will miss out on spiritual advancement at worst if I see the deity as material I can commit grievous sins and that will lead to further suffering so actually the spiritual objects should be seen with spiritual vision so that means when we look at the deity we see the deity as Krishna so now what will happen by this? This will also lead to purification and it will even lead to ecstasy so for us in the initial stages of bhakti it leads to purification and in the advanced stages it leads to ecstasy that means, so if we move forward purification means, say for example when you go and take darshan of the deities so when we take darshan of the deities it is said that we should offer obeisances actually for the advanced devotees they don’t have the rule that they should offer obeisances because when my beloved lord is appearing as soon as the curtain opens because of their love for Krishna they faint in ecstasy and fall down that is the extent of their love just the beholding of the deity which is non-different from Krishna causes them to faint in ecstasy so for us we don’t faint and fall but at least we should fall at least bow down to the deity so the idea is that for us by seeing the spiritual object spiritually we will be able to make spiritual advancement, we will become purified so now when we say there is spiritual and there is material there is the spiritual vision towards both so is the deity material? No, the deity is not material it is actually spiritual because Krishna has manifested through the deity and we see the spiritual object spiritually there is so much spiritual potency in that and we make rapid spiritual advancement by this so anupashyat ekatvam anupashyatah means what? to see everything spiritually to see everything spiritually means, now if you look at this table we will see that the material vision creates problems the material vision towards material objects creates bondage because we think they are for my enjoyment and material vision towards spiritual objects also creates problems creates suffering because we commit aparad that means we see that this is just material and we disrespect it so in both cases the material vision creates problems so it is the spiritual vision that is recommended and the spiritual vision towards material objects and spiritual vision towards spiritual objects leads to purification leads to elevation so now spiritual vision towards spiritual objects does not mean a simplistic whitewash of everything as spiritual it is not that everything is spiritual no, the philosophy begins first with differentiating, this is matter, this is spirit I am not the body, I am the soul before Srila Prabhupada went to America there were many spiritual teachers who went and they often emphasised aham brahmasmi and even among the hippies, aham brahmasmi was a popular saying aham brahmasmi, aham brahmasmi, I am spirit I am spirit, I am spirit but Srila Prabhupada was the first spiritual teacher who categorically emphasised the practical application of aham brahmasmi aham brahmasmi means you are not the body and therefore give up sense gratification this was something which practically nobody else taught I am a soul, that is fine, but how will I realise that I am the soul if I am still enjoying bodily pleasures I am caught up with material desires then I will stay in bodily consciousness and if I stay in bodily consciousness my repetition of aham brahmasmi is not going to lead to much benefit for me so the practical application of aham brahmasmi is you are not the body, therefore minimise sense gratification, give up sense gratification as much as possible. So Srila Prabhupada helped us to apply spiritual principles practically so we can’t whitewash everything as spiritual I can’t say the body is spiritual so I have to discriminate, this is prasad this is not prasad, I can’t say all food is spiritual so the ABC of spiritual life is to discriminate based on knowledge this is material, this is spiritual now when we advance further then we also see in the material the potential to be engaged in the service of the supreme spiritual reality that is Krishna so that is what we mean by to cease with spiritual vision so we don’t reject technology because technology can be used in Krishna’s service some impersonalists reject money but Srila Prabhupada said no, money is Lakshmi Devi and Lakshmi Devi is meant for Narayan so actually Hanuman did not reject Sita thinking that she was material he went and found Sita and brought Sita back to Ram brought Sita’s message back to Ram and then fought a war so that Sita could be united with Ram similarly a devotee does not reject this material energy especially the material energy and those material things that can be used in Krishna’s service a devotee works actively to engage them in Krishna’s service so we have to find out what among the material things are useful, are usable in Krishna’s service and use those in Krishna’s service now not everything material may be usable now prasad is food that we can take if there is poison, poison is also material energy but if I take poison that will not be unequal to my bhakti so I cannot use that in Krishna’s service so then I don’t use it so when we say see everything with spiritual vision that means see in everything the potential to be used in Krishna’s service and then use it appropriately so how different things can be used in Krishna’s service that will vary depending on our spiritual advancement, our specific service our circumstances, we may be able to engage certain things in Krishna’s service we may not be able to engage certain things in Krishna’s service but spiritual vision is ekatvam is what actually Prabhupada saw the whole world as ekatvam