Īśo 3

असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसाऽऽवृताः।
ताँस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः॥३॥

asuryā nāma te lokā
andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ
tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti
ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ

asuryāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigasuryah

meant for the asuras.—meant for the asuras; nāmaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bignama

a dancing appearance of the player, technically known as udghātyaka.—famous by the name; teplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigte

all; all of them (the demigods and demons); all of them (the demigods and the demons); all of them; all of those; all the gopas; all the asuric ministers; all the demigods; all the demigods and demons; all the demons; all the great sages; all the Pracetās; all the sons; all the sons of Jamadagni; all the watchmen; all those; all those persons who arrived; also from you; as desired by you; by him; by them; by You; for you; for your; from you; in your possession; Lord Paraśurāma's mother and brothers; of the two divisions; of them; of you (mother Ganges); of You (O dear Lord); of you; of Your good self; of Your Lordship; of yourself; speaking to you; such; such as you; such austerity and knowledge; such household life; such persons; such pure devotees are fully satisfied; that; that is; the gopīs and gopas; the hotā, brahmā and other priests; the cowherd men and ladies; the demigods; the demons (Yakṣas and Rākṣasas); the demons; the Gandharvas; the great sages (the Kumāras); the husbands; the men of Kārtavīryārjuna; the Pracetās; the Pāṇḍavas; the sages; the sons of Kārtavīryārjuna; the Yakṣas; their; therefore; these; these sons (the Savalāśvas); they; they are; to you; unto you; with you; You; your; Your Lordship; your request; Your service; yours; yourself.—those; lokāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biglokah

all living entities; all the planets; all the universes; all the world; and the universe; any person; conditioned souls; everyone; everyone in every planet; in this world; materialistic people in general; people; people in general; persons; planet; promotion to higher planets; such less intelligent persons; the conditioned souls; the general mass of people; the general public; the people; the people in general; the people of the world; the planet; the planetary system; the planets; the whole creation; the world; this material world (where one desires all kinds of impermanent things); this world; universe; world.—planets; andhenaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigandhena

by dense darkness; by ignorance.—by ignorance; tamasāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtamasa

as well as by the mode of ignorance; by darkness; by darkness of ignorance; by ignorance; by illusion; by the darkness; by the darkness of ignorance; by the demon of ignorance personified; by the mode of darkness; in sleep; overwhelmed by the mode of ignorance; which is surrounded by ignorance.—by darkness; āvṛtāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigavrtah

being covered; being surrounded; bound; captured; covered; is covered; surrounded.—covered; tānplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtan

about them; all of them; all the demigods and demons; all the members; all the saintly persons; all the sons; all the Yakṣas; all those; all those boys; arrows; as they came there; materialistic activities; such conditions; such persons; such principles; such rogues and ruffians; that those calves were going away; the class friends; the demons and Rākṣasas; the lotus feet of the Lord; their; them (family members); them (the demigods); them (the soldiers of the demigods); them (the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa known as the Savalāśvas); them (the trees); them; they are; things created by the material energy; those; those benedictions; those persons; those planets; those reciters; those same persons; those sense objects; those Yakṣas; to all of them; to the demigods; to the order carriers of Lord Viṣṇu; to them; unto all of them; unto the demigods; unto the Kumāras, as above mentioned; unto the materially attached persons; unto the Pracetās; unto them (the demigods); unto them (the lamenting queens); unto them (the sons of the demons); unto them.—those planets; teplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigte

all; all of them (the demigods and demons); all of them (the demigods and the demons); all of them; all of those; all the gopas; all the asuric ministers; all the demigods; all the demigods and demons; all the demons; all the great sages; all the Pracetās; all the sons; all the sons of Jamadagni; all the watchmen; all those; all those persons who arrived; also from you; as desired by you; by him; by them; by You; for you; for your; from you; in your possession; Lord Paraśurāma's mother and brothers; of the two divisions; of them; of you (mother Ganges); of You (O dear Lord); of you; of Your good self; of Your Lordship; of yourself; speaking to you; such; such as you; such austerity and knowledge; such household life; such persons; such pure devotees are fully satisfied; that; that is; the gopīs and gopas; the hotā, brahmā and other priests; the cowherd men and ladies; the demigods; the demons (Yakṣas and Rākṣasas); the demons; the Gandharvas; the great sages (the Kumāras); the husbands; the men of Kārtavīryārjuna; the Pracetās; the Pāṇḍavas; the sages; the sons of Kārtavīryārjuna; the Yakṣas; their; therefore; these; these sons (the Savalāśvas); they; they are; to you; unto you; with you; You; your; Your Lordship; your request; Your service; yours; yourself.—they; pretyaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigpretya

after death; after dying; destination after death; dying.—after death; abhigacchantiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigabhigacchanti

enter into.—enter into; 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.—anyone; keplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigke

who; every one of you; everyone; who; who are; who are they; who is; who were.—everyone; caplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigca

ca; all these; also; also other bodily forms; also that I have not been able to ask; and (the five gross material elements and the ten acting and knowledge-gathering senses); and; and also; and Devahūti; and for all; and the paraphernalia; as also; as much as; as well; as well as; but; certainly; either; however; indeed; only; or; over and above; respectively; the word ca; this word ca; thus; totally; unlimitedly; verily.—and; ātmaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigatma

