Īśo 10

अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्ययाऽन्यदाहुरविद्यया।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे॥१०॥

anyad evāhur vidyayā-
nyad āhur avidyayā
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ
ye nas tad vicacakṣire

anyatplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biganyat

another; any other; anyone else; anything else; anything more; anything other than You; different; differently; else; more; other; other causes; other material happinesses; other things; others; some other reason or accident; something else; yet You are everything.—different; evaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigeva

alone; also; also the word eva; although; as; as it is; as it were; as much as; as they are; at all; at that time; certainly; certainly,; certainty; completely; definitely; even; ever; exactly; exactly like; factually; Himself; immediately; in fact; in this way; indeed; it is all like that; just; just so; like; like that; like this; of course; on the very; only; quite; simply; so; surely; the word eva; they are; thus; truly; undoubtedly; very; without doubt.—certainly; āhuḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigāhuḥ

all the learned scholars say; are called; declare; have said; is called; is known; is said; is spoken; it is said; it is so said; learned scholars say; said; say; says; speak; the gopīs said; they began to say; they call; they said; they say.—said; vidplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvid

by culture of knowledge.-yayāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigyaya

as much as; by her; by such activities; by such knowledge; by such material opulence; by the material energy; by this qualification; by which (the spiritual armor); by which; by which material opulence; by whom (by the illusory energy); by whom; that by which.—by culture of knowledge; anyatplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biganyat

another; any other; anyone else; anything else; anything more; anything other than You; different; differently; else; more; other; other causes; other material happinesses; other things; others; some other reason or accident; something else; yet You are everything.—different; āhuḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigāhuḥ

all the learned scholars say; are called; declare; have said; is called; is known; is said; is spoken; it is said; it is so said; learned scholars say; said; say; says; speak; the gopīs said; they began to say; they call; they said; they say.—said; avidyayāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigavidyayā

because of ignorance; because of less intelligence; by culture of nescience; by ignorance; by nescience; by the external, illusory energy; influenced by nescience.—by culture of nescience; itiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigiti

thus; all these; also; and so on; as; as such; considering all these things; considering in that way; here; in this way (after giving everything to the brāhmaṇas); in this way; it is thus; known by these names; like that; like this; so it is; such; taking it as; that; therefore; they; this; thus (Hariścandra said); thus (saying out of contempt); thus (thinking in the above-mentioned way); thus (thinking); thus; thus accepted; thus accepting the words of Lord Brahmā; thus deciding; thus stated; thus thinking; thus vituperating.—thus; śuśrumaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigśuśruma

have heard; I have heard; I have heard by the paramparā system; I heard; I heard it; we have heard.—I heard; dhīrāṇāmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigdhīrāṇām

from the sober; from the undisturbed authorities; of great sages; of the greatest learned persons; of the perfect beings.—from the sober; yeplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigye

all; all of them; all of them who; all of which (duration of life, opulence, etc.); all of which; all of which persons; all of whom; all of you; all of you who; all such; all such devotees who; all that; all these; all they; all those; all those persons who; all those who; all who; also others who; although; anyone; anyone who; as also others; as we are; both of whom; certainly; even those; he who; his; indeed; one; one who; one who is; others; others who; persons who; since; so that; some of the demons who; such persons; such persons who; that; that one who; that which; the devotees who; the one who; the one who is; the person who; they; they who; those brāhmaṇas who; those; those devotees; those devotees of Mine who; those devotees who; those persons; those persons who; those Vaikuṇṭha persons; those which; those who (are); those who; those who are; what; whatever; whatever they are; which; which desires; which others; which personalities; which persons; which two parts; who; who are; who is; who were; whoever.—who; naḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bignah

among ourselves; among us; as we are; by us (Brahmā and the other demigods); by us; for us; like us (who are so engaged); like us; my; not; of all of us; of all of us demons; of ourselves; of us; our; ours; ourselves; to me; to us; toward us; unto me; unto us; upon us; us (the demigods); us; us demigods; we; with us.—to us; tatplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtat

establishment of the statement tat tvam asi.—that; vicacakṣireplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvicacakṣire

explained; perfectly explained.—explained. ¶

The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge and that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience. ¶

As advised in Chapter Thirteen of the Bhagavad-gītā (13.8-12)plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigBhagavad-gītā As It Is 13.8-12

Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance., one should culture knowledge in the following way: ¶

(1) One should become a perfect gentleman and learn to give proper respect to others. ¶

(2) One should not pose himself as a religionist simply for name and fame. ¶

(3) One should not become a source of anxiety to others by the actions of his body, by the thoughts of his mind, or by his words. ¶

(4) One should learn forbearance even in the face of provocation from others. ¶

(5) One should learn to avoid duplicity in his dealings with others. ¶

(6) One should search out a bona fide spiritual master who can lead him gradually to the stage of spiritual realization, and one must submit himself to such a spiritual master, render him service and ask relevant questions. ¶

(7) In order to approach the platform of self-realization, one must follow the regulative principles enjoined in the revealed scriptures. ¶

(8) One must be fixed in the tenets of the revealed scriptures. ¶

(9) One should completely refrain from practices which are detrimental to the interest of self-realization. ¶

