BHAKTIVEDANTA ACADEMY ISKCON NOIDA

Sri Isopanisad Essay questions

Choose one essay only. Each essay is based on a theme and connected to a particular aim. Use points from both
mantras and purports to support your arguments; you may paraphrase or quote, but always give the reference; be
specific and to the point in quoting. Include analogies and examples as well as your own realizations of the subject.
The essay should be developed logically and be divided into clear sections, each dealing with a specific point or
group of points; include an introduction, 2 to 5 sections and a conclusion.

Length of essay: 1000-1500 words.

1. How does Sri Isopanisad point toward and support devotional service as the ideal path for self-realization?
Mood & Mission/ Moral & Academic Integrity

2. How does Sri Isopanisad defeat the impersonalists’ arguments that God has no energies, the Absolute Truth is formless and without qualities,
the material manifestation is illusion, the living entity is God himself, and one should stop all activities in order to achieve transcendence.
Preaching Application / Moral & Academic Integrity

3. What is Vedic knowledge? How does the study of Sri Isopanisad increase your knowledge of and faith in the authority of Vedic literature as
well as your determination to achieve the goal of life? In what practical ways is this study affecting you?
Authority/Personal Application

4. What are the teachings of Sri Isopanisad on the living entity and how does this affect your practice of Krsna consciousness.
Personal Application

5. In Mantra 12 we read, “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.” Explain how this and similar other
statements in Sri Isopanisad give insight into the mood and mission of ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada.
Mood & Mission

6. Based on your study of Sri Isopanisad, how would you present the Vedic view of the Absolute Truth at a scholarly conference?
Theological Application

7. You have received a letter from an old friend in which he inquires why you did not take advantage of your good intelligence and pursue a
career and instead chose to live simply and dedicate the major part of your time to Krsna conscious engagements. How would you reply to him
taking into account how Sri Isopanisad condemns materialism and how it brings chaos in the individual and society?
Preaching Application