Vedic knowledge flows through disciplic succession to those who surrender to a qualified spiritual master with service and reverence.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrī Īśopaniṣad Lecture [recites verses 1–12] — July 8, 1971, Los Angeles 710708IP-LOS ANGELES [22:33 Minutes] ISO-Lecture_710708IP-LOS ANGELES Prabhupāda: [sings along with Govindam prayers, then recites Śrī Īśopaniṣad verses 1-12 with devotees] oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate [Īśo Invocation] ["The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance."] īśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam [Īśo mantra 1] ["Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong."] kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti na karma lipyate nare [Īśo mantra 2] ["One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man."] asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ [Īśo mantra 3] ["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."] anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo nainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat tad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti [Īśo mantra 4] ["Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence."] tad ejati tan naijati tad dūre tad v antike tad antar asya sarvasya tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ [Īśo mantra 5] ["The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything."] yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmany evānupaśyati sarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ tato na vijugupsate [Īśo mantra 6] ["He who systematically sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all living entities as His parts and parcels, and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or any being."] yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvam anupaśyataḥ [Īśo mantra 7] ["One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?"] sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam asnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr yāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ [Īśo mantra 8] ["Such a person must factually know the greatest of all, the Personality of Godhead, who is unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated, the self-sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone's desire since time immemorial."] andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'vidyām upāsate tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyām ratāḥ [Īśo mantra 9] ["Those who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so-called knowledge."] anyad evāhur vidyayānyad āhur avidyayā iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ ye nas tad vicacakṣire [Īśo mantra 10] ["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."] vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ c yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute [Īśo mantra 11] ["Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality."] andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'sambhūtim upāsate tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ [Īśo mantra 12] ["Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance, and still more so do the worshipers of the impersonal Absolute."] [05:10] Page? Karandhara: Page 14 in the middle, almost the middle of the first paragraph.
"The Vedas are not known like that. The Vedic knowledge was originally imparted into the heart of Brahmā, the first created living being, and Brahmā in his turn disseminated the knowledge to his sons and disciples, who have continued the process down thorough history." Prabhupāda: Formerly, the spiritual master, the disciplic succession, there are two ways. One is called śaukra and another is called sautra. Śaukra means succession from the seminal. Just like son.
Son is born by the semina, and the disciple is born by Vedic knowledge. So the one familywise is called śaukra. Śukra means semina, coming from the śukra. And the other is sautra: by hearing. The spiritual master... In India still there are gotras.
Gotras means coming from that great sage. Just like our family belongs to the Gautama gotra. Gautama Ṛṣi, from him the familywise gotra, and similarly disciplic succession is also gotra. There is no difference between putra and chatra.
Putra means son, and chatra means disciple. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, putrāṁś ca śiṣyāṁś ca: they are equally treated. Both of them equally eligible for hereditary rites from the person, either he is son or disciple. So Brahmā distributed knowledge to some... Practically everyone was his son, because he was the first living creature.
So later on, disciples also, son's son. So in this way Brahmā distributed this Vedic knowledge, some to the sons, some to the... Vyāsadeva also, he distributed knowledge, some to his sons, some to his disciples. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So that is the process of disseminating Vedic knowledge. Then? Karandhara: [reading:] "The Lord being pūrṇam, or all-perfect, there is no chance of His being subjected to the laws of material nature, while the living entities and the inanimate objects are all controlled by the laws of nature and thus ultimately by the potency of the Lord. The Īśopaniṣad is a part of the Yajur Veda." Prabhupāda: There are four Vedas—Sāma Veda, Yajur Veda, Ṛg Veda and Atharva Veda. Originally there was one Veda, but later on, Vyāsadeva divided them into four. So Yajur Veda is one of the Vedas, and the Īśopaniṣad is stated there.