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by
Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL
No. 129
October : 2011
CHAPTER 129
THE MESSAGE OF ISHAVASYA UPANISHAD
Based on lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty
The Ishavasya Upanishad is from Sukla Yajurveda. As we discussed earlier, each Upanishad as identified with its mother Veda, begins and ends with its own specificshantimantra. For this Yajurveda Upanishad the appropriate shantimantra goes like this.
Om purnamadah purnamidam purnAt purnam udacyate
Purnasya purnam AdAya purnam eva avasisyate.
To begin with the sAdhaka first sets his mind on Om the Brahman.
When we started our study of the Upanishad with Mundaka Upanishad, you may recall that Mundaka was about elaboration of Brahman and his characteristics.That is the knowledge. But the acquired knowledge has to related to life if it has to be useful. The slokas of Isa Upanishad in many ways point to this applicability to our life. That is the appeal of this Upanishad and some even regard it as the most valuable Upanishad of all. However that is not the right thinking. To compare one Upanishad with another only betrays that neither this nor that has been understood. Not only the subject matter of all Upanishads is essentially the same, our objective is also same. A comprehensive approach is required to grasp a glimpse of this knowledge about that unfathomable Brahman. We need all the assistance that we can garner.
To get a comprehensive understanding of all the Upanishads is practically beyond most of us. Interestingly in one of our other great scriptures from the authoritative prasthAnatrayam, i.e in the Bhagavad Gita as explained to Arjuna by Lord Krishna such an exercise of assimilation of the entire Vedanta knowledge is available. But even to comprehend The Bhagavad Gita requires tapasya of many lives.
So the shantimantra first takes our mind to Brahmanwho is the pivot of all knowledge. What does themantra say? Om the Brahman, who is beyond (adahor that) our zone of cognizance and comprehension is all and everything, whole in his fullness. Nothing is left out of the very concept of Brahman. Whichever aspect of Brahman which has been made cognizable around us here (idam) is also full and whole in all respect. The source of all that is here is in Brahman.They verily culled out of Brahman. Even if this phenomena around us has been taken out ofBrahman, there is no depletion of Brahman. Brahman retains still fullness and wholeness in character. How is it so? Because here we are not talking of the physical characteristic but the essential nature of Brahman. When we say ‘taken out ofBrahman’ it really not removed from Brahman. What is taken out and from what has been taken out, neither of them has any physical limitations.It is like imagining that a handful of space taken out of the whole space around and thinking that space to be different from the wholeness of space. Can any one separate space out of space? The space is everywhere. No portion is separable or cleavable from the whole.
The Isavasya Upanishad begins with this concept of wholeness and goes on to explore its beneficial application to life. In the first sloka it says:
Om IsAvAsyam idam sarvam yat kincha jagatyAm jagat
Tena tyaktena bhunjithA mA grdhah kasyasvid dhanam.
All that is here in front of us, what we see as jagat the physical creation is the manifestation of Brahman and pervaded by Brahman. VAsa means cover. Everything is under the cover of Brahman and there is nothing which is outside of Brahman. There is no existence beyond Brahman. VAsa also meansdwelling. Thus it also means that Brahman is within everything as well as outside. Everything is inseparable from Brahman. By using only one word vAsa the entire meaning of being within and without is conveyed.
But what is that He pervades? It is this jagat. What isjagat? JAyate gachati iti jagat. Any thing that comes under the process of creation –jAyate and thengachati, goes away or ceases to exist is jagat. This ever changing phenomenon before us, there in one moment, and vanished in another moment, this physical phenomenon is nothing but Brahman.
But when we say Jagat, are we not automatically implying y a character of impermancy, vascillating? IsBrahman an impermanent entity? That doubt is answered when it also says tena tyaktena bhunjithA. Bhunj means to take something inside or assimilate within. Therefore (tena) to properly assimilate the real meaning or essential character of Brahman, one has to discard or ignore this ever changing character of jagatand focus on the essence of jagat which is Brahman.The ever changing impermanency is only a superimposed characteristic of the creation and not its essence. Therefore if the real essence of Brahman is to be understood, one has to throw away these superficial characteristics. If one does not get deluded by the changes that take place in front of him, only then he can see the steady unchanging substratum behind all these.
The concept of moving away from superimposed frivolities as a necessity to arrive at the essential reality hidden within as articulated in tena tyaktena bhunjitha fascinated many of our saints.
It is always easy to get blinded by the packaging and other externalities. When you are looking at me and listening to my words, you are seeing me as your sense organs feed you with information and dictate. My face, my limbs, my dress, my voice, all these you notice using your sense organs and you deduce this is ‘so and so’.
