Namaskar Mahatmas!
RECAP OF LAST TWO WEEKS:
The first two lines of the sloka says that everything is complete by itself because all have born out of completeness; infinity.
Standing at a wrong distance, we feel ‘this is lacking; this has to go; this we have to add; this we have to change’ and keep performing actions either to add or to leave something. The things, surroundings, people, world need not change but it is our attitude that has to change. The first two lines says it loudly that we are complete; Poornam. The body is limited but the real essence of us, the consciousness is unlimited. If we see from body point of view everything seems to be incomplete and we run behind desires. But when we stand at the point of view of the consciousness, everything is complete. Like lamps may appear different but the flame is the same fire – external appearances look different but the inside stuff is the same – the Infinite Consciousness.
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This week we shall do the next two lines of the invocation mantra of Isavaasya Upanishad.
OM! POORNAMADAH POORNAM IDAM
POORNAAT POORNAMUDACHYATE
POORNASYA POORNAM AADHAAYA
POORNAM EVAA VASISHYATE
OM SHANTI! SHANTI! SHANTIH!
Purnasya = of Complete referring to “Supreme Soul”
Purnam =Complete referring to “Individual Soul”
Adaya =giving away to
(i.e. by giving away the completeness(wholeness)of “Supreme Soul” to “Individul Soul”
Purnam eva vashishyate = only the Complete remains
Purnasaya purnam adaya – “Take away This Completeness from That Completeness” – then what is left?
Purnam ewavashishyate – “Only Completeness remains.”
What kind of change can ‘formless limitless’ undergo to produce ’formful’ limitless’?
The only kind of change that the limitless can accommodate is the kind of change that gold undergoes to become a chain. When one has formless gold (an unshaped quantity of gold) and from that gold a formful chain is produced – there is a change that is no real change at all. From formless, chain-free gold has come a formful, chain-shaped gold. Is there any real change in gold itself? There is none. SvarNAt svarNam – from gold, gold comes. There is no change.
Is the Ocean incomplete if few vessels of water are taken away from ocean? Has it become less full of water or is it still full of water? It hardly matters to the Ocean (the level of water in Ocean) as to how much water is taken away.
The second half of the verse is needed to make certain that one sees that pUrNam undergoes no change whatsoever. PurNam is always there, available. Idam, the objects of the world, do not have to be eliminated to reveal pUrNam any more than the chain has to be melted to see gold. What is called chain is no different from gold. It is gold now; it was gold before. From gold alone this gold has come. Take away this gold, gold alone remains.
Similarly from “Supreme self” ( In Vivekachoodamani Shankaracharya says – “whatever is manifested, viz, this universe, is the supreme Brahman Itself, the Real, the One without a second, pure, the essence of Knowledge, taintless, serene, devoid of beginning and end, beyond activity, the Essence of Bliss absolute – transcending all diversities created by ignorance – the thought ‘I and mine’, eternal, ever beyond the reach of pain, indivisible, immeasurable, formless, undifferentiated, nameless, immutable, self-luminous, which can be neither thrown away nor taken up, which is beyond the reach of mind and speech, one’s very self and of surpassing glory), the Individual self has emerged and is identical to the Supreme Self and even after taking away the soul, what remains is also the complete self.
In our life, every day, every moment there are many experiences we undergo. These experiences are just waves on the surface of the ocean and it never affects the inner silence of the ocean. Poornatvam is that which remains same all the time. The joy, sorrow, richness, poverty, good health, sickness, fame, name etc doesn’t touch the inner self at all. It is just a witness. It neither suffers nor enjoys.
The only sorrow in the world is our own sense of limitation, of want. We crave what is pleasant and we ascribe the joy experienced as a result thereof to be a quality of that thing or situation. Only upon enquiry we do realize the futility of this approach and the depths
of our delusional thinking.
Two years back, I realized I had difficulty in reading newspapers. When I went to the doctor, the doctor asked me “Is there difficulty in reading newspaper or is there difficulty in seeing nearby things?” I understood his question and I told him ‘Yes. I am unable to see things which are near.” The eye specialist checked the eye power and prescribed the spectacles for me which will enable me to see both near and far. The fault of the sight is corrected.
The specs will adjust the focal length and gives us the right vision. Similarly this mantra gives us a right platform to have the right vision of the world, our experiences and also ourselves.
Even for small headaches, allergy problems, sprains we become so miserable and worked out. We have seen the life of great saints like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who had throat cancer, Chinmayaji with Arthritis and heart problem, yet lived a great inspiring life to many. How they lived that life? They lived with the understanding that they are the Self and because of that knowledge the problems of the body didn’t affect them in anyway.
Few days back I had received a mail which had a video of a person who has no legs, no hands and was able to laugh at life and make others too laugh. Our king Janaka was unaffected when Mythila was burning as he lived in that Poornatvam. He is an example of Karma Yogi quoted by our Lord Krishna Himself in Gita. To the world he was the king but within him he was a saint, completely detached. There is perfect understanding of the creation and of their real nature of the self is the success formula of our Saints. There are lots and lots of examples in our scriptures and also around us who are living in the poornatvam – anything added or anything removed from them, they live the same life of equanimity.
When this understanding doesn’t come into our lives, we live the life of desires prompted by our ego. There is no peace of mind. The crow which was holding a piece of meat was chased by an Eagle. The crow flew a long distance and finally became very tired. It left that piece of meat and sat on a branch peacefully. The eagle went behind the meat and left the crow. Unless we drop desires, our life is not going to be happy, peaceful.
When will we leave desires?
When we feel we have everything; when we feel we are complete; when we feel we belong to the self which is infinite; which is the nature of bliss.
Mana eva manushyaanam kaaranam bandha mokshayah – the mind is the cause of sorrow and the same mind is the cause of liberation. All experiences are created by the mind alone because of our wrong input. When we turn our mind towards the Lord/self, our entire chase to things end. Yoga Vasishta says this state of yogi as ‘they remained like a picture on the wall’ – motionless; thoughtless.
As long as we identify with the body, we live a life of limitation. By celebrating birthdays every year, we are growing the ignorance that I am born. That adds the fear that I will die one day. The real knowledge is what Guruji says in his guided meditation, ‘The greatest thing has happened in my life that I have touched that infinity; I am in touch with the infinity’ – when we touch that, we experience the unlimited which is beyond the time and space.
This Upanishad corrects our vision and if we practice this truth in our everyday life, we are assured of peace.
HARI OM!
