Listen

anyad evāhuḥ sambhavād
anyad āhur asambhavāt
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ
ye nas tad vicacakṣire

SYNONYMS

anyat—different; eva—certainly; āhuḥ—it is said; sambhavāt—by worshiping the Supreme Lord, the cause of all causes; anyat—different; āhuḥ—it is said; asambhavāt—by worshiping what is not the Supreme; iti—thus; śuśruma—I heard it; dhīrāṇām—from the undisturbed authorities; ye—who; naḥ—unto us; tat—about that subject matter; vicacakṣire—perfectly explained.

TRANSLATION

It is said that one result is obtained by worshiping the supreme cause of all causes and that another result is obtained by worshiping what is not supreme. All this is heard from the undisturbed authorities, who clearly explained it.

PURPORT

The system of receiving the Esoteric Teaching is to hear from a spiritual Master Teacher who is undisturbed by the actions and reactions of the modes of material nature. We can receive the ontological key to realizing transcendental knowledge only from a bona fide acarya, a sober self-realized peron who is never disturbed by the temporary changes of the material world. The bona fide spiritual Master Teacher has also heard the confidential Vedic knowledge from his spiritual Master Teacher. Therefore he presents everything exactly as he has heard and realized it.

yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino ’pi mām

“Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 9.25]

Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly declares that the destination we attain the in next life depends on who we worship in this life. Only the devotees of the Supreme Lord reach Him in His spiritual sky because they worship none but Lord Kṛṣṇa, the supreme cause of all causes. This mantra of Sri Isopanisad confirms that we get different results according to our mode of worship.

Therefore if we want to travel to different planets, we can worship their demigods like the sun-god or moon-god. And if we want to remain on this miserable earth planet with its exploitive governments and temporary material sense gratification, we can certainly do that just by being cynical and faithless. But if we want the best for ourselves, we will worship the Supreme Lord with stalwart faith and transcendental knowledge, then we will certainly reach Him in the eternal spiritual world.

The bogus idea that one will ultimately reach the same goal by doing anything or worshiping anyone is not supported in authentic scriptures like Sri Isopanisad. This foolish theory originates from phony so-called spiritual teachers who have no connection with the bona fide tradition of the Esoteric Teaching. No actual spiritual master will say that all paths lead to the same goal, or that anyone can attain the spiritual world by some concocted form of worship.

Anyone can understand that a person who has purchased a plane ticket to Los Angeles cannot go to the Riviera. But unauthorized spiritual masters teach that any paths will take one to the supreme goal. Such compromising offers attract many ignorant students, who part with their hard-earned money for the insignificant pleasure of justifying their foolish dream. The Esoteric Teaching rejects this nonsense. The only way to get real spiritual knowledge is from the bona fide spiritual Master Teacher in the recognized line of disciplic succession from the Lord. Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna in the :

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
sa kāleneha mahatā
yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa

“This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.” [Bhagavad-gita 4.2]

Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa appeared on this earth planet about 5,000 years ago. At that time, as today, the principles of the Esoteric Teaching had become distorted. Therefore the Lord reestablished the disciplic system by speaking Bhagavad-gita to His most confidential friend and devotee, Arjuna. The Lord told Arjuna that he could understand the principles of the Bhagavad-gita because Arjuna was His devotee and friend.

In other words, Bhagavad-gita is understandable only to the Lord’s devotees and friends. It is inaccessible to those who are critical and doubtful. Only one who follows the path of Arjuna and hears Bhagavad-gita with faith and love can understand it, because it is a transcendental mystery.

At present many misinterpreters pose as translators and teachers of Bhagavad-gita who understand nothing of the transcendental relationship between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Such unqualified teachers explain Bhagavad-gita in their own way, ignoring the authorized conclusions of the Esoteric Teaching and speculating all kinds of nonsense. They do not believe that Sri Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nor do they know anything about His eternal spiritual abode. One whose mind is disturbed by the whirlpool of material energy is not qualified to become an acarya. So how can they explain Bhagavad-gita to anyone if they cannot understand or realize it themselves?

Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gita 7.20 and 23 that only those who have lost their intelligence worship the demigods, or work hard for temporary material rewards. Ultimately He instructs us:

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.66]

We can have such complete faith in the Supreme Lord only if we are cleansed of all sinful reactions. Unless we become purified and surrender completely to the Lord, we will continue hovering on the material mental platform. Thus we will be misled from the path of real spiritual knowledge under the false impression that all paths lead to the same goal.

The word sam-bhavat, “by worship of the supreme cause,” is very significant in this mantra of Sri Isopanisad. Everything that exists emanates from Lord Kṛṣṇa, because He is the original Personality of Godhead. The Lord says,

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māṁ
budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.” [Bhagavad-gita 10.8]

Here the Supreme Lord describes Himself. Sarvasya pra-bhavah means that Kṛṣṇa is the creator of all other living entities, including Brahma, Visnu and Siva. And because He creates these three principal deities of the material universe, He is the creator and proprietor of all that exists in the material and spiritual worlds.

The Atharva Veda [Gopala-tapani Upanisad 1.24] states, “He who existed before the creation of Brahma and who enlightened Brahma with Vedic knowledge is Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa.” Similarly, the Narayana Upanisad [4] states, “Devaki's son Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord.”

The identity of Narayana with the supreme cause has also been accepted by Sripada Sankaracarya, even though Sankara is famous as the acarya of the impersonalist cult. The Atharva Veda [Maha Upanisad 1] also states, “Only Narayana existed in the beginning, when neither Brahma, nor Siva, nor fire, nor water, nor stars, nor sun, nor moon existed. The Lord does not remain alone but creates as He desires.”

Kṛṣṇa Himself states in the Moksa-dharma, “I created the Prajapatis and the Rudras. They do not have complete knowledge of Me because they are covered by My illusory energy.”

It is also stated in the Varaha Purana: “Narayana is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and from Him the four-headed Brahma was manifested, as well as Rudra, who later became omniscient.”

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

“Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.” [Brahma-samhita 5.1]

Thus all Vedic literature confirms that Narayana, or Kṛṣṇa, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the cause of all causes. Those who are learned in the Esoteric Teaching know this from evidence given by the great sages and the Vedas, and thus they make a firm determination to worship Lord Kṛṣṇa. Such persons are called budha, or truly intelligent and learned in transcendental wisdom, because they worship only Kṛṣṇa.

The conviction that Kṛṣṇa is everything is established in one’s heart when he hears the transcendental message from the undisturbed, self-realized Master Teacher. One who has no faith or love for Lord Kṛṣṇa cannot be convinced of this simple truth. Kṛṣṇa describes the faithless in Bhagavad-gita 9.11 as mudhas: fools or asses. The mudhas deride the Personality of Godhead because they do not accept complete spiritual knowledge from the undisturbed acarya.

Before hearing the Esoteric Teaching of Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna was disturbed by his affection for his material family, society and community. Thus he decided not to fight, but to become a philanthropic, nonviolent man of the world. But when he heard the Vedic Esoteric Teaching of Bhagavad-gita from the Supreme Person, who had Himself arranged the Battle of Kuruksetra, he changed his decision. Arjuna surrendered to Kṛṣṇa and accepted His instruction. Arjuna worshiped the Lord by fighting with his so-called relatives, and became a pure devotee of the Lord.

Such great spiritual accomplishments become possible for anyone who worships Kṛṣṇa as He is. Such great spiritual progress is not possible by following some fabricated misinterpretation of Bhagavad-gita invented by foolish men. The intricacies of the science of Kṛṣṇa described in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam form the core of the powerful Esoteric Teaching.

According to Vedanta-sutra, janmady asya yatah: the original transcendental ontological science, the independent Supreme Personality of Godhead (sambhuta)is the source of birth and sustenance, and the reservoir of all emanations who remains after the annihilation of the material world.

