The Secret of All Secrets

”The Supreme Lord who is the secret of all the secrets, who is unlimited, who never perishes and who encompasses both knowledge and ignorance, is situated beyond the reach of Lord Brahma. Undoubt­edly matter is perishable and the spirit is imperishable but the supreme ruler of both, matter and spirit is completely divergent.”

dve aksare brahma pare tvanante
vidya ‘vidye nihite yatra gudhe
ksarantv avidya hy amrtam tu vidya
vidya ‘vidye isate yastu so’nyah

PURPORT BY SRI KRSNA BALARAM SWAMIJI

In this fifth chapter the supremacy of Lord Krsna is described. How He controls matter and spirit, how He is beyond illusion, how He is the Lord of all the Lords, how everyone including all the demigods take His shelter, how He can only be obtained through unalloyed devotional service, how He is the one who can reward liberation, how He is the source of pleasure, how He is blissful and the source of auspiciousness are all described in this chapter. Anything that perishes is called material and the pleasure derived from it is called temporary and covered by ignorance. Starting from the most sophisticated pleasure of earth to the topmost pleasure of heaven are all called material, temporary, and thus are covered with ignorance. Those who are ignorant of the spiritual world they work to reach heaven.

As Lord Krsna states in the Bhagavad Gita (9.20-21) that such pious souls enjoy heavenly delights for some time and then again return to earth. Therefore every pious deed that leads one to heaven is said to be temporary but besides this there is another deed, which is permanent and leads one to the spiritual world where one can eternally enjoy sporting with the Supreme God face to face. After reaching that abode no one returns to earth again. As Lord Krsna told Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita (15.6) that once one reached His abode he never returns in this world again. The overseer and the judge of everyone’s deeds is different from matter and spirit as stated in the Bhagavad Gita (15.17) and His name is Krsna. Anyone who becomes His true devotee He takes charge of that devotee.

[Svetasvatara Upanisad, 5.1, KBS0077]