Vedanta - The Golden Search of SELF - உன்னை அறிந்தால் - Isavasya Upanishad - Sloka 6

PREAMBLE

Let us visit a jewelry shop and look at the various types of golden bracelets, where varieties of bracelets made out of gold are available for transaction. We have now two perspectives for the way we look at the ornaments:

sarva -ādhāra perspective:

Gold is the cause and the bracelets are the effect. All the ornaments are the products or effects. So, gold and ornaments have got kārya-kāraṇa saṁbandha. All the ornaments are in gold which means ornaments, being products are all based on or supported by the kāraṇam alone because kāraṇam alone supports the kāryam. All the ornaments being nāma -rūpa , name and form, are all based on gold. So, when I say ornaments are in gold, it means gold is sarva -ādhāra (the base for all the bracelets). When I say all waves are in water, water is the ādhāra, the support, the base of all the waves.

sarva-sāraḥ Perspective:

Now let us look at these bracelets from another perspective. I will now say that kāraṇam alone viz., gold alone, is in all the ornaments. When I say gold is in all ornaments, what I want to convey is, as the cause, gold alone is the content, the essence of all ornaments. Kāraṇam alone is the essence of all the kāryam. Like wood is the content of all the furniture, water is the content of all the waves, clay is the content of all the earthenware, kāraṇam is the content or the essence of all the kāryam . Kāraṇam is in all the kāryam as its very essence, sarva -sāra -rūpeṇa.

Therefore, I can say both. When I say ornaments are in gold, gold is sarva -ādhāra and when I say gold is in ornament it means gold is sarva-sāraḥ , the content of all the ornaments.

In this Sloka, the search for the SELF continues. The Sloka provides perspectives for us to examine and understand. Afterall, the search for ourselves is an experiential one and others can only provide perspectives. Let us see what this Sloka says.

Sanskrit Sloka

यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।

सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥ ६ ॥

Meaning in Tamil:

அனைத்தை ஆன்மாவிலும்

ஆன்மாவை அனைத்திலும்

எவனொருவன் காண்பனோ

அவனே மும்மல பயமிலான்

English Transliteration

yastu sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmanyevānupaśyati |

sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ tato na vijugupsate || 6 ||

Meaning of the Sanskrit Words

यस्तु = यह् + तु = yaḥ (m. nom. sing. relative pron. yad): who. + tu (ind.): but

सर्वाणि = sarvāṇi (n. nom. pl. pronominal adj. sarva): whole, entire, all, every.

भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति = भुतानि + आत्मनि + एव + अनुपश्यति = bhut̄ āni (n. nom. pl. bhūta; past pass. p. √bhu)̄ : beings. + ātmani (m. loc. sing. ātman; from √an, √at, or√vā): in the self + eva (ind.): so, indeed, truly, only, even. + anupaśyati (3rd sing. pres. indic. P. anu √dṛś): (he/she/it) beholds; foresees.

सर्वभूतेषु = सर्व + भूतेषु = sarva-bhut̄ eṣu (mn. pl. loc. sarva-bhūta, KD. comp.): sarva (grammar not specified; pronominal adj.): whole, entire, all, every, everything. + bhut̄ eṣu (mn. pl. loc. bhut̄ a; past pass. p. √bhū): in beings; lit. “in the been/become ones”.

चात्मानं  = च + आत्मानं = ca (ind.): and. + ātmānam (m. acc. sing ātman; from √an, √at, or √vā): the self.

ततो = tataḥ (m. abl./gen. sing. tat): from him; of him.

न = na (ind.): not.

विजुगुप्सते = vijugupsate (3rd sing. pres. desiderative Ᾱ. Vi √gup): (he/she/it) wishes to shrink away, hide, conceal (itself).

Meaning of the Sloka.

Those who sees everything in his Atman and his Atman in everything, by that he feels no revulsion i.e. “Those who see all creatures in themselves and themselves in all creatures know no fear.

UNDERSTANDING THE SLOKA:

Everything is in ātmā. Ātmā is in everything (akin to the gold-bracelet example). Now what is the message conveyed? The ātmā is the cause of everything (kāraṇam), and everything (anātmā) is the effect (kāryam). The kārya-kāraṇa saṁbandha (cause & effect relationship) between ātmā and everything is revealed through this. We will understand this through the golden bracelet example of sarva -ādhāra perspective and sarva-sāraḥ Perspective which we saw in the preamble.

Similarly, when the upaniṣad says, “Everything is in ātmā”, it means that ātmā is sarva -ādhāraḥ. Ādhāraḥ means support. When I say, ātmā is in everything, it means ātmā is the content, the essence, the sāra of all these things. This relationship is possible, only between kāraṇam and kāryam .

Therefore the upaniṣad says,

1. sarvāṇi bhūtāni ātmani anupaśyati – a wise person knows ātmā is sarva -ādhāraḥ . Ātmani anupaśyati means ātmā is the support as well as the kāraṇam of all.

2. sarvabhūteṣu ca ātmānaṃ anupaśyati – he/she sees the ātmā in every entity as the kāraṇam . Ātmā is the content, the essence, the antaryāmī. Another word we use is antaryāmī of the entire creation. Since ātmā is the content, it is called antaryāmī , sāraḥ , rasaḥ etc.

