Purport

In The Bhagavad-gita, the Lord explains about His Personal rays, called "Brahmajyoti"-the dazzling effulgence of His Personal Form-as follows:

Brahman, Paramatman and Bhagavan are three angles of vision of the same Absolute Truth. Brahman is the phase of the Absolute Truth most perceptible to the beginner. Paramatman is the phase of the Absolute Truth for those who have progressed. And Bhagavan is the ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth. This is confirmed in The Gita, where the Lord says that He is the ultimate concept of the Absolute Truth. He is the source of the Brahmajyoti, as well as of the all-pervading Paramatman feature.

As He says that He is the ultimate reservoir of the Brahmajyoti, or impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth, so also He says in The Gita that there is no need of explaining His unlimited potency: it can be summarized in short that, by His one plenary portion-the all-pervading Paramatman-He maintains the complete material cosmic creation. And in the spiritual world also He maintains all manifestations. Therefore, in the Sruti Mantra of Sri Ishopanishad, He is addressed as "Pusan," the ultimate Maintainer.

The Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, is always full with transcendental bliss. When He was present at Vrindaban in India 5,000 years ago, He always remained in transcendental bliss, even from the beginning of His childhood pastimes. The killing of varieties of demons, such as Agha, Baka, Putana, and Pralamba were also pleasure excursions for Him. When He was within His village He was enjoying with His mother, sisters and friends as the naughty Butter Thief, and every one of His associates was enjoying celestial bliss by His stealing. The Lord is known as the Butter Thief, but the term is never used in a derogatory sense. The term Butter Thief, in the case of the Lord, is used with the understanding of the pleasure of His pure devotees. Everything that was done by the Lord at Vrindaban was for the pleasure of His associates there. Such manifestations were created by Him to attract the dry speculators in the transcendental line, as well as the acrobats of the so-called Hatha Yoga system, trying to find the Absolute Truth.

Of the childhood play of the Lord with His playmates, the cowherd boys, Sukadeva Goswami in the Srimad Bhagwatam said:

Thus the Lord is ever engaged in transcendental loving activities along with His spiritual associates in the various relationships of "Shanta," calmness, "Dasya," servitorship, "Sakhya," friendship, "Vatsalya," paternal affection, and "Madhurya," conjugal love.

It is said that the Lord never goes out of the Vrindaban Dhama, and so it may be asked how He manages the affairs of His different creations. This is answered in The Gita: He pervades all the material creation by His plenary part, known as the "Purusha" incarnation. The Lord has nothing to do with material creation, maintenance and destruction, but He causes it to be done by His plenary expansion, this Paramatman or Supersoul feature. Every living entity is known as "Atman," soul. The principal Atman, Who controls them all, is "Paramatman"-Supersoul.

The whole system of God realization is a great science. The materialists can only analyze and meditate on the twenty-four factors of the material creation. They have very little information of the Purusha, the Lord. The impersonal transcendentalists are simply bewildered by the glaring effulgence of the Brahmajyoti. If one wants to see the absolute Truth in full, one has to penetrate beyond the twenty-four material elements and the glaring effulgence as well. Sri Ishopanishad hints at this direction, praying for removal of the "Hiranmaya Patra," the dazzling covering. Unless this covering is removed, and unless one can perceive the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is, factual realization of the Absolute Truth can never be achieved.

The Paramatman feature of the Personality of Godhead is divided into three plenary expansions, collectively called "Vishnu Tattwa." The Vishnu Tattwa within the universe (one of the three principal Deities-Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) is known as the "Kirodakshayee Vishnu." He is the all-pervading Paramatman in each and every individual living entity. And the "Garbhodakshayee Vishnu." is the collective Supersoul of all living entities. Beyond these two there is the Karanadakshayee Vishnu lying in the Causal Ocean. He is the Creator of all the universes. The Yoga system teaches the serious student to meet such Vishnu Tattwas after overcoming the twenty-four material elements of cosmic creation. The culture of empiric philosophy helps one to realize the impersonal Brahmajyoti, which is the glaring effulgence of the transcendental body of Lord Sri Krishna. This is confirmed in The Bhagavad-gita as well as in the Brahma Samhita (5.40):

This mantra of the Brahma Samhita is the position of factual realization of the Absolute Truth, and the Sruti Mantra of Sri Ishopanishad under discussion is a confirmation of this mantra as a process of realization. It is a simple prayer to the Lord to remove the Brahmajyoti, so that one can see the real face of God.

Perfect knowledge means to know the root of Brahman. The root of Brahman is Lord Sri Krishna, and in scriptures such as the Srimad Bhagwatam the science of Krishna is perfectly elaborated. In the Bhagwatam, the author, Srila Vyasadeva, has established by realization that the Supreme Truth is described either as Brahman, Paramatman or Bhagavan. But he has never said that the Supreme Truth is anywhere described as "Jiva," the ordinary living entity. Therefore the living entity is not the all-powerful Supreme Truth. Otherwise, there would be no need of prayer by the entity for the Lord to remove the dazzling cover in order to see His real face.

The conclusion is, therefore, that in the absence of potent manifestations of the Supreme Truth, the impersonal Brahman is realized. Similarly, when there is realization of the material potencies of the Lord, with little or no information of the spiritual potency, it is called Paramatman realization. Therefore, both Brahman and Paramatman realization of the Absolute Truth are partial realizations. But when one realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, in full potency after the removal of the Hiranmoya Patra, as is prayed for in this mantra, then he realizes that "Vasudevah sarvam iti": Lord Sri Krishna, known as Vasudeva, is everything: Brahman, Paramatman and Bhagavan. He is Bhagavan, the root, and Brahman and Paramatman are His branches.

In The Bhagavad-gita there is a comparative analysis of the three grades of transcendentalists, known as "jnanis," the worshipers of the impersonal Brahman, the yogis, or worshipers of the Paramatman feature, and bhaktas, or devotees of Lord Sri Krishna. It is stated in The Gita that amongst all types of transcendentalists, one who is a jnani, who has cultured the Vedic knowledge, is supreme. Yet the yogis are still more than the jnanis. The yogis are far superior to fruitive workers as well. And amongst all kinds of yogis, "the one who constantly serves the Lord with all his energy is topmost."

The summary is that a philosopher is better than a laboring man, and a mystic is far superior to a philosopher. And of all the mystic yogis, one who is following Bhakti Yoga, who is constantly engaged in the service of the Lord, is the highest. Sri Ishopanishad directs us toward this perfection of life.