ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : - Mantram - 4.

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD :

or


VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD


Mantram-4.


 Discussion-7. "Matarisva" .....


The Self  ( Atma ),   thus, is  not  only  all-pervading,  but  it  is  the  very  substance  and  dynamism  in  all  movements  and  the  very  force  behind  everything  which  causes  the  activity  in  life.


Presided  over  by  the  Self  alone,  can  all  the  transactions  of  life  take  place.

It  is  Life;  without  It  everything  is  dead  and  non-existent.



This  idea  has  never  been  more  vividly  brought  out  as  in  the  closing  line  of  the  mantram,  when  the  Rishi  declares  that  the  'MATARISVA'  ( Lord  of  the  Atmosphere-Air )  supports  the  activities  of  life  because  it  derives  its  Life-force  and  vigour  from  this  great  and  all-pervading  Reality.

Consciousness  and  life  is  together  a  whole;  it  is  equally  distributed  everywhere;  it  is  all-pervading.




The  element,  water  ( one  out  of  pancha-bhutham-s )  - "MATARISVA"  : -  The  atmospheric  Air,  no  doubt,  supports  the  element  ( bhutham )   water,  in  the  sense  that  it  is  grosser  than  air.

But  the  beauty  is  in  the  suggestiveness  thrown  in  due  to  the  use  of  the  term,  'Matarisva.'

The  word  'matr'  means  space / sky ( Akasam ).

Air  itself  is  supported  by  the  Akasam,  which  is  the  cause  for  the  air.

Now  air,  in  its  turn,  is  the  cause  for  the  water,  which  sustains  all  life  ---  all  forms : ***

{*** 1. Dehydration  removes  the  water-of-crystallisation,  and  all  solids  become  shapeless  powder.  Water  gives  shape  to  all  forms.

*** 2. "As  the  air,  supported  by  the  Akasam,  is  constantly  moving  everywhere  within  it ( Akasam)  only,  so  are  all  bhuthas  moving  within  Me"  --- Gita : Ch-9. Slo-6.}

From  the  Self  the  very  Akasam  has  emerged  out  :  and  all  the  rest  are  playing  the  game  of  'cause-effect,'   therefore,  only  in  the  "Sels".

Next : Discussion-8. "Swami Sri Adi-Sankaracharya" : about "Matarisva " .....( last part )

To be continued  .....