But if suddenly I change my dress, my hair grows longer, my voice fails, would I vanish from your minds?
Those of you who are old devotees of Sri Aurobindo and Mother, know very well how they walked, how they talked, their physical appearance etc.
All these are no more there. But Sri Aurobindo and mother still exist for you. In time you will not remember vividly these external qualities but mind will still retain the essence of Sri Aurobindo. He will continue to exist for you.
Swami Chinmayananda has put it in a very straight forward way. I quote “For example, yonder stands a tree. If we analyse our experience of the tree, we will have to accept that our concept of that tree is nothing but a sum total of our knowledge of its form, sound, taste, smell and touch. These are impressions interpreted to us by our sense organs. If there are no sense organs, these impressions cannot be there. But when the tree is destroyed and it leaves no more any impression in our mind, it is not a zero factor because, when we were observing these factors, we were also unconsciously observing another common quality running uniformly through all these factors.
‘There is a form, there is a taste, there is a sound, there is a smell and there is a touch for the tree’- thus we noticed. Devoid of all qualities as interpreted by the sense organs, there is yet in that tree the ‘principle of existence’ as expressed by us unconsciously in our assertion of ‘is-ness’. This factor, the divine principle of existence but for which none of these impressions are possible, is generally not noticed because of the perceiver’s pre-occupation with his perceptions.” – unquote.
What we perceive through our sense organs is calledindriyAtmaka. When we do not have our indriyas any more with us, these perceptions will vanish.
Contrary to that in our consciousness we retain the existence of the true essence of things. That is perception of our consciousness or chetanAtmaka. The chetanAtmaka effect is always deeper and truer than indriyAtmaka effect.
So the sloka says: do not get pre-occupied withindriyAtmaka perception. Set it aside and peep into the chetanAtmaka perception. Brahman in all existence is a chetanAtmaka truth and to rely on thatchetanA is the way to discover Brahman behind everything.
But is it easy not to get dazzled and fascinated by the moving drama in front? Can one be sitting in a movie hall with a movie being screened and remain unconcerned with the projections?
Obviously that is a tall order. But the remedy lies in not getting attached to the events and emotions that is going on and concentrating on the fact that this is all false. The attachment can be eschewed only by doing so.
What happens in the movie hall also happens to us in a similar manner in our world environment. Why the reality of things eludes us? Why the unreal possesses us? That is because we become too personally attached to the unreal things coveting to possess them. Whether a material thing or a perceived feeling we all want to have it. When one analyses this, this hankering to possess an object or pleasant situation or feeling which we see in others and which is not in our possession is the true cause of all our delusions and resultant misery. When we see someone having a better dress or a better car or a house or even when we see someone enjoying fame position or power, we immediately wish that it should be with me instead of being with others. Then we start running down the slope of eventual misery. We totally surrender our intelligence, to this desire to covet. When sanAtanphilosophy analyses this it concludes that this desire to possess is the cause of our blindness and not aspiring to possess something only because someone else has it, is a folly.
In this blindness we fail to see the reality. So the Upanishad warns:
MA grdhah kasyasvid dhanam
Do not covet to possess what someone else has in his possession. Learn the satisfaction of contentment with whatever Brahman has provided you. If you aspire to possess what you see in others, then your mind will get possessed by that object and lose its power of independent thinking.
This situation of comparision between your possession and my possession is ofcourse quite natural. If Ram has one crore Rahim who has only a lakh, then he immediately feels aggrieved, almost cheated about God’s assumed unfairness. But the experience in life has proved again and again that material possession does not equate with mental satisfaction. Many people live in mental peace possessing only a handful and many do not even lead a worthy life even after possessing a sackful.
We must understand that the mental peace, however much of it we may be having in this life, is what we have earned and not something which has come to us out of no-where. When we have misery in life or an unhappy situation, we immediately protest as if we are being treated unfairly. We do not pause even to think: ‘if we wanted more happiness in life, why did we not work for it in our previous lives. If we wanted to eat mango, why did we not plant a mango tree? What justification is there in eying at the mangoes in someone else’s garden? In this process we lose all sanity of mind. Wisdom lies in understanding and reconciling that one is in a particular state created by him only and not by fate. It is said:
Na dadAti dukham bibhu na sukham dadAti daiva
AtmanAm karmadosanca na socati apanditah
Brahman the Lord is not the dispenser of misery, nor happiness, comes as if doled out by fate. All are the results of one’s own acts of commissions and omissions. A fool only fails to understand this. Wise men work for it.
