Customer Reviews

Sri Isopanisad: The Knowledge That Brings One Nearer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna

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My favorite mantra is #18 where complete obeisance and surrender is stated. The other mantras are just as beautiful. For the reviewer who didn't know how to pronounce the title: It is pronounced as e-shope-ni(say i like e)-shud.

This is a condensed comprehensive translation and elucidation of the 18 verses of the vedic Sri (shree) Ishopanishad. The Upanishads are texts of prayer and guidance for people in all the different walks of life. The Sri Ishopanishad is meant for those most developed and inquisitive about finding and developing devotion to God. Begining from a general statement describing the qualities of the supreme, through to a prayer of personal surrender, this collection of short prayer/meditations very meticulously leads one into the realm of devotion to God in exquisite detail. Although sometimes logical to the point of clinical, it is none the less, devotional personalism in its best form, written and translated by a most erudite and devoted practioner of its line.

This book does some work explaining and elaborating on the 18 mantras of Sri Isopanisad. He takes a look at where we stand as flawed physical sentient beings within the cycles of repeated death and birth, plus how to break away from that, the material plane, and the law of Karma. He says that the only solution to our problems is a God-centered life, and spiritual knowledge, as opposed to material- which leads to 'nescience.' Summed up, this book is about uniting with God, through the guide of a teacher, and ending the painful process of rebirth.

The book has some nice images as well, and while reading I was entranced into the painting of the stages of birth and death. Also, if the ideas of this book is where you want to take your life, then there is also a final section on Krishna Consciousness at Home.

My favorite mantra was number seven =)

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This book's one contribution to society is that it contains the greatest sentence ever printed: "We Gaudiya Vaisnavas have our commentary on Vedanta philosophy, called Govinda-bhasya by Baladeva Vidyabhusana." This is pretty much representative of the rest of the book. The parts that I read were absolutely indecipherable, and I gave up on it pretty quickly. Of course, I wasn't really reading the book as a means to a spiritual awakening. I only ended up with a copy because I gave a couple of Hare Krishnas a dollar to stop harassing me one day. I opened it up and read twenty or so pages on the bus before deciding that a lifetime of agnosticism was for me. You may get something out of this book, and you may even find the knowledge that brings one nearer to the supreme personality of Godhead, Krsna, but if you do, you're probably not the sort of person I'd like to associate with.