Lessons on the Upanishads: 26 - Swami Krishnananda.

 

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF).

Soundarya Lahari: Mambalam Sisters

The Saundarya Lahari Camp Part 5 held at Chinmaya International Foundation from 12 to 16 May 2026 was a deeply elevating and transformative experience for the campers.

The camp saw participation of 63 seekers from across India and different parts of the world. 44 campers were new participants reflecting the growing enthusiasm for the study of Shakta and Vedantic traditions.

Guided by the illuminating unfoldment of Saundarya Lahari by Swami Sharadananda Sarasvati the camp immersed seekers in the profound Tantric exposition of Shiva Shakti Sadhana exploring both its resonances and distinctions from Advaita Vedanta.

The camp began with an insightful exploration into the evolution of Devi from the Rig Vedic era and unfolded the integral role of Devi-Shakti within the Indian spiritual framework guided by Prof. Gauri Mahulikar.

The first three days were beautifully enriched by chanting sessions on the Shyamala Dandakam conducted by Brni Devaki Chaitanya along with meanings and contemplative insights. Seekers were also blessed with a satsang session by Br. Ved Chaitanya and the divine Lalitambika Puja.

Over five days of intense scriptural study the camp progressed from Verse 42 to Verse 55 of the Saundarya Lahari unveiling many profound philosophical and spiritual dimensions.

The valedictory session was blessed by Swami Sharadananda Sarasvati and Brni Devaki Chaitanya during which participation certificates were distributed to the campers.

Participants departed with gratitude inspiration and eager anticipation for the forthcoming camp on the Prashna Upanishad

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Sunday 31, May 2026, 06:00.
Books
Upanishads
Lessons on the Upanishads: 4.5.
Chapter 4: The Isa Vasya Upanishad -5.
Post-26.

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Hence, the first mantra of the Isavasya Upanishad says, Isavasyam idam sarvam yat kim ca jagatyam jagat: “All this that you perceive, see, or contact through the sense organs is enveloped by God.” I have tried to explain the meaning of this word 'enveloped', which is very intriguing, and deep connotation and significance are involved in it. “Knowing this, be happy.” Merely by knowing this, you will be happy. Are you not happy merely by knowing that you are alive? Will you be happy by knowing that you will not be alive? The greatest happiness is in the feeling that you are hale and hearty. And if you are not hale and hearty, any kind of possession is not going to make you happy. Even in ordinary daily life you will realise that your being itself is a source of happiness. “I am perfectly secure, hale and hearty; it makes me happy. However, if I am not that, then put all gold and silver on my head. Will I be happy? Crush me with the weight of a load of silver; what is the good if I am not hale and hearty?” Happiness is the condition of Being, which is you. Happiness is not some consequence or result that follows from accretion of objects into your so-called personality. This mantra is very difficult to understand. One great thinker said that if all the scriptures in the world were destroyed and if only this mantra is available to us, we need not learn anything else afterwards. Let this one mantra remain and all the scriptures be destroyed. This one verse is sufficient to save us: Isavasyam idam sarvam yat kim ca jagatyam jagat, tena tyaktena bhunjitha, ma gridhah kasyasvid dhanam (Isa 1).

Do not be greedy. Do not be possessive. Do not say “I want, I want, I want.” You require nothing, finally. Even the richest people do not sleep on ten kilometres of land. They require six feet on which to sleep. Do you think a millionaire requires a longer, lengthier bed, several furlongs long, to sleep on? Will a rich person eat two quintals of food because he is rich? He will perhaps eat less than what you eat. These are confusions in the mind. Wealth and possession— accretion of objects, imagination that one has everything in this world—“I am the ruler of this earth”—these are rank illusions in the mind, and you will know this when the time comes. When everything goes, you will realise that you made a mistake in thinking that you had everything. You never brought anything when you came to this world. Are you trying to possess things which you did not bring? How did you earn this property of the world when you did not bring it with you when you came? Actually, if you have earned this property, you could take it when you go. Why do you not take it with you? You have so much wealth that you have earned through your profession; take it with you when you go. Can you? If you cannot bring anything and if you cannot take anything either, how is it possible for you to possess anything in the middle? The logic is: that which is not in the beginning, and not in the end, is also not in the middle. It is a total delusion, which is hard to understand and difficult to appreciate. A bitter pill is this knowledge. But this is the truth, and this is what the first mantra of the Isavasya Upanishad says.

I have told you there are four instructions in this Upanishad. The first one is the fundamental, philosophical doctrine—the basic philosophy, not merely of this country, but of humanity as a whole. It is possible to thrust all religions into this one single verse of the Upanishad, i.e., the first verse—isavasyam idam sarvam…, as one can thrust things into a hold-all. All philosophies, all religions, all doctrines go into the hold-all of this one verse of the Isavasya Upanishad. Well, that is wonderful. This is the metaphysical foundation of philosophy and the highest peak of human thought.

