SRI ISOPANISAD

Mantra Eighteen

1. Verse: The speaker humbly throws himself at the lotus feet of the Lord, and begs for
guidance and for help to become free from his karma.

2. Para One: By surrendering to the Lord one’s karma is burnt away. Otherwise one will
inevitably be involved in vikarma, and one will create a bad future.

3. Para Two: Birth is not the only thing. Main thing is to be well trained.

4. Para Three: Bhagavad-gita explains that if one falls from the path of yoga one will
get the opportunity in one’s next life.

5. Para Four: Through surrender one is elevated to the spiritual platform quickly, and
the Lord gives all help, which is not available to others. The Lord has the potency to
elevate even the most fallen.

6. Para Five: The Lord mercifully gives good direction to the devotee.

7. Para Six: To err is human, but Lord Krsna helps the sincere devotees, even if they
make mistakes, and He corrects them. Either through sadhu, sastra and guru, or
directly from within the heart.

8. Para Seven: One has to learn all this under good direction. If one gets the direction of
a good spiritual master it is to be understood that he has the mercy of the Lord. The
Lord actually appears to the conditioned soul as the spiritual master. Thus he reaches
perfection. This whole process is hinted at in this mantra, and Srimad Bhagavatam
1.1.17-20 elaborately explains it:

srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah

punya-sravana-kirtanah
hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani
vidhunoti suhrt satam

Sri Krsna, 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.

nasta-prayesv abhadresu
nityam bhagavata-sevaya
bhagavaty uttama-sloke
bhaktir bhavati naisthiki
By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering of service to the
pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and
loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental
songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.

tada rajas-tamo-bhavah
kama-lobhadayas ca ye
ceta etair anaviddham
sthitam sattve prasidati

As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature’s
modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the
heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy.

evam prasanna-manaso
bhagavad-bhakti-yogatah
bhagavat-tattva-vijnanam
mukta-sangasya jayate

Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been
enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific
knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material
association.

9. Para Eight: Hearing and chanting is the essence of all devotional practices. Through
focussing on this one becomes a pure devotee.