Namaskar Mahatmas!

We have completed till sloka 4. This week we will meditate on the 5^th sloka of the Ishopanishad.

Recap

Sloka 1:The vision ‘isha vaasyam idam sarvam’, where the supreme self is seen everywhere and in everything – when this vision or practice 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).

Sloka 2: Knowledge comes by study; skill comes by practice. Only by performing karma with knowledge (isha vaasyam idam sarvam) only releases us from the chain of bondage.

Sloka 3 explained the state of the unspiritual. One who does not recognize the Self in everything practically commits suicide. They in the darkness of ignorance are reborn in various Lokas clouded in darkness.

Slokas 4 – 8 talks about the nature of Self and the state of realisation.  Sloka 4 explained the nature of Atman that ‘the Self is one. It is unmoving (like space it is all pervasive). It is faster than the mind and it is beyond our senses. Without that nothing can exist’. This sloka further throws light on our understanding about the Self.

SLOKA 5:

Tad ejati tan naijati tad doore tadvantike

Tad antarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasyaasya baahyatah (5)

It moves, and It moves not. It is far, and It is near. It is within all this, and It is also outside all this.

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Tat – that; ejati – moves; tat – that; na ejati – moves not; tat – that; doore – far; tat – that; u antike – near even; etat – that; asya sarvasaya – of all this; antah – within; tat – that; u – again; sarvasya asya – of all this; baahyatah – outside.

The essence of this sloka is also reflected by Lord Krishna in the 13^th chapter of Gita (sloka 15 – bahir antasca bhutaanaam…)

IT MOVES, AND IT MOVES NOT.

The Self in Its Absolute nature is motionless – there is no place where It can move since It is All – yet, conditioned by the things moving, it looks as though it has movement. We have in nature both movement and also absence of movement. Without Its movement the universe cannot function.

Sitting in a bus we can travel a long distance; we are just sitting! Thus the bus travels, and therefore, in ourselves though there is no motion, yet we, conditioned by (carried by) the bus, we say we are travelling.

The Self is not only within every one of us but is everywhere. Without its support no activity is ever possible. It is in every activity. There is no place where It is not there. The Self being the ‘subtlest of the subtle’, it becomes difficult for us to comprehend with our limited body, mind and intellect.

The Self in conditioned aspect appears to be ever-changing, ever in motion.

IT IS NEAR AND IT IS FAR

• Since it abides within, it is extremely close
• Since it dwells in every limb, it is extremely close
• Since it abides in the mind and the intellect, it is extremely close.
• Since it resides in the heart, it is extremely close.
• Since it is our very Self, it is extremely close.

When do we feel something as very far? When we don’t know when we will reach that or when we don’t know where it is.

I remember our Guruji’s explanation of the ‘tenth man’ anecdote when we were covering Pancadasi:

Ten friends crossed a river. After reaching the shore, they wanted to check whether everyone has reached safely. So one of them started taking a head count. Every time he failed to count himself in the list and they all started believing and crying that one of them has drowned. Finally, a Rishi came by that side and he asked them to stand in the line and counted correctly as ten. The Rishi told the person who counted before that ‘you are that tenth man’.

The Lord is the antaryaami – who is living within every one of us. What can be more nearer than our own self? As long as we search for that in the external world, He seems be far. Those who do not have faith in scriptures, for the one who lives with the senses, those who try to measure the Self through their intellect, for them the Self is far. For the ignorant it is far; for the knowledgeable the Self is very near.

Goswami Tulsidass says in his Ramayana: Whatever is perceived by the senses, and that which lies within the reach of the mind, know it all to be Maya. The Lord is the Master of this Maya, and He transcends it too. So the Sloka says ‘tad dure’ – He is far. The Lord Himself declares in the Bhagavad Gita – I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all beings. Knowing Me as the Enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the friend of all beings, one attains peace (Gita 10.20, 5.29). Therefore, the sloka says ‘tat u antike’ – there is none nearer to us than Him; He is our best friend and well-wisher.

IT IS WITHIN ALL THIS AND IT IS ALSO OUTSIDE ALL THIS

How can a thing be both inside and outside everything? Ordinary things cannot be so. They are spatially limited things. But the Self is not spatially limited. It can be anywhere; It can be here, It can be there. It is easy to understand this through the example of pot and space. The space limited by the pot can be understood to be “within all this” and the space outside the pot as “outside all this”. The pot is only a limiting adjunct and cannot change the omnipresence of the space. Likewise, the Self which is seemingly “within all this” is also “outside all this”.

This sloka makes us understand that the Self is beyond creation, beyond limitation. Purusha suktham says that when we try to say ‘Here is the Lord’, He moves still further. He is undefinable; unexplainable; unthinkable; words can’t reach there.

Guruji said beautifully in His discourse, that we can draw the Lord from anywhere (like Prahalad did) as we take electricity from the socket.

SUMMARY:

Whatever is explained in this sloka about the nature of Self is applicable to us. In fact everything, every nature is talking about us.

When we leave the thought ‘I am this body’ and sever our ties with attributes of our names and forms, we will understand and experience that ‘I AM THE SELF’.

HARI OM! We will continue with the sloka 6 in the next week which talks about the man of realization.