Ethical Values in Ishopanisad- Introduction

Introduction

Ethical Values in Ishopanisad- Introduction

ईशावास्यं इदं सर्वं यत् किञ्च जगत्यां जगत।


तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जिथाः मा गृधः कस्य स्विद् धनम् ॥1॥


Om Isavasyam-idagm sarvam yat-kinca jagatyam jagat,
 ten tyaktena bhunjitha, ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam.(Isha.I)

“All this, whatsoever moves in this  universe, including the universe itself  moving, is indwelt or pervaded or enveloped or clothed by the Lord. That renounced, thou shouldst enjoy; covet not any body's wealth."

Introduction

The Isa Upanisad (which forms the fortieth Chapter in the Vajaneya Samhita of Sukla- Yajur Veda) begins with the statement that whatever exists in this world is enveloped by the Supreme and that it is by renunciation and absence of possessiveness that the soul is saved. Isha Upanishad or Ishavasyopanishad is one of the principal Upanishads consisting of only eighteen verses, but of immense significance.  It contains a concentrated view of the essential Vedic philosophy and the choicest Ethical Values. The subject matter of the Upanishad, as of all the Upanishads, is spiritual, profound, and all comprehensive. It forms the foundation of Vedantic System of thought. It highlights the divinity of man, as well as all His manifestations in nature. It conveys to us the knowledge of the seers who have had experienced the spiritual solidarity and unity of all existence.   

This Upanishad derives its title from the opening words Isa–vasya, “God–covered.” The use of Isa (Lord)–a more personal name of the Supreme Being than Brahman, Atman or Self, the names usually found in the Upanishads–constitutes one of its peculiarities. Oneness of the Soul and God, and the value of both faith and works as means of ultimate attainment are the leading themes of this Upanishad. The general teaching of the Upanishads is that works alone, even the highest, can bring only temporary happiness and must inevitably bind a man unless through them he gains knowledge of his real Self. To help him acquire this knowledge is the aim of this and all Upanishads.

It is also considered quite auspicious to recite this Isha Upanishad, which produces not only insights into our spiritual position and identity, but also the proper energy from the sound vibrations to invoke purity in the atmosphere as well as realizations in our consciousness. It shows the way the Upanishads describe the nonmaterial aspects of the Supreme Being, as when it describes Him as ‘One who walks but does not walk’. It is a way of relating how the Lord has no material qualities, but has all spiritual qualities and characteristics. By understanding this, one can begin to perceive the spiritual truths of which the Upanishadas speak.

Vedaprakasha
http://www.ethicalvaluesinvedas.blogspot.com/

http://www.ethicalvaluesinishopanisad.blogspot.com/

Yastu syarvani bhutani atmanye...

YATSU SARVANIBHUTANI ATMANYE...

                          
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मनेवानुपश्यति।
Yastu syaarvâni bhûtâni âtmanye-vânupasHyati,

सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥6॥

                            Sarva-bhûteSu câtmânam tato na viju-gupsate.(Isha. 6).

  “He who constantly sees everywhere all existence in the Self and the Self in all beings and forms, thereafter feels no hatred for anything.” (Swami Chinmayananda)

This verse explains more vividly than ever in  any other Upanishad about the state of perfect  tranquility gained by a  Self-realized  stage,and,as such, this stanza has been oft-quoted and repeated in books and heard from platforms. This is the benefit accrued to an individual by realising this uniform and all-pervading Reality behind the multiplicity and plurality that we cognise around and about  us. It is certainly worthwhile for all seekers to remember constantly  this verse with  all its implications and import in their mind. Swami Chinmayananda  has advised that " I would suggest that even those who do not know much of Samskrta would some how or other memorise  this stanza,maintaining  an association of the meaning with the sounds,and would keep it as a ready  antidote for all their inner poisons of mental agitations and intellectual  unrest.". How can the multiplicity of life delude the one who sees its unity? 

"Self-realisation  is never  complete by a mere recognition of the intrinsic  divinity or perfection  in  the Self, within which  includes the Self expressing in the pluralistic  world.To realise one's  own Self is  to realise at once its oneness with  the All-Self. To realise  the nature of a wave is  to realise not  only the nature of all waves,but the very nature  of the ocean.Life being one and unbroken, to experience  the Life-centre within us ,is to experience at once the Life-centre everywhere." The one who has  thus  realised the  core of all beings as  the core of in himself , and his own Self as the Self in every name and form,he is a sage, a prophet,a God-man,a true leader of the people,and a guiding power in the universe." (ibid).