So yaḥ anupaśyati, the one who sees this kārya -kāraṇa -saṁbandha between ātmā and anātmā . Anupaśyati – the prefix anu is indicating how one understands the kārya -kāraṇa -saṁbandha between ātmā and anātmā – by going through the systematic teaching given by guru -śāstra . Anu means backed by guru -śāstra -upadēśa, consistent and systematic study of vedāntic scriptures for a length of time, under the guidance of a competent teacher (ācārya) is indicated by anu . If a person goes through that, he/she sees (paśyati). What does he see? The entire world is a product the effect and ātmā is the cause, kāraṇam.

In this context we can cross refer to another Upanishad viz., Kaivalya Upanishad

mayyeva sakalaṃ jātaṃ mayi sarvaṃ pratiṣṭhitam ।

mayi sarvaṃ layaṃ yāti tadbrahmādvayamasmyaham ॥

[Kaivalya upaniṣad,19]

The entire creation rises from me, rests in me, resolves into me. Exactly like how the entire svapna -prapañca, the dream universe, rises from me, rests in me, and resolves into me. In the same way, the jāgrat -prapañca (waking world) also, rises, rests and resolves into me. For creating svapna -prapañca (dreaming world), I use my nidrā -śakti . Nidrā means sleep. Similarly, with māyā -śakti I alone create, preserve and resolve the whole world.

Iti yaḥ paśyati – if a person manages to claim this knowledge, then tataḥ na vijugupsate . Vijugupsate means he will become free from the problem of insecurity which is the most fundamental expression of saṁsāra.

Sense of insecurity, which starts from childhood and gradually grows and as even I am growing older, the sense of insecurity becomes more and more intense. We are clinging on to things only because of insecurity. Whether it is money, name, fame, position, possession, prestige or relationship, each of them is a desperate clinging on because, I feel I cannot survive if I leave that. This feeling can never go away, as long as I take myself to be the body-mind complex. Trust, as some people wrongly conceive, is not about holding on to things or people, it is about letting go and having faith in the process. In life, we can’t hold on to fears, over constructed thoughts, or plans.  To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float. Remember. Detachment dies not mean that you should own Nothing; it means that Nothing should own you.

As a product, I will always feel insecure. As the cause, kāraṇam , I am ever secure. When a wave looks upon itself as a wave, it will always feel, ‘I am born just the other day and I am going towards the shore. Then I am going to die away’. Wave can never get out of the sense of mortality and insecurity as long as it takes itself to be a wave. Then what should the wave do? You go to any number of lokas , the problem will not get solved. The wave should go to a guru-wave. The Guru wave will teach that you are not wave at all. Wave is only an incidental nāma -rūpa . In essence, you are nothing but water, and water only. When the wave claims I am water, there is no destruction at all. Even when it gets evaporated, it will not die away. It is in an invisible vapour form.

Therefore, as a  jīvātmā , I will appear mortal. As paramātmā , I am immortal. So, shift the identification from anātmā to ātmā . Tataḥ na vijugupsate .

Śaṅkarācārya gives another meaning also. Jugupsā means hatred. First is the sense of insecurity. The second meaning is hatred. Śaṅkarācārya says, na vijugupsate means a jñānī doesn’t hate any one because he knows everything, every kāryam , is an expression of kāraṇam only. Just as parent looks upon the child as an extension of oneself, similarly, the entire world is an extension of myself the ātmā . I disapprove of other’s actions if they are wrong. But I cannot hate the other person. A mother may disapprove of a child’s behaviour. Disapproval doesn’t mean hatred. So, the second benefit of jñānam is absence of hatred towards anything or anyone, adveṣṭā sarva -bhūtānām .

What a great philosophy brought out in two simple lines in this Sloka.

SUMMARY

இக்கருத்தினை திருமூலர் தனது திருமந்திரத்தில்

2357. அறிவு வடிவென்று அறியாத என்னை
அறிவு வடிவென்று அருள்செய்தான் நந்தி
அறிவ வடிவென்று அருளால் உணர்ந்தே
அறிவு வடிவென்று அறிந்திருந் தேனே.

பொருள் : எவற்றையும் கருவி யில்லாது அறியும் ஆற்றல் உண்டு என்பதை அறியாதிருந்த என்னை, என்னுடைய இயல்பான சொரூபம் அறிவு தவிர வேறில்லை என்ற அவன் கருணையால் உணர்த்தினான். நான் அறிவு சொரூபன் என்று அவனது சத்தியால் உணர்த்தப்பட்டு உணர்ந்தபோது நான் அறிவு வடிவென்று அறிந்து கருவி கரணங்களை விட்டு அறிவாகவே இருந்தேன் என எடுத்துரைக்கிறார்.

Human beings can’t ignore the preaching of Lord Krishna in Bhagwad Gita. I being a Tamilian cannot proceed further without referring to the eternal Tamil Film Song where the entire essence of the SELF Knowledge/Brahma Vidya/Atma Gnanam is brought out so beautifully by the legendary lyricist Kannadasan. Here is the link for this: