Isha Upanishad - Super school - Auroville - Isha Upanishad 801
SESSION VIII − 06.02.2003
You might say that the rest of the Upanishad is an answer to this very question. So maybe we shall continue because the answer is contained in the rest of the Upanishad. We had first of all a goal given in the beginning the very first statement of the Ishopanishad. What is to be done and we are here in our life as it is what are we to do? We are all struggling, endeavouring, making an effort but we are like the blind led by the blind. In all our efforts, we are all blind and even our leaders are blind. In Sanskrit it is said ‘andhena andha niyamanah’ we are all andha, means those who are all blind and we are all led by the blind. This is our condition in life and we all quarrel because we all have our hands groping here and there and we find one thing solid, another thing liquid, another is like air, another like ether and we say, Oh! Reality is solid, another says, no, no, it is liquid. Some say it is airy, it is ethereal, some say it is fiery. We see different things in the world that is why the very first sentence of the Upanishad says, ‘all this, whatever you may find is to be the habitation of the Lord only.’ Don't see at all beyond this; it is solid, liquid, ethery, fiery things. Then we don't see the Lord because we are all blind. Therefore the very first sentence says all this is for the habitation of by the Lord whom you don't see. So, it calls upon you to make a big effort.
As long as you do not discover that there is a Lord and that this Lord is all that is there; there is nothing else. Whether there is fire, or ether, or water, whatever it is, it is nothing but the Lord Himself. This Lord is a very incomparable thing because there is nothing like it anywhere.
And there are further statements which are made, he moves and he moves not, he stands in the front and overtakes everyone who runs. And now we have this description of the State of realisation and then there is in the Upanishad, the way by which this Reality can be experienced and realised.
So, let us repeat again the state of self-realisation. It is like a mantra, when you repeat it, you become self-realised. This is the secret; if you want self-realisation repeat these mantras again and again. As I said that you should all learn Sanskrit and one of the reasons is this and since you do not know Sanskrit, you will not be able to repeat these beautiful sentences, It is said that these great sentences they themselves have the power of giving you self-realisation. Anyway, I shall repeat in Sanskrit first once again and then in English because as I said Sri Aurobindo has brought all the force of Sanskrit into this English translation, so we have great help.
yas to sarvāni bhūtāny ātmany evānupaśyati
sarva-bhūtesu cātmānam tato na vijugupsate – 6
“But he who sees everywhere the Self in all existences and all existences in the Self, shrinks not thereafter from aught.”
(Aught means from anything)
“He in whom it is the Self-Being that has become all existences that are Becomings, for he has the perfect knowledge, how shall he be deluded, whence shall he have grief who he sees everywhere oneness?”
There is one sentence verse number eight, which reconciles all that has been said so far. As a summary of all the seven verses, which has gone before it. It describes the Lord, the Lord that is the self, the Lord that is the essence and the Lord that is the originator. It is He, who has become all things, this is not described. This is the third movement of the Ishopanishad. The first three verses are the first movement, the next verses from fourth to seventh is the second movement, now comes the third movement. It begins as it were with the conclusion of all that has been said so far, is stated in one verse. It is exactly like orchestra, where you have how many kinds of music. You first have a movement than the second movement and then you reach a culminating point and in all the movement so far are brought together in a huge sound as it were. This is that huge bugle heralding all that has to be done afterwards.
This is the eighth verse, it summarises all that has been said about the Supreme Lord. It is He that has gone abroad, it is He and it is it, both at the same time as the Lord, it is He, as a Self t is He, it is both Lord and the self. It is the Lord, who has become all. So three words, He is the Lord, He is also the Self of all. So it is the Self, it is that Self which has become All. And this is brought out now. It is He that has gone abroad, He has as it were flown out, manifested, it is He who has gone abroad. And now this is the description of that Lord that which is bright, bodiless without scar of imperfection, without sinews, unpierced by evil. Every epithet, every adjective is so wonderful you should repeat again, so that you know exactly the perfection of that reality that which is bright, bodiless, without scar of imperfection without sinews, unpierced by evil.