Isavasya Upanishad - 15. Swami Krishnananda.
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Sunday, Deceember 11, 2022. 08:00.
Mantras : 15-18
Post-15.
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Mantras - 15 to 18
hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitam mukham,
tat tvaṁ pūṣan āpāvṛṇu satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye (15)
pūṣann ekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmīn samūha tejaḥ,
yat te rūpaṁ kalyāṇatamaṁ tat te paśyāmi yo sāv asau puruṣaḥ,
so'ham asmi (16)
vāyur anilam amṛtam athedam bhasmāntaṁ śarīram,
aum krato smara kṛtaṁ smara krato smara kṛtaṁ smara (17)
agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān,
yuyodhyasmaj juharāṇam eno bhūyiṣṭhāṁ te nama-uktim vidhema (18)
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Bhashyam ( VYAKYANAM ) :
Mantras 15-18 are prayers to the sun-god and fire-god.
The prayer is for liberation. According to our ancients we regard the sun-god as the best visible manifestation of the Absolute. In the sun, there is śakti which is beyond the ken of human understanding, and from the time of the Vedas till to-day we regard the sun as a representation of īśvara. This is a great spiritual secret, which out ordinary mind cannot understand. According to astrology, the sun is conjoined with the ātman, and the moon with the mind. These are facts of experience by the sages and saints. In our present condition, we cannot realise these truths. Therefore, these are said to be secrets. Further, the period of the movement of the sun towards the north, the Uttarayatta is considered auspicious and it is believed that even a sinner dying during this period attains to heavenly regions.
Based on this secret, this upanisad contains a prayer to the sun-god for giving us liberation:
“O! Sun, we have to realise the Truth hidden in you. With our eyes, we cannot have the true vision of you. All we see is only a brilliant light, a tejo bindu. We are unable to see the Reality hidden within this great light. What is within you! O Lord, you have covered your real self with the rays of your light which appear like a golden vessel. You have covered your real form. Because of the brilliance of the brilliance of the light, we are unable to see the truth within this light. Your body is of golden hue, and your real self is hidden because of this golden vessel. Remove this golden vessel; do not cover yourself: Remove the veil you have covered yourself with, so that I can see you well. Who am I? Let me see through you. I am supported, dependent on you (the Truth). My life is according to dharma. [Here satya (Truth) and dharma (cosmic law) are shown as identical.] Truth is my dharma. So let me know who I am, by seeing your real self. [Living the life in accordance with the Truth is what is referred to as dharma. Satyam is that which is within you]. Even as my life is lived in dharma, you are the foundation of that dharma evolving out of you. My life of dharma befits me to realise the truth which can be effected by having your vision. For, you are that Truth in which dharma is to culminate. Therefore, there is similarity between us. You are the form of Truth and I want to see you. As I am also founded on Truth, I have a right to have your vision, the vision of Truth. If it were not so, how can I look at you and become the Truth Itself ! My dharma is Truth. Your principle also is truth.”
(N. B. So far the matter is from the recorded tapes. What follows and up to the end is what has been amplified from the notes taken, in main, by myself during these half-hour talks on the upanishads mentioned in the preface. The help of Vishnu Chaitanya's notes, also taken during these classes and in English, has been taken to counter-check my notes.)
There is ādhyātmik connection and not just a mānasik or mental one between you (the sun) and me. For, the principle of existence that is in you, is in me also. Satya and dharma are one, for the latter is the law of the former. I follow this law and therefore you who are satya should reveal your sat to me. So, remove this golden vessel with which you are covering yourself, for I want to see satya.
Besides this upanisad, other scriptures also say that the Truth behind the sun and the Truth within everyone, are the same. The sun's rays take us to Truth. Another scripture says: ‘From sun, a person effulgent with light came and conducted him up.'
“So, O, Sun, you must be behind the rays. Remove the cover, I must see the Truth within you.” This Truth is the hidden Self. The Mundaka Upanisad says that by the light of the sun, the jīva ascends higher and higher to the heavenly planes. These planes are not lifeless worlds but full of consciousness. Man has got ādhyātmik relation with the sun.
Hiraṇya-pātra refers to the objects in front of us, which glitter like gold. But “all that glitters is not gold”. We only see our projection in the objects. “Withdraw these projected rays that illumine the objects and thereby make me realise the Truth. What I took to be the world of objects is but an illusion due to delusion. Remove this wrong notion that the world is outside me. Then I can see Truth.”
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To be continued
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