Namaskar Mahatmas!
Before we do sloka 8 of this Upanishad…… a few thoughts on sloka 6 which explained that a man of wisdom has no hatred for anyone.
Hatred is the worst sin. If we have hatred for anything or anyone even in our dreams, wise men say we are not qualified to experience the truth of ‘Isha vaasyam idam sarvam’. The heart which has the hatred is poisonous and in that heart divinity refuses to manifest.
How can we get out of hatred? The only way is by loving everybody without condition.
Our Guruji has given a beautiful way to do it. Pray (thinking of the person whom we hate – we can place the photograph of that person in the altar or in the car) to the Lord that let the hatred be removed and let love be born in my heart. If we pray everyday, again and again, the intensity of hatred turns into intensity of love.
Swami Anubhavanandaji says in one of his discourses – 4 methods to love everybody:
1. Expression of reverence for elders is called love.
2. Expression of friendship to the contemporary is called love.
3. Expression of forgiveness to those who are inferior to us is called love.
4. Expression of indifference to bad elements in the society is called love.
If we can practise this in our day to day life, we keep ourselves fit to have the experience of SELF – the ultimate purpose of having this body.
Sloka 7 explained that the wise man is beyond delusion and sorrow. With proper discrimination and enquiry, the wise man has understood that ‘He alone is everything; the one without the second’. The screen of names and forms is completely removed and he is established in knowledge.
Today’s sloka 8 explains the glory of Self and the glory of a Self realised man. All these are words which our saints and sages have used to explain the unexplainable Atman which is beyond words. These slokas by meditation and reflection, we understand that the truth can be experienced in silence alone when all our pre-occupations die. We will do the first part of the purport this week.
SLOKA 8:
SA PARYAGAAT SHUKRAM AKAAYAM AVRANAM
ASNAA-VIRAM SHUDDHAM APAAPA-VIDHAM
KAVIR MANIISHI PARIBHUH SVAYAMBHUR- YAATHAA-TATHYATO’RTHAAN VYAADADHAAT SHAASHVATIBHYAH SAMAABHYAH (8)
Sah – He (the Atman); svayambhuh – self-existent; paryagaat – all-pervading; akaayam – without body; asnaaviram – without muscles; apaapaviddham – untainted by sin or ignorance; shukram – radiant; avranam – whole; shuddham – pure; kavih – all-seeing; manishi – all-knowing; paribhuh – encompassing all; (sah – He) yaathaatath-yatah – in proper way; shaashvatibhyah – for eternal; samaabhyah – Prajapathis (or years); arthaan – duties; vyadadhaat – assigned
HE, THE SELF – EXISTENT, IS EVERYWHERE, WITHOUT A BODY, WITHOUT MUSCLES, AND WITHOUT THE TAINT OF SIN; RADIANT, WHOLE AND PURE, SEEING ALL, KNOWING ALL, AND ENCOMPASSING ALL, HE DULY ASSIGNED THEIR RESPECTIVE DUTIES TO THE ETERNAL PRAJAAPATHIS.
He, the Self – existent (svayambuh): The term ‘svayambuh’ is familiar to us. That which has come on its own is called svayambuh. The Self reveals itself like the sun which doesn’t need a torch light or a candle light to reveal itself. The Self does not need any support. But without the support of Self, nothing can exist. All our experiences in our life are supported by the Self alone. Without that nothing can be experienced. The power behind all activities of body, mind and intellect is the Self. The wise man, who identifies himself with that power, the Self, leaves all his dependency on the world for his existence.
He, is everywhere, without a body, without muscles: In our scriptures, we are asked to meditate considering that ‘I am like space’. What is the greatness of space? The space supports all shapes but does not have a shape on its own; even though it supports all the shapes, it is untouched by any of the shapes; the space supports the other four elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air but the space is not influenced by any of these four elements.
When we meditate ourselves as space, which is vast and infinity, the importance of form disappears. The differences too disappear. Physical body is limited. It cannot be present everywhere. The meaning of ‘without body and muscles’ in this sloka means ‘The wise man does not identify anymore with his gross body’.
The idea ‘I am this body’ is completely removed in a wise man which is the cause of all limitations and differences. He being the Self, exists everywhere.
He, without the taint of sin: Avadhuta Gita talks on 3 types of sin and prayer for forgiveness.
- I went from one place to another place as pilgrimage in search of You, without knowing that You are omnipresent. Your all pervasiveness was disregarded by me, so Lord! Please forgive me.
- O Lord! I have been singing your glory with different words and thereby disregarded the fact that ‘You cannot be comprehended by words and You are the strength behind every word and also the silence’ – for this sin of mine O Lord! Forgive me.
- O Lord! I have been contemplating on You and thereby pushing You away from me, disregarding that there is no difference between You and me, for that sin of mine O Lord! Forgive me.
The wise person is established in the Atman and nothing touches Him in reality. Sin is the result of our expectation to the fruit of action and our attachment to the action. The greatest of all sins is in not understanding that we are the Self, which is unlimited and assuming that we are the body, which is limited. Having realised one’s own reality, one is out of the greatest sin. He just becomes a witness to the body and all actions coming out of the body.
In the 13th chapter of Gita, the Lord tells us that ‘That highest Self, being the immutable and un-originated Spirit beyond nature is free from all action and stain, though dwelling in the body’.
If we need to become something we need effort. To understand what we are already needs our attention to be shifted from body to the inner Self. We will continue this sloka in the next week. HARI OM!