(10) One should not accept more than he requires for the maintenance of the body. ¶

(11) One should not falsely identify himself with the gross material body, nor should one consider those who are related to his body to be his own. ¶

(12) One should always remember that as long as he has a material body he must face the miseries of repeated birth, old age, disease and death. There is no use in making plans to get rid of these miseries of the material body. The best course is to find out the means by which one may regain his spiritual identity. ¶

(13) One should not be attached to more than the necessities of life required for spiritual advancement. ¶

(14) One should not be more attached to wife, children and home than the revealed scriptures ¶

ordain. ¶

(15) One should not be happy or distressed over desirables and undesirables, knowing that such feelings are just created by the mind. ¶

(16) One should become an unalloyed devotee of the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and serve Him with rapt attention. ¶

(17) One should develop a liking for residence in a secluded place with a calm and quiet atmosphere favorable for spiritual culture, and one should avoid congested places where nondevotees congregate. ¶

(18) One should become a scientist or philosopher and conduct research into spiritual knowledge, recognizing that spiritual knowledge is permanent whereas material knowledge ends with the death of the body. ¶

These eighteen items combine to form a gradual process by which real knowledge can be developed. Except for these, all other methods are considered to be in the category of nescience. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, a great ācārya, maintained that all forms of material knowledge are merely external features of the illusory energy and that by culturing them one becomes no better than an ass. This same principle is found here in Śrī Īśopaniṣad. By advancement of material knowledge, modern man is simply being converted into an ass. Some materialistic politicians in spiritual guise decry the present system of civilization as satanic, but unfortunately they do not care about the culture of real knowledge as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Thus they cannot change the satanic situation. ¶

In the modern society, even a boy thinks himself self-sufficient and pays no respect to elderly men. Due to the wrong type of education being imparted in our universities, boys all over the world are giving their elders headaches. Thus Śrī Īśopaniṣad very strongly warns that the culture of nescience is different from that of knowledge. The universities are, so to speak, centers of nescience only; consequently scientists are busy discovering lethal weapons to wipe out the existence of other countries. University students today are not given instructions in the regulative principles of brahmacarya (celibate student life), nor do they have any faith in any scriptural injunctions. Religious principles are taught for the sake of name and fame only and not for the sake of practical action. Thus there is animosity not only in social and political fields but in the field of religion as well. ¶

Nationalism has developed in different parts of the world due to the cultivation of nescience by the general people. No one considers that this tiny earth is just a lump of matter floating in immeasurable space along with many other lumps. In comparison to the vastness of space, these material lumps are like dust particles in the air. Because God has kindly made these lumps of matter complete in themselves, they are perfectly equipped with all necessities for floating in space. The drivers of our spaceships may be very proud of their achievements, but they do not consider the supreme driver of these greater, more gigantic spaceships called planets. ¶

There are innumerable suns and innumerable planetary systems also. As infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, we small creatures are trying to dominate these unlimited planets. Thus we take repeated birth and death and are generally frustrated by old age and disease. The span of human life is scheduled for about a hundred years, although it is gradually decreasing to twenty or thirty years. Thanks to the culture of nescience, befooled men have created their own nations within these planets in order to grasp sense enjoyment more effectively for these few years. Such foolish people draw up various plans to render national demarcations perfectly, a task that is totally impossible. Yet for this purpose each and every nation has become a source of anxiety for others. More than fifty percent of a nation’s energy is devoted to defense measures and thus spoiled. No one cares for the cultivation of real knowledge, yet people are falsely proud of being advanced in both material and spiritual knowledge. ¶

Śrī Īśopaniṣad warns us of this faulty type of education, and the Bhagavad-gītā gives instructions as to the development of real knowledge. This mantra states that the instructions of vidyā (knowledge) must be acquired from a dhīra. A dhīra is one who is not disturbed by material illusion. No one can be undisturbed unless he is perfectly spiritually realized, at which time one neither hankers nor laments for anything. A dhīra realizes that the material body and mind he has acquired by chance through material association are but foreign elements; therefore he simply makes the best use of a bad bargain. ¶

The material body and mind are bad bargains for the spiritual living entity. The living entity has actual functions in the living, spiritual world, but this material world is dead. As long as the living spiritual sparks manipulate the dead lumps of matter, the dead world appears to be a living world. Actually it is the living souls, the parts and parcels of the supreme living being, who move the world. The dhīras have come to know all these facts by hearing them from superior authorities and have realized this knowledge by following the regulative principles. ¶

To follow the regulative principles, one must take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. The transcendental message and regulative principles come down from the spiritual master to the disciple. Such knowledge does not come in the hazardous way of nescient education. One can become a dhīra only by submissively hearing from a bona fide spiritual master. Arjuna, for example, became a dhīra by submissively hearing from Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead Himself. Thus 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 vidyā (knowledge) from the dhīra (the undisturbed). ¶

An adhīra (one who has not undergone the training of a dhīra) cannot be an instructive leader. Modern politicians who pose themselves as dhīras are actually adhīras, and one cannot expect perfect knowledge from them. They are simply busy seeing to their own remuneration in dollars and cents. How, then, can they lead the mass of people to the right path of self-realization? Thus one must hear submissively from a dhīra in order to attain actual education. ¶