ISHAVASYA UPANISHAD : “The All-Pervading Reality” -2.

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Wednesday, February 23, 2022. 19:00.

Reflections by Swami Gurubhaktananda on the 12 Lectures delivered by Guruji, Swami Tejomayanandaji, to the 15th Batch Vedanta Course at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai, Mumbai : July 11th – July 16th, 2012.

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Adi Shankaracharya, Swami Sivananda, Swami Tapovanji, Swami Chinmayananda.

SERVE  LOVE  GIVE  PURIFY  MEDITATE  REALISE

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ISHAVASYA UPANISHAD : 18 Mantras on : “The All-Pervading Reality”

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PEACE INVOCATION (Shanti Mantram)

"Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Poornaat Poornamudachyate;

Poornasya Poorna-maadaaya Poorna-mevaa-vasishyate."

Om Shaantih! Shaantih! Shaantih!!

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Meaning: 

“That is Whole, this is Whole; from the Whole, the Whole becomes manifest; from the Whole, when the Whole is negated, the Whole alone is what remains.”

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ISHAVASYA UPANISHAD

Wave 1: Mantras 1-3 (3 No.) :THE THREE PATHS :

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1.1 THE ULTIMATE PATH :

Mantram-1.1 : The Path of Renunciation

"1Om, eeshaa vaasyam-idam sarvam or eeshaa aavaasyam-idam sarvam  2 yat kim cha jagatyaam jagat;     

3 tena tyaktena bhunjeethaa   4 maa gridhah kasya svit dhanam. " 

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Translation :

1Om, eeshaa vaasyam-idam sarvam or eeshaa aavaasyam-idam sarvam   = A dwelling of the Lord is all this, or A clothing (covering) of the Lord is all this,

2 yat kim cha jagatyaam jagat;                                                                = whatsoever that moves in this universe;

3 tena tyaktena bhunjeethaa                                                                    = By renunciation, should it be enjoyed by him;

4 maa gridhah kasya svit dhanam.                                                           = Do not covet anybody’s wealth.

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Commentary :

This is one of those famous verses of the entire Vedas, often quoted as representing the essence of Vedic spirituality. The Ishavasya Upanishad gets off to a flying start by presenting here the highest Goal of the Vedic philosophy.

Rank materialists may see in it an open invitation to “enjoy” the pleasures of this world since God Himself pervades it. Vast interest is generated by this controversial point. 

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The Lord Pervades this World :

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1 The Lord is described here using a verb that has two meanings. From the ‘As’ Dhatu, we get Vaasya, meaning a ‘dwelling’; or Vastra, meaning ‘clothing’. The world could be taken as the Lord’s dwelling or His clothing. Some even take the Lord as ‘clothing’ for the world and interpret it as “the world is coated or clothed with a veneer of Truth”.

There is no controversy about the word Isha, which means the Atman or Self. The implications of this meaning are many. Not even a dust particle should be considered unimportant. If it is, it would show that our realization of God is incomplete.

Secondly, it tells us that there is something in this world which is not perishable like all the things we see in it. All the objects may have a span of life, but the indwelling Presence of God in them is permanent, it does not die. It means that there is a truth principle in it, and that the appearance of it, which we see with our senses, is a delusion.

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God Is Not Remote From Us :

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2 The Lord is not remote from His creation. He pervades it. Here we have a vision of  a God that is really close to us. He is all around us. We can worship Him in many ways. We can worship Him even by using the many forms we have in the world to represent Him.

The usual concept of a ruler is that he sits far away and governs with a scepter in his hand. That is completely ruled out. What we see unfolding is that He rules with our consent and full participation. In fact, if He IS pervading everywhere, He alone exists. We are all partof a universal Mind and cannot help but fulfill the purposes of that Mind.

If God is in everything, then where is the unreality of this world? 

That is another enquiry to be examined carefully. 

An all-pervading God means that the world is only an apparent reality. There is a delusion by which we do not see the Lord in it. That is what we are given to discover for ourselves through a spiritual life. God-vision is something within our horizon, if only we learn how to correct our vision and behold Him in the world.

God is the primary Reality and the physical world the secondary reality. From seeing only a solid physical dynamic world full of variety to one which is pervaded by a single entity is a huge shift that we have to learn to make. Vedanta is the science by which we obtain the knowledge that enables us to do this.

There can be Consciousness without thought but there cannot be thought without Consciousness. The Reality is beyond ‘thought’, but thought is a stage in its plan. In this way the Upanishad is raising our vision of God. As we get lifted to a higher outlook, life itself becomes more fragrant. We are moving from an “onion and garlic” smelling world of our making, to a sweet, fragrant one of the Lord!

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The Concept of Renunciation :

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3 The third quarter presents before us a means by which the highest vision can be directly experienced by us. This vision of God is not just a theory but we are told that it can be attained through renunciation.

This raises the question of what is the concept of renunciation presented by the Upanishadic seer. We cannot see the ‘veneer of Truth’ at present, but we are told it is there. To behold it we need to renounce our present view of life. The suggestion is very direct that renunciation of the false values to which we cling will lead us to the correct vision of seeing the Lord in its place. We are seeing the ornaments before us in the world, and are forgetful of the gold that they are made of. When we take our attention away from the ornaments and learn to see only the gold, we will come close to understanding what is to be done to behold the Lord that pervades this world. There is something that presently colours or clouds our vision – a cosmic delusion – and by finding out the means to clear it, we can hope to arrive at the vision given here by the sage

We do not have to renounce the world. All false notions are to be dropped or RENOUNCED. However, the Indian tradition is built on actual renunciation as a way of life among earnest spiritual seekers. This verse is being addressed to such aspirants alone. They may be Sannyasins who have taken the pledge to give up all material pursuits and focus only on acquiring spiritual wealth. Or they may be seekers who still perform their functions as before but with a new outlook imbued by the presence of the Divine. An inner renunciation of desire for sensuality is demanded and an aspiration for divinity has to replace it.

“Give up the falsity of the world, and enjoy the divinity in it.” That summarises the nview of renunciation proposed here.

Sri Shankaracharya in his Bhashya also reminds us that ‘Bhunj’ means “protect” as “we should protect or save ourselves from the falsity of this world.” The latter is more in line with the characteristic of the Bhashyacharya.

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Do Not Covet Another’s Wealth :

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4 This line comes almost out of context in the verse, unless we understand renunciation in its correct perspective. If we have genuinely taken to heart that it means renunciation of all false values, then this instruction not to covet another person’s wealth is practical proof of it. By demonstrating the morality in this instruction, we become eligible to take the verse as applying to us. It is certainly meant for a high calibre of seeker.

Guruji gave us an example from his life as a young Brahmachari posted in Bhopal at the Birla Mandir there. He lived very austerely. The Pujari, noticing this, used to keep aside some Prasad specials for Guruji. He would take him aside into the sanctum and give him his special quota, which Guruji accepted as the Lord’s Prasad. Others may have looked with given to him due to his spirit of renunciation.

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Next : 2 THE PATH OF KARMA YOGA :

Mantram- 2 : Dedicated Loving Service :

To be continued ....

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