Sri Isopanisad, 12
WORD for WORD
andham--ignorance; tamah--darkness; pravisanti--enter into; ye--those who; asambhutim--demigods; upasate--worship; tatah--than that; bhuyah--still more; iva--like that; te--those; tamah--darkness; ye--who; u--also; sambhutyam--in the Absolute; ratah--engaged.
TRANSLATION
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.
PURPORT
The Sanskrit word asambhuti refers to those who have no independent existence. Sambhuti is the Absolute personality of Godhead, who is absolutely independent of everything. In Bhagavad-gita, the Absolute personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, states:
na me viduh sura-ganah
prabhavam na maharsayah
aham adir hi devanam
maharsinam ca sarvasah
"Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin, for in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and the sages." (Bg. 10.2) Thus Krishna is the origin of the powers delegated to demigods, great sages and mystics. Although they are endowed with great powers, it is very difficult for them to know how Krishna Himself appears by His own internal potency in the form of a man.
All philosophers and great rsis, or mystics, try to distinguish the Absolute from the relative by their tiny brain power. This can only help them reach the point of negating relativity without realizing any positive trace of the Absolute. Definition of the Absolute by negation is not complete. Such negative definitions lead one to create a concept of his own; thus one imagines that the Absolute must be formless and without qualities. Negative qualities are simply the reversals of positive qualities and are therefore also relative. By conceiving of the Absolute in this way one can at the utmost reach the impersonal effulgence of God, known as Brahman, but he cannot make further progress to Bhagavan, the personality of Godhead.
Such mental speculators do not know that Krishna is the Absolute personality of Godhead, that the impersonal Brahman is the glaring effulgence of His transcendental body and that Paramatma, the Supersoul, is His all-pervading representation. Nor do they know that Krishna has His eternal form with its transcendental qualities of eternal bliss and knowledge. The dependent demigods and great sages imperfectly consider Him to be a powerful demigod, and they consider the Brahman effulgence to be the Absolute Truth. Krishna's devotees who surrender unto Him in unalloyed devotion, however, can know that He is the Absolute person and that everything emanates from Him. Such devotees continuously render loving service unto Krishna, the fountainhead of everything.
In Bhagavad-gita it is also said (Bg. 7.20) that only bewildered persons, driven by a strong desire for sense gratification, worship the demigods for the satisfaction of temporary problems. Temporary relief from certain difficulties by the greatness of some demigod is a solution sought only by the unintelligent. Since the living being is materially entangled, he has to be relieved from material bondage entirely to attain permanent relief on the spiritual plane where eternal bliss, life and knowledge exist. It is also stated in Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 7.23) that the worshipers of the demigods can go to the planets of the demigods. The moon worshipers can go to the moon, the sun worshipers to the sun, etc. Modern scientists are now venturing to the moon with the help of rockets, but this is not really a new attempt. With their advanced consciousness, human beings are naturally inclined to travel in outer space and to reach other planets--either by spaceships, mystic powers or demigod worship. In the Vedic scripures, it is said that one can reach other planets by any one of these three ways, but the most common way is by worshiping the demigod presiding over that particular planet. However, all planets in the material universe are temporary residences; the only permanent planets are the Vaikunthalokas. These are found in the spiritual sky, and the personality of Godhead Himself dominates them. As stated in Bhagavad-gita:
abrahma-bhuvanal lokah
punar avartino 'rjuna
mam upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate
"From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again." (Bg. 8.16)
Sri Isopanisad points out that one remains in the darkest region of the universe by hovering over the material planets by one means or another. The whole universe is covered by the gigantic material elements, just as a coconut is covered by a husk. Since its covering is airtight, the darkness within is dense, and therefore suns and moons are required for illumination. Outside the universe is the vast and unlimited brahmajyoti expansion which is filled with Vaikunthalokas. The highest planet in the brahmajyoti is the Krsnaloka, or Goloka Vrndavana, where the Supreme personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Himself, resides. Lord Sri Krishna never leaves this Krsnaloka. Although He dwells there with His eternal associates, He is omnipresent throughout the complete material and spiritual cosmic manifestations. This fact has already been explained in Mantra Four. The Lord is present everywhere, just like the sun, yet He is situated in one place, just as the sun is situated in its own undeviating orbit.
The problems of life cannot be solved simply by going to the moon. There are many pseudo-worshipers who become religionists only for the sake of name and fame. Such pseudo-religionists do not wish to get out of this universe and reach the spiritual sky. They only want to maintain the status quo in the material world under the garb of worshiping the Lord. The atheists and impersonalists lead such foolish pseudo-religionists into the darkest regions by preaching the cult of atheism. The atheist directly denies the existence of the Supreme personality of Godhead, and the impersonalists support the atheists by stressing the impersonal aspect of the Supreme Lord. Thus far we have not come across any mantra in Sri Isopanisad in which the Supreme personality of Godhead is denied. It is said that He can run faster than anyone. Those who are running after other planets are certainly persons, and if the Lord can run faster than all of them, how can He be considered impersonal? The impersonal conception of the Suprme Lord is another form of ignorance arising from an imperfect conception of the Absolute Truth.
The ignorant pseudo-religionists and the manufacturers of so-called incarnations who directly violate the Vedic injunctions are liable to enter into the darkest region of the universe because they mislead those who follow them. These impersonalists generally pose themselves as incarnations of God to the foolish who have no knowledge of Vedic wisdom. If such foolish men have any knowledge at all, it is more dangerous in their hands than ignorance itself. Such impersonalists do not even worship the demigods according to the scriptural recommendations. In the scriptures there are recommendations for worshiping demigods under certain circumstances, but at the same time these scriptures state that there is normally no need for this. In Bhagavad-gita it is clearly stated (Bg. 7.23) that the results derived from worshiping the demigods are not permanent. Since the entire material universe is not permanent, whatever is achieved within the darkness of material existence is also impermanent. The question is how toobtain real and permanent life.
The Lord states that as soon as one reaches Him by devotional service--which is the one and only way to approach the personality of Godhead--one attains complete freedom from the bondage of birth and death. In other words, the path of salvation from the material clutches fully depends on the principles of knowledge and detachment. The pseudo-religionists have neither knowledge nor detachment from material affairs, for most of them want to live in the golden shackles of material bondage under the shadow of altruistic and philanthropic activities and in the guise of religious principles. By a false display of religious sentiments, they present a show of devotional service while indulging in all sorts of immoral activities. In this way they pass as spiritual masters and devotees of God. Such violators of religious principles have no respect for the authoritative acaryas, the holy teachers in the strict disciplic succession. To mislead the people in general, they themselves become so-called acaryas, but do nt even follow the principles of the acaryas.
These rogues are the most dangerous elements in human society. Because there is no religious government, they escape punishment by the law of the state. They cannot, however, escape the law of the Supreme, who has clearly declared in Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 16.19-20) that envious demons in the garb of religious propagandists shall be thrown into the darkest regions of hell. Sri Isopanisad confirms that these pseudo-religionists are heading toward the most obnoxious place in the universe after the completion of their spiritual master business, which they conduct simply for sense gratification.
