The Upanishads - Part 2
By
Swami Paramananda
14 March
2023
This Upanishad
derives its title from the opening words, lsA-vAsya, "God-covered."
The use of Isa (Lord) - am pre personal name of the Supreme Being than Brahman,
Atman or Self, the names usually found in the Upanishads -constitutes one of
its peculiarities. It forms the closing chapter of the Yajur-Veda, known as
Shukla (White).
Oneness of
the Soul and God, and the value of both faith and works as means of ultimate
attainment are the leading themes of this Upanishad. The general teaching of
the Upanishads is that works alone, even the highest, can bring only temporary
happiness and must inevitably bind a man, unless through them he gains
knowledge of his real Self. To help him knowledge is the aim of this and all
ishads.
ISA-UPANISHAD
PEACE
CHANT
M! That
(the Invisible-Absolute) is whole; whole is this (the visible phenom
enal) ;
from the Invisible Whole comes forth the visible whole. Though the •visible
whole has come out from that Invisible Whole, yet the Whole remains unaltered.
OM!
PEACE! PEACE! PEACE!
THE indefinite
term "That" is used in the Upanishads to designate the
Invisible-Absolute, because no word
or name can
fully define It. A finite object, like a
table or a tree, can be defined; but God, who is infinite and unbounded, cannot
be expressed by finite language. Therefore the Rishis or Divine Seers, desirous
not to limit the Unlimited, chose the indefinite term "That” to designate
the Absolute.
In the
light of true wisdom the phenomenal and the Absolute are inseparable. All
existence is in the Absolute; and whatever exists, must exist in It; hence all
manifestation is merely a modification of the One Supreme Whole, and neither
increases nor diminishes It. The Whole there fore remains unaltered.
I
LL this,
whatsoever exists in the universe, should be covered by the Lord. Having
renounced (the unreal), enjoy (the Real). Do not covet the wealth of any man.
WE cover
all things with the Lord by perceiving the Divine Presence everywhere. When the
consciousness is firmly fixed in God, the conception of diversity naturally
drops away; because the One Cosmic Existence shines through all things. As we
gain the light of wisdom, we cease to cling to the unrealities of this world,
and we find all our joy in the realm of Reality.
The word “enjoy"
is also interpreted by the great commentator SankarAcharya as
"protect," because knowledge of our true Self is the greatest
protector and Sustainer. If we do not have this knowledge, we cannot be happy;
because nothing on this external plane of phenomena is permanent or dependable.
He who is rich in the knowledge of the Self does not covet external power or
possession.
II
F one
should desire to live in this world a hundred years, one should live performing
Karma (righteous deeds).Thus thou mayest live; there is no other way. By doing
this, Karma (the fruits of thy actions) will not defile thee.
IFa man
still clings to long life and earthly possessions, and is therefore unable to
follow the path of Sell knowledge (Gnana-Nishta) as prescribed in the
first Manlram (text), then he may follow the path of right action (Karma-Nishta).
Karma here means actions per formed without selfish motive, for the sake of
the Lord alone. When a man performs actions clinging blindly to his lower
desires, then his actions bind him to the plane of ignorance or the plane of
birth and death; but when the same actions are performed with surrender to God,
they purify and liberate him.
III
FTER
leaving their bodies, they who have killed the Self go to the worlds of the Asuras,
covered with blinding ignorance.
THE idea of
rising to bright regions as a reward for well-doers, and of falling into realms
of darkness as a punishment for evil-doers is common to all great religions.
But VedAnta
claims that this condition of heaven and hell is only temporary; because our
actions, being finite, can produce only a finite result.
What does
it mean "to kill the Self? " How can the immortal Soul ever be
aestroyed? It cannot be destroyed, it can only be obscured. Those who hold
themselves under the sway of ignorance, who serve the flesh and neglect the A
/111a11 or the real Self, are not able to perceive the effulgent and
indestructible nature of their Soul; hence they fall into the realm where the
Soul light does not shine. Here the Upanishad shows that the only hell is
absence of knowledge. As long as man is overpowered 'the Upanishads by the
darkness of ignorance, he is the slave of Nature and must accept whatever comes
as the fruit of his thoughts and deeds. When he strays into the path of
unreality, the Sages declare that he destroys himself; because he who clings to
the perishable body and regards it as his true Self must experience death many
times.
