Describe in your own words, practical ways , and the benefits therein, of applying the isavasya

principle in :

 Society in general.
 ISKCON
 Your own life.

Give reference to Sri Isopanisad Mantra 1-3 and purports in your response.

Answer:

Introduction
 Krishna is the Ultimate creator and controller so everything animate or inanimate within the
universe is controlled and owned by God. He is proprietor of everything.
 Only Lord is the true proprietor and creator of everything. We should accept only those things
which is in our quota – be satisfied with it and do not encroach in other’s property or quota
thinking well to whom it belongs.

Society in General
The whole human society is under the influence of lust, anger and greed. Each and every one want to
collect as much as possible to live comfortably. It is very common to see a strong person taking
advantage of weaker one. Even all the ism i.e. - socialism, altruism nationalism, communism can
accommodate if everyone understand everything belong to God. World politics will be different if
leaders accept everything as Lord’s property and consider themselves as a custodian meant to take care
of things on a temporary basis.

Examples from Society:

 Fighting for false proprietorship:

o Instead of understanding and accepting supreme proprietorship some of the so called
developed countries like UK, France and Argentina are making false claim over the
frozen continent of Antarctica.

o Israel/ Palestine conflict is a source of insecurity for the Middle East and for the world at
large.

“The modern way of living is nothing but living passionate devoid of any civilization, in reality it is only a
soul killing civilization which has increased problem of hungry stomach. Human form of life is not just
meant solve economic problem on tottering platform ".(Isopanisad -3 purport).

 Fighting for Social status: Social conflict in the society in order to retain power and exploit group
with less power. Like Clashes between Dalit group and Hindu organization in Bhima Koregaon
Pune.

“Today a Godless civilization directed toward the so called advancement of education is more dangerous
than civilization in which the masses of people are less educated.” (Isopanisad Mantra 9)
  Economic Problem: People are fighting for basic necessities of life not because of there is not
sufficient thing but because people are encroaching on other property. Once people understand
what is there quota then there is no economic problem in the society.
Isavasyam idamsarvam- everything is owned by isa, the Supreme Controller.
Tena tyaktenabhunjithah- you may enjoy what is allotted to you by him.
Ma graghah kasyasvid dhanam – but do not encroach upon other’s property

“Human being are meant not simply for solving economic problems on a tottering platform but for
solving all the problems of material life into which we have been placed by law of nature.” (Isopanisad
Mantra 3)

But if one understand the principle of Isavasya that everything belong to God. He is ultimate enjoyer
and controller then it will remove lot of suffering and anxiety from the society. By applying this simple
principle the people in the society will live harmoniously to create God conscious society and there will
be more peace and prosperity in the world.

ISKCON
 Lord is proprietor of everything: So far ISKCON community opened 850 temples, hundreds of
schools, restaurants and farms all around the world. Funds collected by ISKCON are treated as
Krishna’s lakshmi and used to support the community as a whole and to promote the Isavasya
principle. There is no quarrel in spite of there being so many temples worldwide and differences
in lifestyle, country and upbringing.

 Free Prasad distribution: ISKCON is sponsoring project to liberally distribute pure vegetarian
meals (prasadam) throughout the world as instruction given by Srila Prabhupad to his disciples
“No one within ten miles of temple should go hungry". Food for life is active in sixty countries
and serves up to 2million free meals every day.

 Giving true Vidya: It was Srila Prabhupad vision to open gurukul so that children from very early
age understand that everything belong to God. Previously in gurukul student eat only when
invited by spiritual master if guru neglect to call him he will fast. He was trained to see Guru's
property and not think of eating without permission. Thus from the outset they were trained to
see everything as the property of Guru and Krishna.

Your own life

 Engaging children in Krishna Consciousness: We should give Krishna Conscious environment to
our children from the beginning of their life. So they can see from the beginning that Krishna is
proprietor of everything and everything belong to Krishna. Whatever we buy we should first
offer to Lord. This way we should teach to our children.
 Srila Prabhupad said “A child is a rare gift given by Krishna, but at the same time a great
responsibility; every parent has the responsibility to see that his child grows up in Krishna
Consiousness.” Letter to Hamsaduta Vrindawan 15 August 1967.

 Accumulating more than what we require: Not try to accumulate what is not necessary in life.
We should use our own quota only and not takes other thing by cheating, by exploiting others,
and not putting other people at risk. There is always a constant anxiety to earn more so that one
can leave a peaceful life in old age but again once we understand that Krishna has set aside
one’s quota so there is no real worry.

“One has to realize that nothing in the world belongs to any individual person, but
everything belong to the Supreme Lord.” (BG 3.30)

 Avoid wasting Prasadam: We should always eat Prasad only. Meaning offering bhoga to Lord Sri
Krishna and eat only remnants. Even try to distribute Prasad whenever it is possible. We should
not waste prasadam as it is the property of Lord.

“Simply by liberal distribution of Prasad and sankritana, the whole world can become
peaceful and prosperous (SB 4.12.10)”

 Freedom from false ego: Living in the harmony with extended family member and try to set
example of Good Krishna conscious life in front of them so they even start Krishna Conscious life
by seeing this.

This "I am is called ego, or identification of the self. “I am this body" or "Everything in
relationship to the body is mine" is called false ego, but when one is self-realized and
thinks that he is an eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord, that identification is real ego.
(SBS 3.27.13)

 God centered family: Krishna should be center of our home. Whatever we do, think or perform
– we should think everything belong to Krishna and we are just temporary custodians.

“ There is no harm in becoming a family man, or altruist, a socialist, a communist, a

nationalist or a humanitarian, provided that one execute his activities in relation with
Isavasya, the God centered conception.” (Isopanisad Mantra 2)

Once we truly understand and accept Isavasya principle that Krishna is Supreme proprietor we
automatically becomes peaceful and stop abusing our body to accumulate more and more. This
principle makes one’s life simple and thus conducive for spiritual realization. The major reasons between
fights between individuals or partners is false ego which can be easily addressed by acknowledging one’s
eternal position as a servant to the Supreme Lord. There is no real worry or concern for conditioned
souls to ignore the practice of self-realization but to focus with all energy to use human form of body to
enquire about supreme and come out of the problem of birth, old age, disease and death.