Vedanta - Karma phala - வினைப்பலன் - Isavasya Upanishad - Sloka 10 - பெறுவதா? விடுவதா? எவ்வழி நல்வழி?
PREAMBLE:
Here is an interesting view point from an article that I read recently.
Vidya and Avidya; Knowledge and not knowledge or ignorance both are but concepts. We are required to drop off these two on the path of spiritual journey to Eternity. The real, unreal and the admixture of the two are all but notions and naught else. The notions or concepts are neither real nor unreal. What then we call real in this universe?
For this, we have to go beyond mind because unreal world has acquired substantiality on account of the persistence of this notion of its existence. Thus all beings sustain such notion out of their own concepts and ideas.
In our introductory blog, we saw that Avidya stands for nescience. Generally the concept is related to physical world of beings and their activities of life existence. When consciousness is identified with mind and thus with brain, and does not remain as spiritual cosmic principle apart from mind, it is Avidya in the extreme. Avidya is something related to non-spiritual and physical world of action. It is connected with our daily life and human welfare. Vidya may be related to the truth of the metaphysical world just as chemistry and the other natural sciences deal with the truth of physical world.
Some people have interpreted Vidya as Devata jnana as it leads to the abode of Devata whichever one propitiates. Avidya is the performance of ritual with a motive. Avidya is Karma and it leads to certain goal of life. Some saints believe that it is by good karmas, one reaches Pitraloka. From there after enjoying results of good fruits, one is reborn in the world. The saints think that by meditation and upasana, one reaches Pitraloka (manes )and from there proceeds either to world or to the Supreme”.
THE ISSUE
For the common people, Vidya and Avidya both have their own utility; the fruits may differ though. Understandable; yet there are some basic queries for us.
இந்திய மண்ணில் பல்வேறு தத்துவங்கள் செழித்து வளர்ந்திருக்கின்றன. வீடு பேறு என்ற நோக்கை குறித்ததாக அவை அமைந்தாலும் அதனதன் வழிகள் பெரிதும் வேறுபட்டு அமைகின்றன. எங்கே வாழ்க்கை தொடங்கும்? அது எங்கே எவ்விதம் முடியும்? இது தான் பாதை, இது தான் பயணம் என்பது யாருக்கு தெரியும்? பாதை மாறினால் பயணம் முடியுமா? பயணம் முடிந்து பெரும் பலன் என்ன ? இது போன்ற கேள்விகளுக்கு விடை தேடும் சாதாரண மனிதனுக்கு இந்த உபநிடதப் பண்கள் உதவிடும்.
Where do I start? How will it end? Which route should I take? Should I change routes to reach the end? At the end, what do I get? The Upanishad puts forth the opinion of the common people and provides answers for all these queries.
Vidya and Avidya are both stations on the road map and serve some guiding purpose but the train to Eternity has to leave these stations on its journey to the supreme destination.
This is the essence of this block of Slokas. In the previous Sloka we saw the futility of “blindly” following one route. To drive home the point, in this particular Sloka/mantra, upaniṣad says both karma and upāsana routes have got distinct results and one has to be aware of that.
Let us now study the Sloka
Sanskrit Verse
अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्ययाऽन्यदाहुरविद्यया ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥ १० ॥
English Transliteration
anyadevāhurvidyayā'nyadāhuravidyayā |
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nastadvicacakṣire || 10 ||
Meaning in English
10. One result is predicated of Vidya and another of Avidya. We have so heard from wise men who taught us both Vidya and Avidya.
Meaning in Tamil
மறைபணி கடமை வழி சென்றால் வந்திடும் ஓரிடம்
மனமதனை இறைவழி செலுத்தி சேர்வர் ஓரிடம் - என
மெய்ஞானியரின் இருவழி உரை கேட்டறிந்தோம்
Understanding the Sloka
अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्ययाऽन्यदाहुरविद्यया
‘Anyat’ means ‘something distinct.’ Here vidyā means Sakāma upāsana . They say that by Vidya, some distinct result is produced. So vidyayā prāpyaṁ phalaṁ anyat āhuḥ. What is that different phalam? Brahma-loka through śukla-gati. According to the Srutis, you gain entry into the world of immortals - Deva Loka . Of course, the Veda talks about various benefits attained in this birth itself also in the form of varieties of powers (siddhis)etc. Extraordinary powers can be accomplished through varieties of upāsana. Thus various powers in this janma, and brahma- loka prāpti in the next janma, these are the benefits of sakāma-upāsana.
What is the benefit of Avidya? Here avidya means sakāma-karma. They say that for the sakāma-karma also, the benefit is different. In this janma, one person will get all material prosperity and after death one will go to svarga-loka through kṛṣṇa-gati.
Thus both have got distinct result. Therefore one can go for any one of them and perform.
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां
Iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ – this we have heard from the vedic Rishis. Dhīra refers to the vedic ācāryas or the vedic rishis. Who is saying this? A vedic ṛṣi, because this is given in Īśāvāsya upaniṣad and so it is a Veda-mantra. Therefore it is given by a vedic ṛṣi and this vedic ṛṣi says we have heard it from other vedic ṛṣis indicating Veda has a parampara whose beginning can’t be traced at all. So iti śuśruma – thus we have heard from the sages.
ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे
Ye naḥ tat vicacakṣire – who taught us about karma-sādhana and upāsana- sādhana. Vicacakṣire means we have learnt. We have heard this stated to us by wise men, i.e., those preceptors who taught us both Knowledge and Karma. The purport is that this is their view as handed down from preceptor to disciple.
Here is an interesting commentary by Swami Paramarthananda:
But what is more important is that both of them can be used for spiritual purposes. In fact, originally Veda prescribes them for mokṣa only, but majority use all these for material purpose. You see all over the temple they write asking you to do this or do that. All artha, arthārthī bhakti is promoted. Nobody talks about religion for self-knowledge. Religion for self-knowledge is spiritual religion, spiritual bhakti. Religion for anything else is materialistic religion only. Materialistic religion is prevalent predominantly in this Kali Yuga.
Here Īśāvāsya upaniṣad says religion is primarily meant for spiritual purpose. But initially, a person won’t know the role of spirituality and therefore in the beginning, one can use it for material purposes. That is the incentive. But real karma, real upāsana are all meant for something greater.
And what is that? That is being said in the Slokas that follow which we will see in the coming blogs.
இந்தப் பண்ணினைப் படித்த பின் நமக்கெல்லாம் ஒரு கேள்வி எழும். “அது சரி. எதை விடுவது? எதைப் பெறுவது? எவ்வழி நல்வழி?”.
இதற்கு ஒரு கவிஞன் எளிதினில் பதில் உரைத்தான்
“உன்னை மேலும் பெற்று விடு
உன்னை மேலும் விட்டுப் பெறு
உண்மை புரியும் ...!” என்று.
மேற்கொண்டு படிக்கலாம். நமது பயணத்தை தொடரலாம். உண்மையை அறியலாம், அடுத்து வரும் பதிவுகளில்.