In realising thus,,the individual gets permanently  divorced from all his mental ideas of repulsion, shrinking ,dislike,fear,hatred and such  other perversions of feelings, which arise from the  sense of  division and plurality.When all the hatred(jugapsa) has dried away from the mind,the individual  experiences  an unbroken state  of tranquility,thereafter, an all  types of circumstances, favourable or unfavourable, in his worldly existence. Sri  Aurobindo has explained( in his commentary  on Isa Upanisad) this idea vividly: "jugupsa is the feeling of repulsion caused by a sense of of want of harmony,between one'sown limited self-formation, and the contacts of external, with consequent  recoil of grief,fear,hatred, discomfort,and suffering.It  is the opposite  of attraction which  is the source of desire and  attachment.Repulsion and attraction  removed,we have samatava."  A tranquil mind is  as potent as God;the more we gain this inward tranquility(samatva),the more joyous and effective our lives become. 

Vedprakash


www.ethicalvaluesinishaopanisad.blogspot.com

The Atman's Paradox

The ATMAN'S PARADOX

तदेजति तन्नैजति तद्दूरे तद्वन्तिके।
Tadejati tannaijati tad dûre tadvantike,

तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्य बाह्यतः ॥5॥

tadan-tarasya sarvasya tadu sarva-syâsya bâhyata. (Isha 5). 

         "The Atman  moves and It  moves not; It is far and It is  near; 

                         It is within all this, and It  is also  outside all this".(Swami Chinmayananda)

 The  perceptions are always  relative. Similarly, viewing the motionless Spirit of Life  from and  through  the world  of agitations, the Spirit Itself looks as  though It  moves,and yet, in Its  real nature,It moves  not.
This verse reinforces the fact covered  in the last stanza that the Supreme Consciousness is 'all pervading.' It moves-  yes, the matter, vibrant with the  touch of life,flutters and trembles,sighs and sobs,moves and acts,accomplishes and enjoys. The 'ghost'shows signs with its wizardly  hands and its horrid  face grins at the deluded; but  the 'post', which is the reality behind  the 'ghost-vision' of the dusk,'That moves not.' The pure awareness  of Consciousness,the Life-principle in all beings, in its all-pervading essential nature, neither  moves nor acts.  Established  in Its own glory,It revels in Its own existence. The ocean,in relation to the waves, is surging, seething,heaving,roaring; but in its own true nature,the ocean  is not  the waves  alone,  and  it  is  tranquil and peaceful,motionless and  majestic  in its  own depth, calmness and serenity. So too,with life as such, the Atman, in its  all-pervading nature,is motionless,and It neither acts nor  works. The boat moves,but never the lake.

'It is distant and  it is near' ----This alone can be definition of All-pervading. The Indian State is all -pervading, as far as  the  frontiers of  this country define it.  Similarly,the Pure Consciousness, the Supreme Reality, being All-pervading, It is at once   near and  the most  distant.  For the enlightened ones, the Self  is  the nearest, occupying the centre of  their  own individual  personality. Nothing is, in fact,so near  to us, as  our  own Self.  But,to others the Reality is indeed very far  from their  realisation!!

In fact,   the whole Ishavasya  Upanisad  is a loud  message to the humanity at large in  general, and to the true Hindu in particular, to desist from becoming merely self-centered, to the utter neglect of his life in the  outer  world, and his relationships with the comity of nations and happening  around him.
The Self is  not only  to be realised  in the centre of  our own individual life, but is  to  be experienced as the same everywhere. Pure Consciousness is homogeneous and all-pervading and,as such, the Self cognised  here   is  the same as the  Self experienced as  revelling  there. Not  only  is  the Atman the central core of  the spirituo -physical  personality  in the seeker, but the same Consciousness  is  the  very substratum  for the entire perception of the universe.  Thus,  to consider  this Self  to be  only within and live a life of pure introversion  is a  negation of Truth, which is condemned from  the Hindu  scriptural  standpoint.

vedprakash

www.ethicalvaluesinishopanisad.blogspot.com