Imagine taking a trip to the past and meeting with
a great Rishi of ancient times, renowned for his thorough knowledge of the
Vedas and life-long ardent practice of Vedic teachings, but who also happens to
be living what appears to be his last few moments on earth. If you had the opportunity
to ask this great soul for his final message to the world before he passes on
forever, can you fathom what he might say?
Would the words be extremely profound, authoritative and poetic ? Would
it also be cryptic from the attempt to convey much using as few words as
possible? What would that 'Last Lecture' be like? Let us find out, because
there is one such text among the Upanishads that can be said to be a 'Last
Lecture' by a great Rishi. This is the wonderful Upanishad, Isaavaasya or
Isopanishad that appears in the Sukla Yajurveda Samhita.
First, a small vedic
story* that provides
an interesting backdrop to the Upanishad before examining its philosophical
content. The King of Heavens, Indra was
once threatened by a demon(Asura) named Vritra who happened to be invincible by
any of the Devas or their weapons. The only solution left for Indra to vanquish
Vritra was to create a new weapon from the bones of a great Rishi who had
assimilated into his body the strengths equivalent to all the weapons of the Devas. This Rishi's
name was Sage Dadichi. Sage Dadichi was the grand son of Sage Angiras, one of
the seven original Rishis who were born from the creator Brahma's mind. In his
fairly long life, Dadichi had done tremendous amount of contribution to
elaborating the Vedas, institutionalizing various vedic rites and teaching the
methods for self-realization. Indra is said to have approached the Sage Dadichi
and made the request for him to voluntarily give up his body so that Thwashta,
the blacksmith of Devaloka, can fashion this new weapon from Dadichi's bones.
Sage Dadichi, being the great soul that he was, agreed to sacrifice his mortal
life for the sake of universal well-being and used the power of his penances to
leave the body. Indra managed to create his great weapon called Vajraayudha
from the backbone of Sage Dadichi's body and killed Vritrasura using it. The
Isavaasya Upanishad is said to be the words of Sage Dadichi and probably his
final ones before he gave up his body for this great cause.
Befitting this
context, the Isaavaasya upanishad also happens to be one of the shortest
upanishads, with just 18 verses in it. And, its brevity has only added to the
grandeur of the message it delivers . The Upanishad appears in the Vaajasaneya Samhita or
mantra part of Sukla Yajurveda and hence it is also sometimes referred to as the
Mantropanishad. It is rare for an Upansihad to be located in the Samhita part
of Vedas, which again speaks to the antecedence of the text. It is also said
that the 18 chapters of Bhagawad Gita based on the 18
verses of Isaavaasya Upanishad.
In the same lines as
Bhagawad Gita, this Upanishad's message can also be classified into the three
categories of Right Knowledge, Right Attitude and Right Guidance. And, in the
very first verse, in just four lines the Upanishad summarizes its entire message
and uses the rest seventeen verses to elaborate on this first verse.
"isaavaasyam Idam Sarvam
yatkincha
Jagatyaam Jagat
thenasthyaktena bhunjeeta
maa gridha
kasyasviddhanam"
Right Knowledge
(first 2 lines): "Every single bit of this world which is in a state of
continuous flux (conditioned by time and space) is pervaded by Isvara (who
transcends time and space and hence is untouched by change). "
Right Attitude (3rd
line): "Enjoy this (or, live everyday life joyfully) by giving up
that" (or, giving up the sense of division between enjoyer and enjoyed
resulting in attachment and aversion to sensual experience)
Right Guidance (4th
line): "Do not grab another's wealth" (Or, live life according to
Dharma)
Now let's take a
look at how the Upanishad elaborates on these topics.
Right
Knowledge
The
nature of Brahman
The Upanishad uses
few cryptic , paradoxical sentences to describe the nature of Brahman.
"thad ejati thannejati
thad doore thad anthike
thad antharasya sarvasya
thadu sarvasyaasya baahyata"
"It moves and it moves not. It is far but yet so
near. It is inside everything and yet it is outside of everything".
"anejadekam manaso javiyo…naina deva praapnuvan
poorvamarshad"
"(this) is One (the only reality); it doesn't
move but is faster than the mind; the sense organs are unable to grasp it as it
runs ahead of them"
"thad paryagachukram akaayam
asnaaviragam
suddham apaapaviddham
kavi maneeshi
paribhu swayambhu
yatatadya
yatorthaan vyadadhaancha
saaswatibhya
samaabhyah"
"It is all pervading, pure, without a body and
sinews, taintless, untouched by evil. Omniscient, ruler of the mind,
transcendent and self-existent; It has
allocated respective duties to the eternal years"
The reality of the
Brahman transcends the reality of the world. Brahman is not knowable using the
means and methods of knowledge that is used by us to ascertain the world. And
this is because, Brahman is Knowledge itself and there is no division between knower
and the known in Brahman. Same time, Brahman is not absent from the reality of
the world. Being very much here, it transcends.
Types
of Knowledge
An obvious deduction
from the above statements is that there are two types of knowledge. One is the
knowledge of the physical universe which is limited by time and space and
characterized by subject-object differentiation. Isaavaasya upanishad refers to
this knowledge as 'avidya', or the wrong knowledge whose subject is the
perishable universe (vinaasam). The other is the knowledge of Brahman from
which everything has been created (sambhutim), is not limited by time and space
and is not conditioned by subject-object distinction. The upanishad calls this
knowledge as 'Vidya' or the Right Knowledge.
