Commentary on the Isavasya Upanishad - 6. Swami Krishnananda.

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF)

#Throwback to the 10-day Spoken Sanskrit Shivir at the CIF campus 🗣️

The special programme was inaugurated by Swami Sharadananda and the CIF Academic Director, Prof. Gauri Mahulikar, and was attended by nearly 40 students. Participants included CIF and CIFSS staff, along with residents from nearby areas, and children across age groups from near and far!

Dr. P.N Sudarshanan, CIFSS Director, warmly welcomed the participants, with Dr. G. Rajashekhara Reddy delivering a vote of thanks. 

Dr. P.K. Sankaranarayanan from Samskrita Bharati, conducted the sessions enthusiastically, prompting and guiding everyone to converse in Sanskrit. Gradually, all participants were inspired – effortlessly using Sanskrit words in their daily conversations in a fun way!

The Shivir concluded with a valedictory ceremony presided over by Swami Advayananda and Dr. P.N. Sudarsanan. The participants shared their experiences and demonstrated their insights through recitiations and performances.

Swami Advayananda emphasised the many benefits of knowing Sanskrit, and encouraged everyone to continue conversing in Sanskrit to perfect their skills

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Thursday,  03  Aug  2023. 06:10.

Mantras-6 & 7.

Post-6.

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Mantram - 6.

"Yastu sarvani bhutani atmanye-vanupasyati,

sarva-bhutesu catmanam tato na viju-gupsate."

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Yah = who;

tu = however;

sarvani = all;

bhutani = beings;

atmani = in the Self;

eva = alone;

anupasyati = contantly sees;

sarva bhutesu = in all beings;

ca = and;

atmanam = Self;

tatah= then;

na = not;

vijugupsate = shrinks, feels hatred.

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Translation :

"He who constantly sees everywhere all existence in the Self and the Self in all beings and forms, thereafter feels no hatred for anything"

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Mantram-7.

"Yasmin sarvani bhutani atmaiva-bhud vijanatah,

tatra ko monah kah 'soka ekatva-manu-pasyatah."

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yasmin = in whom;

sarvani = all;

bhutani = beings;

atma = Self;

eva = alone;

abhut = hava become;

vijanatah = knowing;

tatra = these;

kah = what;

monah = delusion;

kah = what;

sokah = grief;

ekatvam = oneness;

anupasyatah = while constantly seeing.

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Translation :

"When, to the knower, all beings have become one in his own Self (Atma), how shall he feel deluded thereafter? What grief can there be to him who sees oneness everywhere."

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Swami Krishnanand comments :

 Raga and dvesha, i.e , likes and aversions exist in everyone. These are due to the mind which remains in and works from within the body, and what is more, does not wish to go out­side the body-consciousness. So man has desire for some things and aversion for some other things. These feelings are subjective and they are not really a part of the objects liked or hated. There is no end to these likes and dislikes. With us there is no question in any way of our satisfying the mind; nor is the mind ever filled with ānanda (Bliss), complete happi­ness. The mind requires only that which is tentatively needed for the satisfaction of the senses. It does not want the whole world, but only that which is connected with the physical body. If what is not needed for the limited physical existence comes before the mind, it does not want to be with it.

But this is not the attitude of the great sages. To them sarvani bhutani atma eva—everything in creation is only the atman. 

In this view, what is yours and what is not yours? How and on what authority do you call this yours and that, not yours? You cannot give a satisfactory logical answer. So your love and aversion for things is unfounded and unjustifiable. Suppose we hear that a child had a fall and is badly wounded. We do not know whose child it is. So everybody rushes to the spot. When you find that that child is not yours, you say: “Thank God! God is great! He has saved my child. So merciful is He!” If on the other hand you find it is your own child, you shout: “Oh! God, why do you treat me so merci­lessly? Have you no heart? Why did you let my child fall and injure itself so grievously?” So for the same God, you have one thing to say at one time and another thing to say at another time! You relate yourself to Him through your limited human mind with such opposite thoughts. When you see different objects, you should perceive their Essence which is the same in all, and not their names and forms. The under­sanding you get through such perception is jnana, Knowledge of the Truth behind the objects. You should not, through ajnana-nescience, superimpose love and aversion upon objects. And this is what you did in the example cited above. You should understand that everything is the ātman and nothing is outside yourself. This is the highest stage of mental evolution, the stage of highly advanced yogins and mahatmas. It is very difficult to understand things in the light jnaaa—i.e. pure knowledge, or wisdom at its highest level, but it is easy to understand what knowledge is at the lowest level, and by this latter type of knowledge we consider everything as outside us. There are three levels of understanding by the human mind.

One is satya-jnana, true Knowledge, the Knowledge that everything is atman alone. The second is the understanding that, everything is separate by itself; and here arise desires and aversions. The third is the understanding that you are a member of the society living a life of mutual co-operation. This understanding is higher than the previous second one. True Knowledge is the highest in which one feels: “Everything is myself, I am all that is”. This is attained when the injuction to “love thy neighbour as thyself” is carried to its logical limit, because, the neighbour is you yourself. He is non-different from you. Why should you love your neigh­bour as thyself, and, for what purpose? He is non-different from you and hence how can you avoid loving your own self! Thus, from separation you advance to co-operation, and from co-operation, to complete unity. When you see a thing, you should not feel as though you have not seen that object for years, for it is you yourself and surely you know yourself! Nothing external to you is needed to know about yourself. Hence, what effort is there in order to get this Knowledge!

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To be continue

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