ISAVASYA UPANISHAD : - 8. Swami Tejomayananda.

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Sunday, July 10, 2022. 06:00

Wave 2: MEDITATIONS on the Self

Mantram - 8: How the Lord Governs :

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Mantram - 8:

1."Sah paryagaat shukram akaayam avranam  2. asnaaviragm shuddham  apaapa-viddham;

3. kavih maneeshee paribhooh, swayambhooh yaathaa-tathyatah 4. arthaan vyadadhaat shaashwateebhyah samaabhyah.

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Translation :

1 Sah paryagaat shukram akaayam avranam = He (the Atman) is all-pervading, bright, bodiless 

and immaculate (scatheless);

2 asnaaviragm shuddham apaapa-viddham; = He is without muscles, pure, and unpierced by 

evils;

3 kavih maneeshee paribhooh, swayambhooh yaathaa-tathyatah  = He is wise, omniscient, 

transcendent, and self-existing; and the respective

4 arthaan vyadadhaat shaashwateebhyah samaabhyah. = functions and duties are allotted by 

Him alone to the Creator for eternity.

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Commentary :

1-3 Here, Guruji took great care to help us on how to understand each of these word

descriptions of the Self. He said we should take a word at a time, close our eyes and ponder

over its meaning within, feeling always that the description is of our true nature. We should

feel that quality in our very being.

4 As was mentioned in verse 1, the Lord is not a dictatorial King. He is within all

creation. The function of governing this world is allocated to various Deities according to

their capacity to handle the respective duties. These Deities are agents on behalf of God.

How Duties are Given to Deities :

About the allocation of duties in this manner, Guruji introduced the idea of

superimposition of Brahman or the Self upon the various range of minds and bodies of

varying capacities. He emphasized that even the Creator Himself is a being like us but with

an enormously powerful cosmic mind and cosmic body. If we were to drop these

superimposed subtle bodies from all the various created beings, then they would all be

identical to Brahman. This is the meaning of the Mahavakya “I am Brahman” and the subject

of all other Mahavakyas, which is “Jiva-Brahma-Aikya”. They all instruct that the Jiva and

Brahman are identical. The way to see this as the Truth is to disengage our awareness from

all our Upadhis (body, mind and intellect), and fix it on the Self.

Among these Deities, the foremost is Ishwara, the Supreme Creator. He is allocated

rulership over the whole of creation. He is associated with the Total Mind and Total Body so

He appears to be infinitely greater than each individual human being. Yet, if we remove the

superimpositions from Ishwara and remove them from the Jiva or individual as well, there is

no difference between the two. We would see the common essence of both of these,

despite one being a Devata of the highest order, and one a puny human being severely

limited by a small body and limited mind.

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NEXT :

ISHAVASYA UPANISHAD

Wave 3: Mantras 9-14 (6 No.)

The Integration of KNOWLEDGE

To be continued ...

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