Isavasya Upanishad - 6.Swami Krishnananda.

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Saturday, March 26, 2022. 19:30.

Mantram-1. (Continued)

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1.

"Om Isavasyam idaṁ sarvam yat kiṁ ca jagatyam jagat,
tena tyaktena bhunjitha, ma gṛdhah kasyasvid dhanam." 


tena tyaktena bhunjitha :


There are different interpreta­tions for this phrase from different viewpoints. For tena, one meaning is “through”; “therefore” is another. Madhvacarya's view is—from or through Him. So, Madhvacarya's interpretation is, giving up that which has been given through Him. Sankara says: From whom? Him from which all creation has come. And, for this reason, ‘therefore', tyaktena, is that which has been sacrificed or that which has been given up through vairāgya (and not shedding of unwanted or extra things). This first mantra is an aphorism and so does not give the meaning in detail but gives it in a pithy form. From īśvara; i.e., what He has given, that enjoy and do not desire beyond that which has been given to you. In the first line, it has been stated that everything is īśvara. 


Then, what can be yours? What did you bring with you when you came and what do you take with you when you leave the world? For, the question is kasyasvid dhanam?—Whose (is this) wealth? In this question the self-evident answer is given. And wealth does not mean only money but includes all desirable possessions, wealth of any kind which gives us joy and pleasure. Be content with what wealth God has given you. To want more than that is a kind of greed. So get yourself free from this greed. You know what īśvara has given—He has given you the world. The Bhagavadgita also affirms this statement by stating: yadṛchā lābha santuṣaḥ. Whatever has been given to you by īśvara, whatever you have received from īśvara, with that be happy and contented. But again you have only the right of enjoyment, not of ownership. For, everything is īśvara's and it cannot belong to anyone else. You are therefore only a trustee of God's wealth. This is the first meaning.


The second meaning is this: teña tyaktena bhuñjithāḥ. For the reason that īśvara is everything, enjoy what is God-given through sacrificing everything. What does this mean? This statement is a great siddhānta and is worth pondering over. As much as you give up the desires of the world, gross or subtle, so much is your happiness; the greater your sacrifice the greater increase in the ānanda or Bliss that you attain. This has a secret within it. It is a very subtle statement. The converse of the above statement also affirms this same secret. The more you try to obtain the object, the greater your anxieties and the greater your sorrow. For, contact with or union with objects does not beget happiness. We only imagine it to be so when we think that contact with objects or possession of them increases happiness. This is a mistaken notion as we can see from what we have just stated. 


What is the reason for not obtaining happiness by, with or through objects? The answer is simple; because bliss is the nature of īśvara and NOT that of the object, whether in connection with the body or in connection with things. Due to our ignorance, we run after things and try to possess objects. To take that the little joy we get from the objects comes from the objects is a wrong and mistaken notion, and we only waste ourselves in the efforts to possess the objects and run after them. This understanding is that of ignorance only. Īśvara is not in contact with objects. Has it not been stated at the outset that īśvara is everything!


He is the Essence. And where there is parama-sattā alone, there exists parama-ānanda—not in objects. For He has no contact with objects, being infinite. He is Supreme Consciousness which is the same as Supreme Bliss. Therefore, to the extent that infinite, the Supreme Existence is manifest in you, to that extent will be the manifestation of Bliss in you. The greater the proportion of manifestation of God-consciousness in your mind, the greater would be the revelation of God. Bliss is proportionate to the manifestation of God. God-consciousness and Bliss-consciousness are one and the same. They are not two different things. Why? Because, God's manifestation is Bliss-manifestation. 


So, give up running after objects. Sacrifice the objects by running towards God. This is tyāga. This is the view of Sankaracharya. This Bliss spoken of herein is not the usual enjoyment of objects, but it is sātvic enjoyment. It is the Bliss that saints and sages enjoy. This Bliss comes to them by giving up the objects. It has no trace of desire in it. The jñānins are filled with Bliss, like the gopis of Brindavan, not because they achieve their objects of desire, but because they turn away from objects of desire and run towards God. This is the way to enjoy Bliss. This Bliss we superimpose on the objects and we expect to get it from them! But the Bliss enjoyed by the mahāpurushas, the yogins and bhaktas is of sātvic nature. 


God-consciousness is sātvic ānanda. It is the very form of īśvara. You cannot superimpose this form on objects with which He has no contact as we have already seen and expect the very same ānanda from them. The Bliss of the yogins and the others of that class does not arise out of objects, neither from food nor clothing, nor a palace, nor possessions by way of wealth and property. They are devoid of any desire for any object. They desire nothing but īśvara and īśvara alone. They enjoy a spring of Bliss, a spring of a great flow of sattā­—Existence, alone. This is their ānanda. This is not due to enjoyment of any object outside them. 


Therefore, through, vairāgya realise ānanda; that is, īśvara. Hence, what has been given by God to you, that alone you should consider as yours. Do not even look at objects belonging to and in possession of others. What is God-given, that you enjoy; desire nothing else. What is not your wealth, do not even think of it. Do not be greedy. Do not lust for objects which are not yours.


To be continued ...



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