ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : Mantram : 9.

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD :

or


VAJASANEYI    SAMHITA    UPANISHAD


Mantram : 9.


Andham  tamah  pravisanti  yevidyam  -upasate,



tato  bhuya  iva  te  tamo  ya  u  vidyayagm  ratah.



andham  =  blinding;

tamah  =  darkness;

pravisanti  =  ener;

ye  =  who;

avidyam  =  avidya; ( details  in  discussion )

upasate  =  worship;

tatah  =  than  that;

bhuyah  =  greater;

eva  =  as  though;

te  =  they;

tamah  =  darkness;

ye  =  who;

u  =  verily;

vidyayam  =  in  vidya; : ( details  in  discussion )

ratah  =  devoted, engaged  in.



(9)  " They  who  worship  Avidya  ( rites )  alone  enter  into  blinding  darkness,  and  they,  who  are  engaged  in  Vidya ( meditation )  verily  fall,  as  though,  into  an  even  greater  darkness."



Discussion-1. In  the  opening  of  this  Upanishad,  in  our  introductory  parts,  we  found  that  this  Upanishad  is  an  answer  to  the  eternal  doubt  as  to  whether  'a  life  of  action  or  a  life  of  meditation'  is  the  ideal  way  of  living.


'Knowledge  versus  action'  has  been  the  eternal  problem  with  every  generation  of  thinkers  that  had  come  to  observe  life  closely  as  a  theme  for  their  scientific  investigation.


Even  today,  we  find,  off  and  on,  controversies  over  the  'religious  versus  the   secular' etc,...
which  are  all  nothing  but  new  epithets  used  in  expressing  this  eternal  problem  in  the  mind  of  every  generation.



In  this  mantram,  Rishi muni  opened  up  the  problem  and  the  sage  is  top  summarise  his  conclusions  in  the  following  three  mantram-s ( 10,11,12 ).


Next : Discussion-2. "Avidya  and  Vidya " .....

To be continued  ....