Isha Upanishad - Super school - Auroville - Isha Upanishad 305

It begins with Isha, and it ends with an offering of the highest salutation, which is very significant. The supreme Lord is one who deserves to be saluted and saluted in the most special manner, you want to connect yourself with the Lord then you have to offer vishtante namo uktim vidhma, you must offer your highest special manner of salutation to the Lord.

These are the different words that you will come across in this Upanishad and it is always good that when you want to read a passage, first to be acquainted with the words, words are kind of a key because they are veils. If a statue is veiled, it has the cloth around it, at least you know that there is some kind of shape and some shape you can imagine, simply because it is veiled, you can imagine some kind of a shape which is there, which is hidden not the exact figure but some kind of a figure similarly words should be first of all understood. In fact it is one of the best ways of learning anything. When you want to study any book you just read a few pages and see what other words which are repeated all the time it is one of the best ways of learning, even before you start understanding, you just see, you take any paragraph and see what are the words which are used and try to understand those words that is the beginning of understanding.

If you want to understand Ishopanishad, I have given you a list of words. Somebody can read out to me all the words that are given anyone, isha, vasa sarva, jagat, tyaktena, dhanam, karma bhojanam, na lipayate, asurya, loka, deva, ejati, na-ejati, atman, moha, shoka, ashoka, vidya, mrityu, amritam, sambhuti, asambhuti, pushan, agni, satya, apahitam, mukham, bhuishtha, vidhi. Somebody should tell me the meaning of these words, the first five words, and somebody else the next five.

Isha is the Lord, vasa is habitation, sarva is all, jagat is the world, tyaktena is renounce, bhunjita is bhojana.

Now you tell me the next five words, dhanam is wealth, karma means action, na lipyate that which does not bind, asurya devoid of light, loka is world, deva is God, ejati that which moves, na ejati that which does not move, atman is the Self, moha is delusion, shokha is sorrow, vidhya is knowledge, avidya is absence of knowledge, ignorance, next word is amritam means immortality. The next five words, sambhuti means birth, asambhuti means non-birth, pushan  the sun which is rising, growing sun, agni − fire, satya − truth, apahitam − not seen, mukha is face, bhuyishta the best, vidhi is that which is placed in a special manner. I think now you'll quite familiar with the words that'll come in this Upanishad.

I shall not read the whole Upanishad today, when I shall come next time we shall do step-by-step but at least during the time that you devoid of these lectures then you can have these ideas in your mind then you can have these ideas which are very important and which are in this particular Upanishad. This Upanishad says that this whole world is to be seen as habitation of the Lord at present you don't see the world as a habitation of the Lord because the Lord is not seen anywhere at all but it says you should see the word as habitation by the Lord, it is the Lord's habitation. In the first sentence it tells you it awakens you and says look what you're seeing is not all there it is something else. Second it says this world is to be enjoyed, it's for enjoyment but there is a method of enjoying it. You do not normally know how to enjoy this world, it is to be enjoyed but there is a method, what is the method? You normally enjoy as if it is your own, without realising it is for the habitation of the Lord. So if you want to enjoy rightly because actually it is for the Lord, normally we enjoy by possessing, this is mine, I want to use it, my toy I want to enjoy it that is the wrong method of enjoyment, you will never really enjoy, it is meant for enjoyment, this world is for enjoyment but you will enjoy it only when you see that it is for the habitation by the Lord not for you. When you know that this is to be enjoyed by the Lord then only you can really enjoy it. Now how can you do it, tena tyaktena, by renouncing? Whatever you are seeing and trying to enjoy, you renounce, it it's not for me, it's for the Lord and when you do this you will enjoy and enjoy how? It will never go away, normal way of enjoying gives you enjoyment for a short time and then gone, finished therefore, you don't really enjoy. Every enjoyment today brings pain when it is gone because you do not know how to enjoy it and you don't know how to enjoy because you don't accept the truth as it is. All this is for the enjoyment by the Lord; it is for habitation of the Lord. So, establish in everything that you see, not yourself but the Lord. Renounce your possessions, what you call me, mine, you renounce it and when you do that you will be able to enjoy without any end.