what is that ekatvam? The whole world is filled with potential devotees everybody is a soul who is actually a devotee of Krishna just there is some covering and if the covering is removed then everybody will become a devotee so this was Srila Prabhupada’s ekatvam vision many of the other devotees Srila Prabhupada’s god brothers they were also in many ways advanced devotees but when they went abroad they went to Europe and they got some success in meeting with the light people and getting their photographs clicked and giving some discourses which were very much appreciated but as far as transforming the hearts of people were concerned they were not very successful and then they came back and told their spiritual master Bhakti Sudhanshu Thakur these Europeans they can’t be changed, they are too much rooted in their culture, they can’t change them so when Srila Prabhupada went to America what did he see? In the Jaladuta when he was there in the last few days he came to Boston Harbour he wrote the song Markine Bhagwat Dharma and there for an Indian who is going to America, America is the land of dreams for most Indians and they are so excited, I will see so many things and there will be so much enjoyment but Prabhupada did not see wealthy, prosperous happy Americans, he saw forgetful suffering souls being pulled by the modes of passion, ignorance and he said my dear lord please give me the words that will be understandable to them that will enable them to understand your message and become happy so this was the ekatvam vision Srila Prabhupada did not see those people as Americans did not think I am an Indian, they are Americans he saw their cultural situation their social situation how that was keeping them away from Krishna but he saw beyond that, he saw beyond their social and cultural conditioning to their souls and he prayed to Krishna please let my message reach their souls and elevate them so the ekatvam of a true seer is not whitewashing everything as spiritual it is seeing the spiritual beyond the material that the material is there and the material has to be dealt with but beyond the material side there is the spiritual side and that spiritual side has to be elevated, engaged in the best possible way and Srila Prabhupada is an expert in that that’s how he was able to get thousands and thousands of people who knew nothing about Krishna just a few weeks ago a few weeks later they had given up everything and dedicated their lives to Krishna this happened because Srila Prabhupada saw the spiritual vision saw with spiritual vision the spiritual potential and he kindled that spiritual potential and that spark it just blazed and then that spread Krishna consciousness so dramatically miraculously all over the world this is real ekatvam that we aspire for rather than seeing external conditionings of people, we focus on their essence when we go for book distribution, when we go for outreach we don’t focus on how people look yes, we want to distribute Krishna consciousness to everyone and if anybody has some spark of interest we try to guide those people to come to Krishna in the best possible way that is there for them in that situation this is ekatvam, see the whole world as filled with the potential to be engaged in Krishna’s service see all souls as potentially Krishna’s devotees just waiting for their spark of devotion to be triggered refuelled and fanned by some devotee who comes fortunately into their lives so I’ll summarise, we started by discussing about primarily the whole class is about ekatvam about oneness so let’s go over the big pitty ones so we discussed first about how this purport of oneness between energy and energetic and in this we discussed the fire example so first we discussed about how oneness in quality with absolute truth means detachment but subordination in quantity to absolute truth makes humility so we discussed about shikshashtakam, first there is dronadapi sunjana then there is nadhanam, najanam, sundari so bhaktas emphasise humility more than detachment and then bhagwan and shakti, we discussed the fire and light example which talks about how energy and energetic are related they are different yet non-different and then for the concept of difference between the energies jiva goswami gives the example of sun, god and the sun’s radiance, sun’s rays and sun’s reflection referring to the antaranga shakti, the tatastha shakti and the bhairanga shakti and then we discussed about how the complete oneness is not just unity in diversity but diversity in unity also all the gopis, they are united in their love for krishna but each of them are individual and unique and the oneness of the river ocean metaphor is not the oneness of merging but the oneness of meeting just as the river always flows towards the ocean similarly a devotee’s heart always flows towards krishna nothing holds a devotee back, a devotee holds nothing back and lastly we discussed elaborately about seeing everything with a spiritual vision so if we see metal objects with a metal vision that causes bondage if we see metal objects with a spiritual vision then we can become purified by engaging those objects in devotional service if we see spiritual objects with a metal vision we commit aparajas if we see spiritual objects with a spiritual vision in the sadhaka stage it will bring out purification and as we become more advanced it will bring ecstasy and lastly we discussed seeing with a spiritual vision doesn’t mean whitewashing everything as spiritual but it means seeing everything as potential having the potential to be engaged in krishna’s service seeing everyone as potentially becoming krishna’s devotees and then engaging them appropriately thank you very much