The second mantra says: “Everyone has to do something.” Knowledge of the Supreme Being does not mean idleness of personality. This is something even more difficult to understand than the earlier mantra. You will say: “If God alone is, why should I do anything? I will keep quiet.” Here, in saying so, you make the mistake of having a wrong notion about yourself. “I will keep quiet.” Which 'I' is keeping quiet? Is the body 'I' keeping quiet? Is the mind 'I' keeping quiet? What is meant when you say: “I shall keep quiet because God does all things and He is all things”? It is a consciousness of a peculiar condition of your personality that makes this statement. Here you have made a blunder. Your statement that you need not do anything implies your acceptance of your being an individual nevertheless, a body-mind complex, in spite of your theoretical and intellectual acceptance of the omnipresence of God. This is something very interesting, which may also look very difficult; but if you remember this, you may not have to learn anything else afterwards.

It is a wrong notion of yourself that makes you conclude that one can keep quiet without doing anything because God does all things. Then how do you come into existence as an idle person, if God exists everywhere and God is all things? Do you believe that you have also negated yourself, and your existence is abolished? If you really feel that God exists and He is all things, it is wonderful. If you are convinced that you do not exist and you have melted into the Cosmic Being, why should you feel the need to say that you need not do anything? In making this statement, you have made a mistake due to a wrong concept of your individuality that has crept in, even as you appear to be making a correct statement from your point of view.

The concept of the Absolute is the subject of the first mantra. The concept of individuality is the subject of the second mantra. What are you, in the light of this conclusion that God pervades all things and God is everything? If you are cautious enough in exercising your thoughts in this context, you will be compelled to conclude—and feel, too—that you cannot exist at all. You do not any more exist. It has gone. Your so-called 'me' has gone  into the Universal 'I'. Such a feeling, intellectually, is appreciable and conceivable. Practically, you cannot accommodate yourself to this consciousness because you can feel this hard body when you touch it with your fingers. So the Upanishad says: “Do not be in a hurry. Go slowly. Do such things as will gradually widen the concept of your personality, or individuality, and make it commensurate with the supreme universal personality of God Himself. This is done by the duty which is to be performed.”

Yesterday I made a brief reference to the concept of duty. Duty is the work that you do in participation with a larger whole—an organisation, a family circumstance, a national setup or even the universe itself. Actually, work in a spiritual sense is not something that is done in some way, for some reason. “I am doing something”—that is not the point. The work that you do as a duty becomes valuable—and actually can be called duty and as work that has that a value in it—only if it is a sacrifice on your part by way of a participation in the welfare of a larger whole to which you belong. If you are in a family with five people, ten people, each member has to contribute something by way of a sacrifice of his personal interest for the welfare of a larger organisation, which is the group of individuals called the family. If each one sticks to his own guns, there will be no family. It will disintegrate. A family is a consciousness; it is not a bundle of people. It is an awareness of oneself belonging to a total whole, which is what is called a family. It is a conceptual entity, not a physical body. So is an organisation; so is a nation. You cannot see the nation with your eyes. You see only mountains, rivers, trees and the ground. Nation is a concept, a consciousness of a totality of values to which you belong as a citizen thereof. When you say, “I am a citizen of this country,” what is it that you actually mean? You are a citizen; it means you are a person, an entity that belongs to a total whole, which is not visible to the eyes. You have to participate in the welfare of the whole.

There are various wholes. The body itself is a whole. You have to take care of it, not torture it and kill it. The body also is an organism; it is an organisation. The family is an organism, an organisation. So is a state, a nation, an international setup, the United Nations Organisation or the whole universe of creation. In each one, in each level, you have to be a participant and not be in opposition. You should not belong to the opposite party always. You should be a participant in the welfare of the whole to which you belong. This is the duty that you have to perform. Do work as long as you are alive in this world. There is no retirement from work of this kind. There may be retirement from office work, from industrial work and so on, but there is no retirement from duty because you retire from duty only when you cease to exist as an individual. As long as personality persists, duty continues. You may live for a hundred years, if possible—shatam jivema. What will you do for one hundred years? You will be doing duty. What is the duty?

A person who has not understood the meaning of the first mantra will not understand the meaning of the second mantra either. They go together as associates, like the right hand and the left hand. You will not be able to understand what duty is, in the sense of this self-sacrifice for the welfare of the whole, unless you know what the whole is. I gave you a traditional list of several wholes. The ultimate whole is the Absolute Being. All these lesser wholes are determined by the Supreme Whole. In every case you ought to be a participant. You have to participate in every way necessary for the welfare of your bodily and mental health. You should not destroy your mind and body. So also it is with your family, and so also with all the things that I have enumerated just now.

Therefore, you can be a very happy person by belonging to something, not by possessing something. The moment you belong to something, that something to which you belong will take care of you. Hence, privileges follow automatically from duties. However, these days people cry only for rights, and want no duties. “I have no work; I will sit outside. Bring my salary.” This is against the law of the cosmos. You cannot expect remuneration without doing anything. If you understand what I said, you will be very happy.

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Chapter 5: The Isavasya Upanishad Continued and the Kena Upanishad
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