Namaskar Mahatmas!
We are now in sloka 6 of the Upanishad. Slokas 4 and 5 explained the nature of our Self. Slokas 6, 7 and 8 explains the nature of a realized soul, a wise person who lives with the vision of Isha vaasyam idam sarvam.
YAS TU SARVAANI BHUTAANI ATMANYEVAANUPASHYATI
SARVA BHUTESHU CHAATMAANAM TATO NA VIJUGUPSATE (6)
Yah – who (The wise one); tu – and; sarvaani – all; bhutaani – beings; atmani – in Atman; eva – itself; anupashyati – sees; cha – and; sarvabhuteshu – in every being; atmaanam – the Atman; tatah – from that; na – not; vijugupsate – hates (rejects).
THE WISE MAN WHO PERCEIVES ALL BEINGS AS NOT DISTINCT FROM HIS OWN SELF AT ALL (tu yah sarvani bhutany atmany eva anupashyati), AND HIS OWN SELF AS THE SELF OF EVERY BEING (sarva bhuteshu atmananam anupashyati)– HE DOES NOT, BY VIRTUE OF PERCEPTION, HATE ANYONE (tatah na vijugupsate).
The wise man sees His own reflection in this world-mirror of names and forms. There is nothing other than the Self for Him. The potter makes various things using the same clay. They are of different size and different shape. They may be used for different purposes. But without clay, none of the things can exist. The clay is the support for all the things made by the potter. Similarly the man of vision of ‘Isha vaasyam idam sarvam’, sees that Supreme Isha alone in Himself and in everything around him. All of us (moving, unmoving and even beyond that) are the essence of that Supreme Consciousness.
Thiruvalluvar says in the Thirukural – “epporul yeth thanmai thaayinum app poruL mei poruL kaanbadu arivu”: “True understanding is that which uncovers and shows the reality behind the apparent and diverse exteriors of all things. The enlightened man perceives the reality behind and beyond the diverse phenomenal appearances covering it” – eyes sees differences. Knowledge sees unity.
The Lord describes such a realized person in Bhagavad Gita (5.17) that –
“He becomes the knower of truth, whose intellect is absorbed in the Supreme Lord, whose mind is ever engrossed in Him, who is established exclusively in Him and is in every way dependent on Him. Such a pious person, his taints and sins having been dispelled by knowledge, achieves the highest good.”
Those who have realized the truth, conduct themselves in this world in a spirit of equality. The cause for such a conduct is their conviction that the Supreme Self is abiding everywhere and in every form. The Lord continues to say in Gita:
“They look upon a brahmana – the one endowed with learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, and even upon a dog and an outcaste with an equal eye visualizing the presence of the Supreme Lord in all of them” – The one with a discriminative intellect goes beyond the externals and knows that all are essentially the Atman. He blames nobody for any negative attributes and regards them as his own self – be they young or old, evil or saints, or even animals. For him everything is the Atman.
Ramana Maharishi used to interact with monkeys and cows as he used to interact with human beings. The love and compassion he showered on them are equal.
HE BY VIRTUE OF HIS PERCEPTION DOES NOT HATE ANYONE:
Tulsidasji has expressed similar ideas in his Ramayana where He says –
“Those who are devoted to Shri Rama are free from lust, vanity and anger. They look upon the whole world as full of their Lord. Against whom then can they harbor animosity.”
In both these states of consciousness – to see everyone in the Lord and the Lord in everyone – the wise man is free from hatred. The sloka says – tato na vijugupsate – thereafter, he feels no hatred, he does not hate.
The word Jugupsa has many meanings – hatred, malice, fear, impiety etc. These ideas of hatred etc., appear in an individual when he sees and feels duality. When one feels that the other person is different from him, when there is more space between him and others, there grows all kind of differences born out of I and Mine/superior and inferior.
It is due to Ahankara, the egoistic state overwhelmed in the combined mode of Rajas (passion) and Tamas (inertia), that we visualize ourselves as superior and others inferior. This feeling of superiority brings in the thoughts of being pious and being beautiful. When we consider ourselves to be pious, only then, we see impiety in others. Also, when we see beauty in ourselves, then we see ugliness, the opposite, in others. It is well-known truth to us all that from impiety, hatred is born and from ugliness, dislike is the result. This hatred and dislike is Jugupsa, the sense or feeling of hatred.
The cause of hatred is not the external world, it is inherent in our own inner self. As long as our inner nature is impure, we will always see impurity outside.
It is a great malady, a sin, which lowers humanity to a state of suffering.
When a man tried to hurt Mata Amritanandamayi, she told him with total love ‘If you had come in the white dress, you could have accomplished your task easily’. That is the view of a realised person. They can shower love unconditionally.
The sloka, therefore, declares that when the mind is freed from the influences of modes of passion (Rajasa) and inertia (Tamasa), and the man becomes established in the Supreme Consciousness, he is freed from hatred.
SUMMARY:
This sloka shows the way to non-duality. The wise man sees different things and beings but does not visualize duality among them. Why, because, he sees all of them emanating from the same divine source.
Guruji has said beautifully : “Through delusion born out of pairs of opposites like desire and hatred, all creatures of the world are falling prey to infatuation.”.
How are we to achieve this non-dualistic state? To see the truth we need different eyes; different perception. To understand Him, we need different intellect dropping out all our prejudices. To win Him, we need different heart, a mind soaked in Him for a long time – Guruji.
Obeying implicitly the teachings of the Guru and complete surrender to Him, the sadhaka, practising the words of Guru in his day to day life, with all his doubts cleared, reaches the state of oneness.
We have got the most valuable human birth, a gate way to realisation. Let us make use of it to live the life of oneness – a life of unconditioned love.
We will continue with sloka 7 which explains the ever happy state of a realised person.
HARI OM!
