Namaskar Mahatmas!

This week we will meditate on the first verse of the Ishopanishad.

The first sloka of the Isavaasya Upanishad:

Om Isavasyamidam sarvam yatkiñca jagatyam jagat |
tena tyaktena bhuñjitha ma grdhah kasyasvid dhanam ||

WHATEVER THERE IS CHANGEFUL (jagat) IN THIS EPHEMERAL WORLD (jagatyaam), – ALL THAT (idam sarvam) MUST BE ENVELOPED (vaasyam) BY THE LORD (isha). BY THIS RENUNCIATION (OF THE WORLD) (tena tyaktena), SUPPORT YOURSELF (bhunjithaah). DO NOT COVET (maa grdhah) THE WEALTH (dhanam) OF ANYONE (kasyavit).

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Whatever there is changeful in this ephemeral world, – all that must be enveloped by the lord.

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This creation is enveloped by the Almighty Supreme Being. We understand that there is something which cannot be divided into parts, which is infinite in its nature, which is existing everywhere to such an extent that it appears that it is the only thing existing. That only-existing ‘Something’ is the Ishvara that the Isavasya Upanishad speaks of. There being Something which Alone Is – at all times, and outside which nothing can be – is explained in this sloka.

In Vishnu Sahasranamam, we address the Lord as Visvam. Vis means ‘to enter’. The Lord is the one who has created and who has entered into the entire universe, as the all pervading reality. In the eleventh chapter of Gita, Arjuna sees the cosmic form of the Lord – the whole of world enveloped by Him. Arjuna sees that everything, moving and unmoving into Him.

Enveloped cannot be taken just as an outer covering. It means that the Lord is the support to all that is existing and nothing can be independent of the Lord. If we touch any part of the pot, we can understand it is nothing but mud. The inner, outer, center, corners anywhere and everywhere there is mud alone. Similarly all that exists in this world, anything we touch, see, feel, taste – it is only Isha, the supreme Lord.

The world is expressed as ‘changeful’ in this sloka. It explains that all the changes are taking place on a changeless substratum, the Lord. The changes are not what we see externally in world, but also the changes what we see with respect to body, mind and intellect. The Lord is hymned as ‘bhoota bhavya bhavat prabuh’ – the Lord of the past, present and the future. Time is measured by our intellect as the interval of two experiences. Experiences are registered as thoughts and the thoughts are ever changing. The knower of the change must be something other than the change. The Lord is the illuminator of all changes – the Consciousness (atman). The Lord tells in the tenth chapter of Gita ‘aham atma Gudakesha’ – He is the self of all beings; He is their beginning, the middle and their end.

Anything that is put in the fire, be it any color, changes into white ash. In the fire of knowledge we can see that: Everything is an abode where the Supreme is staying. So everything in this world is an address where the Lord can be discovered. The Lord says in Gita – how the pearls are joined by the unseen thread, similarly all that is existing is underlined and supported by the Supreme divinity.

WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT OF THIS VISION IS GIVEN, IN THE NEXT PART OF THE SLOKA.

1. tena tyaktena bhunjitah – all that which leads to the establishment of differences on account of names and forms will be rejected.

A person makes different types of dolls using wax. He makes hundreds of forms of animals, birds, creatures and stores it in a cupboard. Viewed through the glass window, we see that the monkey doll is different from the cow doll and both of them are different from the baby doll. All these dolls are separated from each other by the intervening space. Suppose the doll maker changes his mind and he decides to destroy the whole lot and make out of the stuff something more profitable. The toy-maker squeezes them into one ball of wax. We could see the traces of all most all the dolls that were brought together on the surface. But what separated them is the space which is eliminated now. All perception of separateness is false like the blueness in the sky.

When we understand that all that we see is nothing but the Ishvara alone, the names and forms – the thought which separates us from others is totally removed. With this knowledge we reject the names and the forms and dive in depth to experience the Ishvara.

Shankaracharya beautifully says in Vivekachoodamani a list of things which need to be negated – our identification with the body (caste, creed, family, lineage), the organs, the pranas, egoism, merit and demerit etc. By only negating these, we will be able to experience the divinity in everything that is around us.

When the importance of names and forms (the non-essentials in life, the unreal) are reduced to great extent, to that extent we will be able to discover the divinity inherent in our own self and this experience extends to the outer world too.

1. Maa gradah kaschavid dhanam – there will be no covetousness for the wealth.

• • 1. To have money is one thing
  • 2. To work for the acquisition of wealth is another thing
  • 3. To spend the whole life only for the acquisition of money is the third.

The last (3) is detrimental (harmful). Definitely we should know the importance of material prosperity and understand that up to a limit only that is acceptable. Beyond that, it becomes a source of misery.

Shankaracharys says in Bhaja Govindam: (moodha jahihi dhanaa gama trsnaam..) O Fool! Give up the thirst to possess wealth. Create in your mind, devoid of passions, thoughts of the reality. With whatever you get (as a reward of the past), entertain your mind (be content). (arthamanartham bhaavaya nithyam..) ‘Wealth is calamitous’ –thus reflect constantly; the truth is that there is no happiness at all to be got from it. To the rich, there is fear even from one’s own son. This is the way with wealth everywhere’

It is not the wealth to be renounced but the insatiable thirst (trshna) for wealth that is to be given up. Before we earn we have to struggle a lot. Then to maintain that wealth is a higher struggle. The misery is when we have to give that wealth to somebody. A person who has lot of wealth is all the time in the fear of losing it.

Let there be no undue importance (which we think as the great support and security) to the wealth in life.

By this renunciation of the world, support yourself.

What exactly do we mean by saying “I possess something”? Does that object enter into our body? Does the house seep into our flesh and bones? Does the land enter our brain, and is the money under our skin? Does it happen so? They always remain outside, just as they were outside even before we were born. Nobody has seen money entering into someone’s stomach.

For obvious reasons, a thing that is outside, totally, cannot become ours. How can we possess a thing that is not ours? But we somehow convince ourself that it is ours. We have a way of operating our mind and of convincing ourself: “This thing is mine from tomorrow because I have purchased it from someone.” Neither that person who got money from us really had it, nor have we really got this thing as we imagined.

But the mental operation is so very important and so very tricky that it can make us happy or unhappy. If somebody has taken away something and kept it somewhere else, we consider it lost and we grieve that it has gone. It has not gone anywhere; it is in some other location. Now, suppose the location shifts. The object is placed in another location and our mind is adjustable to the idea that it is ours; we are happy. That which is capable of leaving us, for any reason whatsoever, cannot belong to us.

Swami Chinmayananda says that: A thing that is yours cannot leave you. Anything which can leave one day or the other is not yours, and there is nothing in this world which will not leave you one day or the other. Therefore, it cannot be considered as yours. Covetousness is an envious eagerness to possess something. Hence, you should not be under the impression that you will be happy only because of possessions.

Then what should we lean up on for our support?

Lean on That which is there at all time, and is a strength to us in all situations in life. Taking support of our own self, which is changeless; which is the essence of bliss – tyaktva, give up the world of pluralities.

SUMMARY:

The vision ‘isha vaasyam idam sarvam’, where the supreme self is seen everywhere and in everything – when this comes into our life, there will be self-control while indulging in the world and there will be no eagerness when we relate ourselves with the wealth (wealth means all possessions).

After having given this knowledge, the question comes to our mind.

‘Everything is God. We should lead a well controlled life. We should not have covetousness for wealth. Be content’. Then what am I suppose to do in this life? So is this knowledge suggests the life of indolence and laziness?

The second verse will answer our question which we will see it in the next week.

HARI OM!