Vedanta - Know Thyself - மெய்யறிவு - Isa Vasya Upanishad - Sloka 4
The Sloka 4
The upaniṣad begins with ātma -svarūpa -varṇanam. Here also the upaniṣad doesn’t directly describe but outlines the characteristics of ātma by relative comparison with the other aspects of our body complex using contradictory predicates.
अनेजदेकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन्पूर्वमर्षत् ।
तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत्तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥ ४ ॥
Transliteration in English:
anejadekaṃ manaso javīyo nainaddevā āpnuvanpūrvamarṣat |
taddhāvato’nyānatyeti tiṣṭhattasminnapo mātariśvā dadhāti || 4 ||
Meaning in Tamil:
வரையறுத்த மதியினும் அதி விரைவு – எனினும் அவ்
வரையிலா ஆன்மாவிற்கு இலையேதும் அசைவு !
இலை இதற்கு, வரையறுக்கும் ஐம்புலனும் ஈடு – எனினும்
நிலையாக நின்று அனைத்தும் கடந்திடும் இது!
இணைந்தோடி உயிரிழையாய்ப் பரவும் காற்றென – எதனையும்
துணையாய் காத்திடும் உன் ஆன்மாவை நீ அறிந்திடு !
UNDERSTAANDING THE SLOKA:
There are three expressions in the Sloka that brings out that ātmā is the fastest.
The upaniṣad says, ātmā moves faster than the mind. Manasaḥ javīyaḥ means faster than the mind.
Then the next expression is devā na enat āpnuvan – the sense organs also, cannot reach that ātmā to objectify.
The third description in the third line is tat dhāvataḥ ayān atyeti – ātmā overtakes anything which moves faster. Dhāvataḥ means a running thing.
Then the upaniṣad puts a contradictory predicate in the first line saying anejat – really speaking it doesn’t not move at all. So ātmā is non-moving and yet it moves faster than the mind, sense organs, everything. This Sloka has got some message to give. From this we can infer these messages.
The first message is that ātmā is all-pervading “Sarvavyāpakam or sarvagatam”. Ātmā is all-pervading and being all-pervading, it lends consciousness and existence to the body, mind, sense organs etc.
The second message is indirectly conveyed. Since ātmā travels faster than the mind, senses and other entities, none of them can travel and reach ātmā; they can never know the ātmā. Therefore, the bottom line is that ātmā is not an object of mind and sense organs. Otherwise the technical word is “aprameyam” meaning “not an object of any instrument of knowledge”.
The next feature is, there is only one ātmā, the consciousness behind all the bodies, all the minds and all these sense organs. The word ekam comes in the first line anejat ekam.
Matarisva means who moves (svayati) – the Wind, the active principle in all creatures; on which are dependent all the aggregates of causes and effects and into which they are woven like warp and woof and which is also termed ‘the connecting thread’ and is the support of the whole universe. Such is matarisva. “Apah” means functions of things, such as flaming and burning of Fire, shining of the Sun, raining of the Cloud and so on. “Dadhati” means allots; or the word may mean ‘directs’. In other words “, ātmā eva jagataḥ adhiṣṭhānaṁ .
Thus ātmā is sarvagataḥ , aprameyaḥ , ekaḥ and eva jagataḥ adhiṣṭhānaṁ or viśvasya ādhāraḥ , ātmā viśvādhāraḥ . The SELF is all pervasive, unknowable, the only one and the foundation for everything.