"anyataahurvidyayaa anyataahuravidyaya"
"The results of avidya and vidya are
different"
"avidyayaa mrityum theertwaa vidyayaa
amritamasnute"
"Through Avidya one crosses over death; through
Vidya one attains immortality"
"andham thama pravisanti ye asambhutim upaasate
thatho bhuyaa iva te tamo ya u sambhutyaagam
rathah"
"The seeker of ephemeral (seekers of avidya)
enters into a blinding darkness; but the seeker of permanence (seeker of vidya)
appears to enter into a much greater darkness"
The knowledge of the
world, including nature of life and death, is enveloped in mystery. Much as we
may know from the scientific advancements of today, what we haven't discovered
or understood far surpasses our current knowledge. Compared to this scientific
inquiry that deals with plenty of unknowns, the knowledge of the Brahman, being
not a subject that can be grasped intellectually, is still more mysterious to
anyone who undertakes that pursuit. Now, this doesn't mean that it is a futile
pursuit to seek Brahman. The caution here is not to make the seeking only an
intellectual exercise.
Right
Attitude:
The
nature of the Realized person
How does a person
who has realized Brahman perceive the world? What is his attitude?
"yastu sarvaani bhutaani
atmayevaanu pasyati
sarvabhutastamaatmaanam
thatho na vijugupsate"
"Perceiving all the beings to be in the one
Atman and the same Atman in every being
such a person does not grieve thence"
"yasmin sarvaani bhutaani
aatmaivaabhut vijanatah
tatra ko moha ka soka
ekatwam anupasyata"
"For the one who is established in the
understanding that all beings are but his own self and perceives the
unification of everything in Atman (while experiencing them to be different),
how can there be delusion or sorrow?"
Anything
more that needs to be said about this subject matter will only be
superfluous and any attempt to add to these most poetic and profound statements
will only result in spoiling the beauty of it. Perhaps the following sloka from
Bhagawad Gita will be an 'icing on the cake'.
"prajahaati yathaa kaamaan
sarvaan paartha manogataan
atmanyevaatmanaa thustah
sthithaprajnasthadochyate" B.G Ch 2 Verse 55
"O Partha, he from whose mind all selfish
desires have vanished (forever) and is able to find joy and contentment by just remaining in his
own self (not attaching happiness to factors external to him), such a person is
said to have achieved the stable state of exalted awareness"
Right
Guidance
If the realized
person has nothing to gain from living in this world, with what motivation
would he conduct himself? On the contrary, a seeker of Vidya who has not yet
attained this highest state, how should he or she approach everyday activities
of life?
"kurvanneveha karmaani
jijeevished satakam samah
evam twayi naanyadedosti
na karmaa lipyate nare"
"Perform these (everyday) actions desiring to
live one hundred years. For this is the (prescribed) way and there isn't
another way (that leads to a good outcome). (Performed with the right attitude)
The actions do not stain a person"
More than any other
scriptural text, Bhagawad Gita has elaborated on this subject in its depiction
of Karma Yoga. (Please see previous blog post ……… for more details on Bhagwad
Gita's treatment of this subject)
Final
Thoughts
The Rishi of
Isaavaasya Upanishad now prepares himself for his final journey. Addressing
that 'light' that illuminates the entire universe, he commands:
"hiranmayena paatrena
satyasyaapihitam mukham
tat thwam
pooshan apaavrinu
satya
dharmaaya dhrishtaye"
"Thou who nourishes of the world, remove the
golden sheath that is covering the face of Truth and reveal your countenance
(to this seeker) who has lived his entire life established in truth and
justice"
"pooshan ekarshe yama soorya
praajaapatya
vyooha rasmin
samooha thejo
yatte roopam
kalyaanatamam
thathe pasyaami"
"Thou who has created this world, illuminates
it, nourishes it and enforces your rules on it, hold back your many rays and
(blinding) splendor so that I may see your most auspicious form"
"yosaavasau purusha sohamasmi"
"For that indweller (of the Sun) is verily none other than me"
This isn't a prayer
or an appeal but a confident demand for what the Rishi considers rightfully
deserved because he is now speaking from a state of consciousness where he is none other than 'He'. Time has
come for the many distractions of the world to end and the true essence of
reality revealed.
What about his body
and mind?
"vayuranilaamritamadedam bhasmaanthakam
sariram"
"krato smarah kritham smarah krato smara"
"The body has to come to an end returning its
constituents to the elements of air, fire, water and ashes (earth)"
"Remember everything done, remember,
remember" (Or, O Mind dissolve into memories of good deeds from past for
there is no desire left for you to dwell upon )
The Upanishad ends
with a prayer to the God of Fire, Agni , most likely to the fire that would
light the funeral pyre.
"agne naya supathaa raaye asmaan"
"O Agni, lead me through the right path"
Conclusion
The Peace invocation
(Shaanti Mantra) associated with this Upanishad summarizes the Rishi's
thoughts.
"poornamatha poornamitham
poornaath
poornamuthachyate
poornasya
poornamaadaaya
poornamevaavasishyate"
"That (the Brahman) is complete in itself. This
(the self and the world) is complete in itself. This (the self and world) was
removed (or created) from that (the Brahman). When this (self and world) is
removed (or created) from that (the Brahman), what remains is still complete in
itself (or is undiminished)"
The reality of the
world does not in any way limit or condition the reality of the Brahman from
which the world has originated. Brahman is that true reality to which the self needs to awaken to. And, that
awakening is the spiritual journey of the Upanishads.
* Special thanks to Sree Aswath for sharing the story and explaining its connection to
the upanishad