IV
HAT One,
though motionless, is swifter than the mind. The senses can never overtake It,
for It ever goes before. Though
immovable, It travels faster than those who run. By It the all-pervading air sustains all living beings.
THIS verse
explains the character of the AIman or Self.
A finite
object can be taken from one place and put in another, but i-tcan only occupy
one space at a time. The Atman, however, is present everywhere; hence, though
one may run with the greatest swiftness to over-• take It, already It is there
before him.
Even the
•all-pervading air must be supported by this Self, since It is infinite; and as
nothing can live without breathing air, all living things must draw their life
from the Cosmic Self.
V
T moves and
It moves not. It is far and also It is near. It is within and also It is
without all this.
JT is near to those who have the power to
understand It, for It dwells in the heart of every one; but It seems far to those
\Those mind is covered by the clouds of sensuality and self-delusion. It is
within, because It is the inner most Soul of all creatures; and It is without
as the essence of the whole external universe, infilling it like the all
pervading ether.
VI
E who sees
all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings, he never turns away from It
(the Self).
VII
E who
perceives all beings as the Self, for him how can there be delusion or grief,
when he sees this oneness (every where)?
HE who
perceives the Self everywhere never shrinks from anything, because through his
higher consciousness he feels united with all life. When a man sees God in all
beings and all beings in God, and also God dwelling in his own Soul, how can he
hate any living thing? Grief and delusion rest upon a belief in diversity,
which leads to competition and all forms of selfishness. With the realiza tion
of oneness, the sense of diversity vanishes and the cause of misery is removed.
VIII
E (the
Self) is all-encircling, resplendent, bodiless, spotless, without sinews, pure,
untouched by sin, all-seeing, all-knowing, transcendent, self-existent; He has
disposed all things duly for eternal years.
THIS text
defines the real nature of the Self. When our mind is cleansed from the dross
of matter, then alone can we behold the vast, radiant, subtle, ever-pure and
spotless Self, the true basis of our existence.
IX
HEY enter
into blind darkness who worship Avidya (ignorance and delusion); they fall, as
it were, into greater darkness who worship Vidya (knowledge).
X
y Vidya one
end is attained; by Avidya, another. Thus we have heard from the wise men who
taught this.
XI
E who knows
at the same time both
Vidya and
Avidya, crosses over death by Avidya and attains immortality through Vidya.
THOSE who follow or "worship" the
path of selfishness and pleasure (Atidya), without knowing anything
higher, necessarily fall into darkness; but those who worship or cherish Vidya
(knowledge) for mere intellectual pride and satisfaction, fall into greater
darkness, because the opportunity which they misuse is greater.
In the
subsequent verses Vidya and Avidyd are used in something the same sense as
"faith" and "works" in the Christian Bible; neither alone
can lead to the ultimate goal, but when taken together they carry one to the
Highest. Work done with unselfish motive purifies the mind and enables man to
perceive his undying nature. From this he gains inevitably a knowledge of God,
because the Soul and God are one and inseparable; and when he knows himseU to
be one with the Supreme and Indestructible Whole, he realizes his immortality.
XII
HEY fall
into blind darkness who wor ship the Unmanifested and they fall into greater
darkness who worship the manifested.
XIII
y the
worship of the Unmanifested one end is attained; by the worship of the
manifested, another. Thus we have
heard from the wise men who taught us this.
XIV
E who knows
at the same time both the Unmanifested (the cause of manifestation) and the
destructible or manifested, he crosses over death through knowledge of the
destructible and attains immortality through knowledge of the First Cause
(Unmanifested).
