Isavasya Upanishad - 14. Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2022. 08:00.  

MANTRAS 12 TO 14

Post-14.

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MANTRAS 12 TO 14 :

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'sambhūtim upāsate,

tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u sambhutyāṁ ratāḥ (12)

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anyad evahūḥ sambhavād anyad āhur asambhavāt,

iti śuśruma dhīrāṇām ye nas tad vicacakṣire (13)

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sambhūtiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha

vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā sambhūtyā amṛtam aśnute (14)

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The above three slokas 12, 13 & 14 also must be taken together for study for the same reason for which the last set of three was taken together for discussion. These two sets of three slokas speak of vidyā and avidyā from different points of view. It should be noted that while verses 9-11 speak of vidyā and avidyā in the microcosm, these three 12-14 speak of the same in the macrocosm. The two sets of slokas speak from different standpoints.

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Avidyā and vidyā in the first are parallel in concept to asambhūti and sambhūti respectively in the second set. Asambhūti is unperceivable to the senses. It is also known as avyakta or the unmanifest as against vyakta which is manifest and perceivable to the senses. Asambhūti causes birth; sambhūti is the born. But sambhūti is not the way creation can be said to be born from īśvara. For, asambhūti is both cause and effect; hence it is parallel in concept to avidyā; asambhūti or the state of being unborn is not in the same sense that Mara is the unborn. The state of equilibrium or sāmya-avasthā in a sambhūti is due to the equlibrium maintained among the qualities sattva, rajas and tamas. And sambhūti is, to have birth: it is an effect. All effects have causes. The cause for sambhūti is asambhūti or avyakta the Unmanifest. Sambhūti is the effect. The former is the unseen, and the latter is the seen. Since asambhūti is unperceivable, it cannot be known through the senses. The kathopaniṣad says: Higher than the senses is the mind, higher than the mind is the intellect, higher than the intellect is the mahat and higher than the mahat is the unmanifest. It is from this manifest known as prakriti, or the mahat-tattva known as hiranyagarbha also the sūtratman is born. He is the first born principle the, one source of all gods; His another form is virāt.

These mantras instruct us that we should do upāsana of the combination of asambhūti and sambhūti. The previous set of verses tells us that vidyā and avidyā should be combined into one upāsana; that we should not think of the world and īśvara as different; and that our duty to the world and the world are inseparable. This upāsana or meditation will bestow liberation from the effects of actions. Having liberated us from the clutches of death, the meditation will further take us to immortality. It is this same idea that is now being followed up with asambhūti and sambhūti. By a combined meditation of asambhūti and sambhūti we get liberated. Through asambhūti we overcome death, and though sambhūti we attain immortality. Just as verses 9-11 tell us that meditation of avidyā and vidyā is not two different but one upasāna alone, these verses 12-14 which are complementary, instruct us to combine the upasāna of asambhūti and sambhūti. The first set says: Do not think of karma divorced from the individual, the two being inseparable, have to be combined in one upāsana. The knowledge of the world and our duty to the world go hand in hand. Combination of knowledge and karma is combination of vidyā-avidyā. This gives krama mukti; through avidyā one crosses over death and through vidyā attains immortality. This is the way for us who are in the world forming limbs of it, and therefore, a part of it. Do not think of yourself as different from the world, for you and your duty to the world are inseparable. The second set of three verses 12-14 says that we should not think of the world as different from īśvara. Thus, these two sets of verses are complementary to one another.

Now asambhūti, the unmanifest causes the birth of the first born hiranyagarbha. In other words, the source of Hiranyagarbha is avyakta or mūla-prakṛti of the unmanifested cause. Mūla-prakṛti is insentient. The senses cannot know it because they are born of it. How can the result know the cause! And these verses say that the unmanifested and the manifested must be combined in the upasāna.

Who are those that do upasāna of the avyakta? What is prakṛti laya to which this upasāna leads? Prakṛti laya is the state of this manifested world merging in prakṛti. But this is not the final state in which the jīvas merge into to para-brahman the Absolute. Laya means to melt into or dissolve in. That which is merged thus cannot come into creation again. But this is just what happens after prakṛti laya which is like the state of deep sleep. The condition of the body and mind that come out of sleep is just as it was before going to sleep. Similarly, when creation begins, out you come from prakṛti laya in exactly the same condition as you entered the laya. Nothing has changed in you or about yourself. You start all over again where you left off before the prakṛti laya. This is not therefore the final dissolution into the Absolute, it is only a process of involution. The individuality does not finally vanish but remains in seed form, hibernating so to say. If this pralaya is the seedless state of ultimate liberation, how can those who enter into this condition be born again at the time of creation? What happens is this. Those that merge in prakṛti maintain jivahood. Now those who meditate on sambhūti are those who meditate on the cosmos, that all creation is a single unit and that prakrti is not separate from consciousness. Here we should remember that we have already stated prakṛti to be insentient and hiraṇyagarbha is the first-born principle. The jivahood is maintained even though they merge in prakṛti laya. By asambhūti upasana even though the jīvas become one with īśvara when next they emerge (from prakṛti laya) they are born as lords of the cosmos. The jiva emerges though qualified to be lord, but there is no merging or complete dissolution. And further Sage Patanjali in his aphorisms brrefly indicates that avyakta prakṛti causes creation by itself undergoing changes, and reabsorbs the creation. And so merging in prakṛti is not the end of change or in other words, change has not reached its end. These three verses discuss what happens in the upasana of the unmanifested and the manifested separately and why they should be combined.

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To be continued    

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