Lessons on the Upanishads: 24 - Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday 16, April 2026, 19:50.
Books
Upanishads
Lessons on the Upanishads: 4.3.
Chapter 4: The Isavasya Upanishad -3.
Post-24.

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Isavasyam idam sarvam: 

“This creation is enveloped by the Almighty Supreme Being.” From the conclusion that we can draw out of our considerations on the very first session, it would follow that there is something which cannot be divided into parts, which is infinite in its nature, which is existing everywhere to such an extent that it may appear that it is the only thing existing. That only-existing 'Something' is the Ishvara that the Isavasya Upanishad speaks of. You have to somehow or other accommodate your mental operations to get tuned up to this interesting situation of there being Something which Alone Is—at all times, and outside which nothing can be. This conclusion follows from the nature of consciousness, whose structure we tried to analyse on the very first day.

Consciousness cannot be in some place because to be conscious that consciousness is in this 'some place', it has also to be somewhere else—where it now appears not to be. Therefore, consciousness cannot deny that it exists in another place as well, somewhere else, because such denial is impossible unless it is already present there at the spot which is being denied. Therefore, the nature of consciousness is universal. This is the nature of the Ultimate Reality. This is what we call God. This is what we call Ishvara. Therefore, the pervasion of this Supreme Consciousness, which is the Absolute Reality, is not pervasion—something entering into something else—in the ordinary sense of the term. It is the One Thing being all things. In a great mantra of the Rig Veda we are told: ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti (R.V. 1.164.46). “The one Being—poets, sages, and masters call It by different names” such as Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and so on. Therefore, this world of perception, this universe of variety, is a perceptional presentation and not actually a modification, because eternal things cannot modify themselves. If eternity modifies itself, it becomes a temporal something. That which is above time cannot become something in time.

This is the tough doctrine of creation, hard to understand, which will never enter the brain of a person; and even if it enters, it will not stay there for a long time. So, be cautious about this. The great sage of the Upanishad, therefore, tells us: “Whatever is apparently moving or not moving—yat kim ca jagatyam jagat tat sarvam—all that is Ishvara.” You  must be able to convince yourself as to the way in which God, Ishvara—the Ultimate Being—can be everywhere and also be everything. From this consideration it follows that God is not merely everywhere, He is also everything. “Knowing this, be happy without the sense of possessiveness in regard to any object,” is the second half of this mantra: tena tyaktena bhunjitha, ma gridhah kasyasvid dhanam.

You feel happy only if you have some property. A propertyless person is considered an unhappy person. People say: “I have nothing—neither land, nor house, nor money. My condition is pitiable.” If you obtain land, money and a house, you are happy. But the Upanishad says: “You will not be happy by acquiring land, money, house, etc.” Actually, possession is not the way of being happy. There is no such thing as possession. You cannot possess an area of land. It was already there, and was there even before you were born. Can you grab a piece of land, which is the earth? How can you grab the earth? Even the house that we propose to purchase from somebody must have been there before you existed. What exactly do you mean by saying “I possess something”? Does that object enter into your body? Does the house seep into your flesh and bones? Does the land enter your brain, and is the money under your skin? Does it happen so? They always remain outside, just as they were outside even before you were born. Nobody has seen money entering into someone's stomach.

For obvious reasons, a thing that is outside, totally, cannot become yours. How can you possess a thing that is not yours? But you somehow convince yourself that it is yours. You have a way of operating your mind and of convincing yourself: “This tree is mine from tomorrow because I have purchased it from someone.” Neither that person who got money from you really had it, nor have you really got this tree as you imagined. But the mental operation is so very important and so very tricky that it can make you happy or unhappy. If somebody has taken away something and kept it somewhere else, you consider it lost and you grieve that it has gone. It has not gone anywhere; it is in some other location. Now, suppose the location shifts. The object is placed in another location and your mind is adjustable to the idea that it is yours; you are happy. That which is capable of leaving you, for any reason whatsoever, cannot belong to you. A thing that is yours cannot leave you. Anything which can leave one day or the other is not yours, and there is nothing in this world which will not leave you one day or the other. Therefore, it cannot be considered as yours. Hence, you should not be under the impression that you will be happy only because of possessions. In this wondrous universal context of the pervasion of God in all things and God being all things apart from being everywhere, who will possess what? Are you concocting some imaginary dream-like situation in which you can be falsely happy by a false sense of possession of existing or non-existing things?

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