by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 33
November. 2003

ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE BRAMHAN - Part 7 And the magic word AUM

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

The next point for contemplation is the second line of this sloka from Ishavasya Upanishad. Having established the concept of Bramhan it now advises, as to what should be our behavioral approach to this concept.

Our srutis are never for mere theoretical and intellectual reading. They are all guidelines for sadhana. Only our limited understanding eludes us this point.

It says
Tena tyaktena bhunjithaa ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam

Whatever is apportioned to you in this creation, enjoy that. Do not covet what does not belong to you.

It is likely that an ignorant individual may think that if I am equated one with Bramhan that everything in this creation is for my enjoyment too. Therefore I have a claim over everything also. The upanishad sets this fallacy at rest. Although all individual souls or jivatmas are extensions of Paramatma, the needs of each one for its individual development is different from each other. This is because, none of us take birth in these lives with identical past influences or sanskaras. The different environments and circumstances in which we come to exist, is the result of careful selection based on our karma and is uniquely suitable only for our individual needs for evolution. If one is born to a king or to a hermit, and another is born to a pauper or to a thief, it is not by any accident. The lessons required to be learnt by the individuals are required to be learnt under these specific conditions only. If the lives or roles are switched, there will be no scope for development. If I crave for your life and you crave for my life, then we both will be losers. What each of us have, is commensurate to what each of us need. Therefore if evolution is our goal, looking longingly to the otherside of the fence is childishness and self-defeating.

From this single-Bramhan concept of the upanishad, some more relative issues come up in our doubting minds. Some ask, if my soul and The Supreme Soul are the same, why do I have to go through efforts to unite with some thing, which I already am?

It is true that the individual souls - what we call jivatmas - are extensions of the supreme soul and essentially possess the same attributes. But the apparent difference in perception is that while Paramatma or Bramhan is pure consciousness, the jivatma is that consciousness but conditioned by form, name and nature- rupa, nama and prakrti. .