“O my Lord, Sri Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahma, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.1]

Srimad-Bhagavatam, the natural commentary on Vedanta-sutra by the same author, Srila Vyasadeva, maintains that the source of all emanations is abhijna and svarat, or independent and fully conscious. The primeval Lord, Sri Kṛṣṇa, also says:

vedāhaṁ samatītāni
vartamānāni cārjuna
bhaviṣyāṇi ca bhūtāni
māṁ tu veda na kaścana

“O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.26]

So-called “spiritual leaders” who are affected by the changing influences of material existence and have no real spiritual training can only know Him superficially. They advance some compromised speculation of making humanity the object of worship, but humanism is ineffective because human beings are imperfect. Worshiping humanity instead of God is like watering the leaves of a tree instead of the root. The natural, effective process is to water the root, but the ignorant leaders are more attracted to watering the leaves. Therefore, everything dries up for want of nourishment.

Sri Isopanisad advises us to pour water on the root by worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of all germination. Humanism may render nice service to the body and mind, but they are always imperfect. Such material service is far less important than service to the soul by disseminating transcendental knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The Lord is the root of all existence, and the soul is the root of generating different types of bodies according to the law of karma. Therefore the best service is devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as recommended in the Esoteric Teaching. Serving humanity with medical care, social welfare and material education while cutting the throats of innocent animals in slaughterhouses is no service at all: in fact it is noting but blatant hypocrisy.

The spiritual living being is suffering from the miseries of birth, old age, disease and death in one material body after another. The human form of life offers us a chance to get out of the round of birth and death by reestablishing our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord. The independent Lord comes personally to teach us the art of surrender and service unto the Supreme. Real service to humanity is teaching surrender and devotional service to the Supreme Lord with full energy and love. Sri Isopanisad gives that most essential instruction of all religion in this mantra.

The easiest process of worshiping the Supreme Lord in this age of unnecessary quarrel and disturbance is to hear and chant His Holy Name, transcendental qualities and wonderful pastimes. The false spiritual teachers speculate that the name, form, qualities and activities of the Lord are imaginary. They refuse to hear and chant them and instead invent some word insubstantial jugglery to divert the energy attention of the innocent masses of people from the bona fide worship of the Lord. Instead of hearing and chanting the Holy Name, fame and glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the pretentious gurus and false avatars induce their followers to glorify them. Today such cheaters considerably outnumber sincere transcendentalists, leading people in general to reject all religion. In such a contaminated atmosphere, the pure devotees of the Lord labor with difficulty to save the masses of people from this unholy propaganda.

The Vedas and Upanisads indirectly draw our attention to the primeval Lord, but Bhagavad-gita, also known as Gitopanisad or the summary of all the Upanisads, directly indicates Sri Kṛṣṇa. Therefore one should hear the Esoteric Teaching of Kṛṣṇa from Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. This will induce the ontological transformation required to cleanse our minds and hearts from material conditioning and restore our consciousness to its natural spiritual state.

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi
vidhunoti suhṛt satām

“Sri Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.17]

Bhagavad-gita confirms this:

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

“To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 10.10]

People who do not know the Esoteric Teaching cannot avoid the influence of passion and ignorance. One who is influenced by passion cannot become detached from material desire, and one who is in ignorance cannot understand what he is or what the Lord is. Such unfortunate people have no chance for self-realization, however religious they may pretend to be.

The Lord removes the modes of passion and ignorance from the devotee by His grace. The Lord directs His devotee from the inner chambers of his heart, cleansing him of all contamination. The devotee becomes situated in the quality of goodness, becoming a perfect knower of Brahman, the Absolute Truth. Anyone can reach this exalted state if he follows the path of devotional service under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.4.18 says:

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā
ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ
ye ’nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ
śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

“Lowborn races and others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.”

Anyone can be purified by the guidance of a pure devotee of the Lord, for the Lord is extraordinarily powerful. When one attains this qualification, he becomes happy and enthusiastically renders loving devotional service to the Lord. The esoteric science of God is unveiled to him without separate effort. This transcendental science gradually frees one from material attachments, and the unstable mind becomes crystal clear by the grace of the Lord. One who attains this stage is a liberated soul, and can see the Lord in every step of life. This is the perfection of sambhava, as described in this mantra of Sri Isopanisad.