and of the soul; and of the Supersoul (Paramātmā); and the mind; body; by a manifestation of Yourself; by the body and mind; by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; by themselves; by Yourself; heart; Himself; his; in Himself; in the body; in the living entities; into the self; living being; mind; of all living entities; of Himself; of one's self; of spiritual knowledge; of the mind; of the mind and senses; of the soul; of the Supreme; one's own; own; personal; self; self-realized; soul; spirit; Supersoul; the body and mind; the devotees are the Lord's heart and soul; the mind; the mind and body; the self; the spirit; the Supersoul; the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Supreme Self; the tree of work; to the body; upon the Supersoul; within; Yourself; ātmā.-hanaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bighanaḥ

the killers of the soul.—the killers of the soul; janāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigjanah

a foolish person; a person; a person who is not a bona fide guru (an ordinary person); all the people; any person; anyone; every living entity within this material world; human society; man; men; people in general; person; persons; such a person; the conditioned soul; the conditioned soul subjected to birth and death; the Janaloka planet; the Janaloka planetary system; the people in general; the person; the planetary system above Mahar; they.—persons. ¶

The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance. ¶

Human life is distinguished from animal life due to its heavy responsibilities. Those who are cognizant of these responsibilities and who work in that spirit are called suras (godly persons), and those who are neglectful of these responsibilities or who have no information of them are called asuras (demons). Throughout the universe there are only these two types of human being. In the Ṛg Veda it is stated that the suras always aim at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu and act accordingly. Their ways are as illuminated as the path of the sun. ¶

Intelligent human beings must always remember that the soul obtains a human form after an evolution of many millions of years in the cycle of transmigration. The material world is sometimes compared to an ocean, and the human body is compared to a solid boat designed especially to cross this ocean. The Vedic scriptures and the ācāryas, or saintly teachers, are compared to expert boatmen, and the facilities of the human body are compared to favorable breezes that help the boat ply smoothly to its desired destination. If, with all these facilities, a human being does not fully utilize his life for self-realization, he must be considered ātma-hā, a killer of the soul. Śrī Īśopaniṣad warns in clear terms that the killer of the soul is destined to enter into the darkest region of ignorance to suffer perpetually. ¶

There are swine, dogs, camels, asses, etc., whose economic necessities are just as important to them as ours are to us, but the economic problems of these animals are solved only under nasty and unpleasant conditions. The human being is given all facilities for a comfortable life by the laws of nature because the human form of life is more important and valuable than animal life. Why is man given a better life than that of the swine and other animals? Why is a highly placed government servant given better facilities than those of an ordinary clerk? The answer is that a highly placed officer has to discharge duties of a higher nature. Similarly, the duties human beings have to perform are higher than those of animals, who are always engaged in simply feeding their hungry stomachs. Yet the modern soul-killing civilization has only increased the problems of the hungry stomach. When we approach a polished animal in the form of a modern civilized man and ask him to take interest in self-realization, he will say that he simply wants to work to satisfy his stomach and that there is no need of self-realization for a hungry man. The laws of nature are so cruel, however, that despite his denunciation of the need for self-realization and his eagerness to work hard to fill his stomach, he is always threatened by unemployment. ¶

We are given this human form of life not to work hard like asses, swine and dogs but to attain the highest perfection of life. If we do not care for self-realization, the laws of nature force us to work very hard, even though we may not want to do so. Human beings in this age have been forced to work hard like the asses and bullocks that pull carts. Some of the regions where the asuras are sent to work are revealed in this verse of Śrī Īśopaniṣad. If a man fails to discharge his duties as a human being, he is forced to transmigrate to the asurya planets and take birth in degraded species of life to work hard in ignorance and darkness. ¶

In the Bhagavad-gītā (6.41-43)plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigBhagavad-gītā As It Is 6.41

The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy. it is stated that a man who enters upon the path of self-realization but does not complete the process, despite having sincerely tried to realize his relationship with God, is given a chance to appear in a family of śuci or śrīmat. The word śuci indicates a spiritually advanced brāhmaṇa, and śrīmat indicates a vaiśya, a member of the mercantile community. So the person who fails to achieve self-realization is given a better chance in his next life due to his sincere efforts in this life. If even a fallen candidate is given a chance to take birth in a respectable and noble family, one can hardly imagine the status of one who has achieved success. By simply attempting to realize God, one is guaranteed birth in a wealthy or aristocratic family. But those who do not even make an attempt, who want to be covered by illusion, who are too materialistic and too attached to material enjoyment, must enter into the darkest regions of hell, as confirmed throughout the Vedic literature. Such materialistic asuras sometimes make a show of religion, but their ultimate aim is material prosperity. The Bhagavad-gītā (16.17plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigBhagavad-gītā As It Is 16.17

Self-complacent and always impudent, deluded by wealth and false prestige, they sometimes perform sacrifices in name only without following any rules or regulations.-18)plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigBhagavad-gītā As It Is 16.18

Bewildered by false ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, the demon becomes envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated in his own body and in the bodies of others, and blasphemes against the real religion. rebukes such men by calling them ātma-sambhāvita, meaning that they are considered great only on the strength of deception and are empowered by the votes of the ignorant and by their own material wealth. Such asuras, devoid of self-realization and knowledge of īśāvāsya, the Lord’s universal proprietorship, are certain to enter into the darkest regions. ¶

The conclusion is that as human beings we are meant not simply for solving economic problems on a tottering platform but for solving all the problems of the material life into which we have been placed by the laws of nature. ¶