Vedanta - Isavasya Upanishad - Know Thyself - மெய்யறிவு - Verses 4 to 8 - Summary.
Preamble:
We saw in the Prologue to this Upanishad, that the objective of Isavasya Upanishad is to drive home the message that Know Thyself (spiritual knowledge about Self) is the goal of the spiritual seeker and this goal can be achieved by following two types of lifestyles.
Path A, a very very complex, tough, inward looking journey through extremely difficult and unknown terrain; a path very few people have attempted and tasted success. This path is called the apavarga Marg or the Vidya Marg or the jñana Marg.
Path B, a relatively easier outward looking journey through a terrain with an inevitable chance of getting into a huge maze called “Samsara”. This path is called the Bhoga Marg or avidya Marg or Karma Marg.
We also saw that the Slokas (Mantras/verses) of fhe Upanishads are arranged accordingly. A pictorial form of the arrangement is depicted below as a recap.
Vedanta presents Vidya as knowledge of Atman, which is Pure Awareness, Changeless and unborn Ultimate Reality. In our journey through the Slokas 4-8 in the Vidya Marg, we understood that Vidya is this “atma jnanam” (Know Thyself) and it is an individual’s experiential learning.
Here is a perfect summary of our learning so far.
மெய்யறிவு பற்றி, என் குறுகிய அறிவின் அடிப்படையில், எனக்கு தெரிந்து, மிக அழகாக, சுருக்கமாக எனினும் பொருள் குறையாத, என் போன்ற எளியவனும் அறிந்து கொள்ளும்படி இப்படி ஒரு விளக்கம் அடியேன் கேட்டதில்லை. இவ்விளக்க உரையைக் கேட்க யான் என்ன தவம் செய்தேனோ ? அறிந்திலேன். யான் பெற்ற இன்பம் பெருக இவ்வையகம்.
In recent times, I haven’t heard any more precise, simple and to the point teachings than this one by His Holiness the 36th Peethadhipati of Dakshinamnaya Sringeri Sri Sharada Peetham, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamiji in Tamil.
This sums up our entire learning so far in this Upanishad. I feel blessed to commence my understanding of the next section of the Upanishad with His Holiness’ voice. Double Click the link below. God Bless