That is why the scripture warns: remain satisfied and seek happiness out of what Brahmanhas provided for you and do not look at someone else’s plate. When you are at peace with this contentment your understanding will rise.
To earn this happiness and contentment in life, (not only for this life but also for ‘life’s to come), what should we do?
The next sloka goes on to advise:
Kurvan eva iha karmAni jijiviset satam samAh
Evam tvayi na anyathA itah asti na karma lipyate narah.
There is only one way to achieve happiness and contentment in life. It is by remaining engaged in right kind of action as ordained by the Divine. Kurvan eva karmAni. But it has to be the karma – the right kind of actions and not akarma or vikarma as The Bhagavad Gita explained about nature of karma. Karma refers to the right actions in conformity withdharma and not vikarma, the wrong kind of action, nor akarma or forbidden activity. For happiness and contentment one should remain engaged in that kind of activity which is undertaken without any design and without any desire for results- kAmasankalpavarjitAhor totally devoid of attachment- niskAma. Any desire driven and motive dictated karma will take the mind away from the very objective behind the karma, away from sAdhanA and will not result in happiness and contentment.
Where do we perform action? Right here –iha- on this world stage which is our ordained karmabhumi. We are sent unto this world with very specific tasks for each one of us. Running away from the work place abandoning our work will make our life purposeless and consequently the nature will eliminate us.
But if we perform ourselves in this world in accordance with the sanctions of dharma, we will live long for hundred years with a useful life. That should be our aspiration. Jijiviset satam samAh. The wordjijiviset does not imply simply living but living in the right manner the life is meant to be lived. Similarlysatam samAh does not imply literally hundred years, but a long useful life, a worthwhile life.
We are asked to do this because there is no alternative exists if satchidAnanda- the truth realisation and the ensuing bliss is our objective.
However people may argue that all actions are in the end bondages. They bind the soul to their fruits or effects. That is why the stress is on the word karma – the right kind of actions. Wrong actions, vikarma andakarma bind us to the world, drag us down to our misery, into the pit of darkness. They verily harm the soul. But karma or the right actions raise the soul and bind it to Brahman. That is a desirable bondage.
When we say karma or righteous actions bind us or connect us to Brahman, what exactly does it mean? To understand that let us take the help of The Bhagavad Gita. Gita first explains YajnArthAt
karmanah. Karma is the essence of Yajna. What is the concept of Yajna?
If you remember our discussions on this subject as earlier (Read ‘Attempts to describe Brahman-Part5’ in AHWAN September 2003 issue, ‘Sustaining God consciousness’ in November 2003 issue and ‘Analysis of action – part 2 in August 2006 issue) we explained how this entire creation this grand cosmic design consisting of millions of universes (anantakoti brahmanada) is in itself a great yajna or mahAyajna.The great sacrificial fire, the homam is ablaze in which you, me and everything else are being constantly offered as the Ahuti or the oblation. This yajnasustains this creation and the yajna is sustained bykarma.
Then the Bhagavad Gita says:
Karma brahmodbhavam viddhi brahma akshara samudbhavam
tasmAt sarvagatam brahma nityam yajne pratisthitam
The activities i.e karma flows out from the creator. The creator is the extention of immutable, imperishable paramAtmA who is again none other than Brahman. So everything is centred in Brahman. And that is how karma is connected to Brahman.Any karma which is not in conformity with the creation and thereby opposed to the divine principles is either vikarma(wrong karma) or akarma ( avoidable activity).
As yajnArtha karma or actions as part of thismahAyajna automatically connects the soul toBrahman. With the same logic, vikarma or akarma distance the soul from Brahman. A soul so detached has no purpose and is as good as dead. Those people who through their vikarma and akarma keep their soul away from Brahman are in a way killers of their souls or Atmahanahs.
The next sloka in the Upanishad analyses this situation.
asuryah nAma te lokAh andhena tamasAvrtAh
Tan te pretya abhigachhanti ye ke Atmahanah janAh. (sloka 3)
Since Brahman by definition is the light of knowledge, then if you are away from Brahman, you are obviously blinded by ignorance. You live in a world of darkness- tamasAvrta loka. Ignorance is not a divine trait. It is in the character of demons orasuras.
So if in life one has not lived life righteously doing right actions, that life is a lost life. When such people depart from the life, they do not carry with them the benefits of knowledge and their next life is engulfed in darkness. A great harm has been done to the soul. This practical warning should give a jolt to every sAdhak. Where I am heading to in my next life? Is it a life of dark ignorance? If I aspire for a better life how have I prepared for it in this life? That is a very humbling thought.
We shall continue with the subsequent slokas next.