THIS
particular Upanishad deals chiefly with the Invisible Cause and the visible
manifestation; and the whole trend of its teaching is to show that they are one
and the same, one being the outcome of the other; hence no perfect knowledge is
possible without simultaneous comprehension of both. The wise men declare that
he who worships in a one-sided way, whether the visible or the invisible, does
not reach the highest goal. Only he who has a co-ordinated understanding of
both the visible and the invisible, of matter and spirit, of activity and that
which is behind activity, conquers Nature and thus overcomes death. By work, by
making the mind steady and by following the prescribed rules given in the
Scriptures, a man gains wisdom. By the light of that wisdom he is able to
perceive the Invisible Cause in all visible forms. Therefore the wise man sees
Him in every manifested form. They who have a true conception of God are never
separated from Him. They exist in Him and He in them.
xv
HE face of
Truth is hidden by a golden disk. 0
Pushan (Effulgent Being)!
Uncover
(Thy face) that I, the worshipper of Truth, may behold Thee.
XVI
PUSHAN! 0 Sun,
sole traveller of the heavens, controller of all, son of Prajapati, withdraw
Thy rays and gather up Thy burning effulgence. Now
through Thy Grace I behoid Thy blessed and glorious form.
The
Purusha (Effulgent Being) who dwells within Thee, I am He.
HERE the
sun, who is the giver of all light, is used as the symbol of the Infinite,
giver of all wisdom. The seeker after Truth prays to the Effulgent One to
control His dazzling rays, that his eyes, no longer blinded by them, may behold
the Truth. Having perceived It, he proclaims: "Now I see that that
Effulgent Being and I are one and the same, and my delusion is destroyed."
By the light of Truth he is able to discriminate between the real and the
unreal, and the knowledge thus gained convinces him that he is one with the
Supreme; that there is no difference between himself and the Supreme Truth; or
as Christ said, "I and my Father are one."
XVII
AY my
life-breath go to the all pervading and immortal Pruna, and
let this
body be burned to ashes. Om!
0 mind,
remember thy deeds! 0 mind, re member, remember thy deeds! Remember!
SEEK not
fleeting results as the reward of thy actions,
0
mind! Strive only for the
Imperishable. This J,f 011/ram or text
is often chanted at the hour of death to remind one of the perishable nature of
the body and the eternal nature of the Soul. When the clear vision of the
distinction between the mortal body and the immortal Soul dawns in the heart,
then all craving for physical pleasure or material possession drops away; and
one can say, let the body be burned to ashes that the Soul may attain its
freedom; for death is nothing more than the casting-off of a worn-out garment.
XVIII
AGNI
(Bright Being)! Lead us to blessedness by the good path. 0 Lord! Thou knowest
all our deeds, remove all evil and delusion from us.
To Thee we
offer our prostrations and supplications
again and again.
Here Ends
This Upanishad
THISUpanishad is called lsA-V sya-Upanishad,
that which gives Brahma-Vidya or knowledge of the All pervading Deity. The dominant thought running through
it is that
we cannot enjoy life or realize true happiness unless we consciously
"cover" all with the Omnipresent Lord. If we are not fully conscious
of that which sustains our life, how can we live wisely and perform our duties?
Whatever we see, movable or immovable, good or bad, it is all "That."
We must not divide our conception of the universe; for in dividing it, we have
only fragmentary knowledge and we thus limit ourselves.
He who sees
all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings, he never suffers; because
when he sees all creatures Y.ithin his true Self, then jealousy, grief and
hatred vanish. He alone can love. That All-pervading One is self eff ulgent,
birthless, deathless, pure, untainted by sin and sorrow. Knowing this, he
becomes free from the bondage of matter and transcends death. Transcending
death means realizing the difference between body and Soul and identifying
oneself with the Soul. When we actually behold the undecaying Soul within us
and realize our true nature, we no longer identify our self with the body which
dies and we do not die with the body.
Self-knowledge
has always been the theme of the Sages; and the Upanishads deal especially with
the knowledge of the Self and also \\ith the knowledge of God, because there is
no difference between the Self and God. They are one and the same. That which
comes out of the Infinite Whole must also be infinite; hence the Self is
infinite. That is
the ocean,
we are the drops. So long as the drop remains separate from the ocean, it is
small and weak; but when it is one with the ocean, then it has all the strength
of the ocean. Similarly, so .long as man believes himself to be separate from
the Whole, he is helpless; but when he identifies himself with It, then he
transcends all weakness and partakes of Its omnipotent qualities.
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