Commentary on the Isavasya Upanishad - 24. Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday 15, Mar 2024 07:30.

SCRIPTURES

UPANISHADS

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD

Post-24.

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Mantras 12 to 14

Into dense darkness they enter, who worship the Unmanifest; into greater darkness, as it were, they enter, who worship the Manifest. The results of these two Upasanas are different from each other. When the knowledge of the Manifest and of the Unmanifest are combined, one crosses over death through the Unmanifest and becomes immortal through the Manifest. The Unmanifest is the original condition of equilibrium of gunas, viz., sattva, rajas and tamas. This condition is the primordial matter that is the substance of the universe in its causal condition. This is the same as maya or prakriti. It is also called avyakrita or the undifferentiated. One who worships or adores this Unmanifest gets dissolved in the Unmanifest and becomes unified with that dark equilibrium where there is no consciousness and hence no effort is possible. When this Unmanifest manifests itself, those who are dissolved in the Unmanifest are reborn as individuals. This Unmanifest is the origin of both the causes and effects of all actions and hence, it is concerned only with the universe and not with Brahman.

The Manifest is that which is produced from this Unmanifest. This is the same as Hiranyagarbha. One who worships Him enters into greater darkness, as it were, because he is tempted by the glory of the region of Hiranyagarbha, and does not attempt at the higher salvation. The eight siddhis and all possible greatness come to one who attains this Hiranyagarbha; but there is the danger of being satisfied with this state, and hence it is worse than getting dissolved in the Unmanifest which at least gives rise to the pain of birth and death and makes one realise the unsatisfactory condition one is in. Knowledge that is not perfect and is within the ken of prakriti is productive of egoism. Vikshepa or distraction is worse than Avarana. The state of Hiranyagarbha is one of vikshepa, because there is universal objective consciousness and cosmic enjoyment in it. But even Hiranyagarbha gets dissolved in the Absolute and hence his state is less than the Absolute. The state of getting dissolved in the Unmanifest is called prakriti-laya, which is not the same as moksha, but a temporary winding up of all activities. The word prakriti-laya has got a special meaning. All beings are dissolved in prakriti at the end of the universe, but these cannot be called prakriti-layas, because they have got the potentiality of reverting to ordinary individuality, since, even in this state of dissolution, their individualistic samskaras are not destroyed. A prakriti-laya is one who does not once again become an ordinary individual, but being reduced to the fundamental finest essence of the omnipresent prakriti becomes the omnipresent Lord of the universe.

The worship of the Unmanifest gives one knowledge of everything of the universe. One understands the nature of the essential constituents of life. The pain of death is the result of not having this understanding. Pain is the result of the belief in the reality of a centralisation of certain aspects of prakriti by the consciousness of desire. The pain of death is not felt when there is the knowledge that death is a change of the constituents of personality which get reduced to their fundamental units. Even as water flows in a river, life flows in existence. Every moment there is fresh life, even as every moment there is fresh water in a river. Not being able to bear this flaw or change is called pain, but the knowledge of all the essential constituents of this flow negates all pain, because knowledge is the opposite of attachment to particular forms taken by these constituents. Knowledge of the essence of prakriti, therefore, gives a full knowledge of the entire life of the universe and thus pain and the consciousness of change which are the characteristics of the individual are not felt. Hence one crosses over death through the worship of the Unmanifest.

Through the worship of the Manifest or Hiranyagarbha one attains relative immortality and thence krama-mukti. The meaning of these mantras is that one should combine the worships of the Manifest and the Unmanifest, because an exclusive worship of Hiranyagarbha considering Him as distinct from the universe will not allow one to proceed to the Absolute, since that aspect of the Absolute, viz., the prakriti, which is rejected and not meditated upon, shall pull one down to individual life. No distinction should be made between God and the world; otherwise the meditation would be partial and liberation would not be possible because of lack of completeness.

The negation of death through the worship of prakriti is not the cessation of becoming, but the non-experience of the pain of becoming. The change is there, but the change is not felt as something destructive and undesirable. The attainment of immortality through the worship of the Manifest is not resting in the Absolute but the absence of the pain caused by defects like poverty, vice and craving, as a consequence of the attainment of universal wealth, power and knowledge. Therefore, these two conditions are different from the realisation of the Absolute.

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Next

Mantram - 15

Continued

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