Commentary on the Isavasya Upanishad - 22. Swami Krishnananda.

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Saturday 17, Feb 2024 07:45.

SCRIPTURES

UPANISHADS

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD

Post-22.

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Mantram - 8:

The Atman is everywhere, pure, bodiless, scatheless, muscleless, taintless, untouched by sin, omniscient, wise, omnipotent, transcendent and Self-existent. It is this Atman that is the basis of the division of actions among the divinities presiding over time. These characteristics of the Atman deny the possibility of its having either the physical, the subtle or the causal body. It is described as being free from bodily parts like muscles, the substance of the subtle body and the impurity of the causal body. For the same reason, it is untainted by actions, whether virtuous or vicious.

On the basis of the Self does the cosmic creator, Hiranyagarbha, allot the different functions to the respective divinities concerned with the rule over time. This allotment of duties is based on the Law of the Absolute Self; and hence this Law can be overruled by none. The world works with great system and order because it is based on the system of the Absolute. The law of action and reaction fully illustrates the beauty of this law of equilibrium based on the Absolute. All the appearing opposites are reconciled and brought into harmony by this sutratma or the Thread-Soul which connects together the different individualities and removes the contradictions that appear to separate the individuals from each other. The allotment of duties to the different divinities by the sutratma is in accordance with the different stages of evolution experienced by the individuals with regard to whom the duties are performed by the divinities. This means that this allotment is not arbitrary, but it is the law of the Absolute which takes into consideration the condition of every being of the universe. When the universe is dissolved into ishvara, all individuals exist in their potentialities, having all their desires buried and not fulfilled. The nature of the universe to be subsequently manifested is dependent upon what form the different unfulfilled desires of all the Jivas remaining unliberated take. The universe therefore has got such a form and is of such a nature as is necessitated by the constitution of the individuals that make up the universe. Hiranyagarbha is, therefore, not, the real direct creator of the universe but the Divine Consciousness that makes the manifestation of the universe possible. Hence He is neither a doer nor an enjoyer. The conclusion is that appearances do not affect Reality, however intense they may appear to be.

This mantra implies that the truth of things is not conditioned by values that are valid for the human being. All values are negated. The moment an individual thinks of something it thinks of it in terms of certain values or attributes. This erroneous perception is the cause of bondage. The only eternal value which is found in all things and which is common to all things is existence, whatever its nature be. The attribution of particular values, however, is the result of personal interest and narrow vision on the part of the perceiving individual. The essential nature of all being is such that it cannot be known by a perceiver as long as he does not cease from looking through the stained glass of his mind. Correct perception should get over preconceived notions. Here comes the necessity for self-denial, a denial of personality, a surrender of the ego in the attempt to exist as that which is common to all. Every particular is only a partial aspect of the whole, but the whole contains all the particulars within itself. This general whole being is the Atman that is in all. Only the individual values are special to each individual. The waves of the ocean may be of different size, and it is possible to create distinctions among these waves, but these distinctions vanish when the common character of water that is in all waves is known. The Atman transcends and includes every created being. All values, except existence, are the effects of the relations that the subject develops with the objects. Relations being private and unreal, all values, too, are unreal. Pure existence, which is independent of all individualistic values, alone is real.

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Next

Mantras 9 to 11

Continued

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