जीवन एक अद्भुत भ्रम

ज्ञान विज्ञान ब्रह्मज्ञान वैदिक विस्वविद्यालय बनना निश्चित हो गया हैं।

He (the Self) is all-encircling, resplendent, bodiless, spotless, without sinews, pure, untouched by sin, all-seeing, all-knowing, transcendent, self-existent; He has disposed all things duly for eternal years. 

 

This text defines the real nature of the Self. When our mind is cleansed from the dross of matter, then alone can we behold the vast, radiant, subtle, ever-pure and spotless Self, the true basis of our existence. 

 

IX 

 

They enter into blind darkness who worship Avidya (ignorance and delusion); they fall, as it were, into greater darkness who worship Vidya (knowledge). 

 

X 

 

By Vidya one end is attained; by Avidya, another. Thus we have heard from the wise men who taught this. 

 

XI 

 

He who knows at the same time both Vidya and Avidya, crosses over death by Avidya and attains immortality through Vidya. 

 

Those who follow or "worship" the path of selfishness and pleasure (Avidya), without knowing anything higher, necessarily fall into darkness; but those who worship or cherish Vidya (knowledge) for mere intellectual pride and satisfaction, fall into greater darkness, because the opportunity which they misuse is greater. 

 

In the subsequent verses Vidya and Avidya are used in something the same sense as "faith" and "works" in the Christian Bible; neither alone can lead to the ultimate goal, but when taken together they carry one to the Highest. Work done with unselfish motive purifies the mind and enables man to perceive his undying nature. From this he gains inevitably a knowledge of God, because the Soul and God are one and inseparable; and when he knows himself to be one with the Supreme and Indestructible Whole, he realizes his immortality. 

 

XII 

 

They fall into blind darkness who worship the Unmanifested and they fall into greater darkness who worship the manifested. 

 

XIII 

 

By the worship of the Unmanifested one end is attained; by the worship of the manifested, another. Thus we have heard from the wise men who taught us this. 

 

XIV 

 

He who knows at the same time both the Unmanifested (the cause of manifestation) and the destructible or manifested, he crosses over death through knowledge of the destructible and attains immortality through knowledge of the First Cause (Unmanifested). 

 

This particular Upanishad deals chiefly with the Invisible Cause and the visible manifestation,
and the whole trend of its teaching is to show that they are one and the same, one being the
outcome of the other hence no perfect knowledge is possible without simultaneous
comprehension of both. The wise men declare that he who worships in a one-sided way,
whether the visible or the invisible, does not reach the highest goal. Only he who has a co-
ordinated understanding of both the visible and the invisible, of matter and spirit, of activity and
that which is behind activity, conquers Nature and thus overcomes death. By work, by making
the mind steady and by following the prescribed rules given in the Scriptures, a man gains 

 

 

 

 

wisdom. By the light of that wisdom he is able to perceive the Invisible Cause in all visible forms. Therefore the wise man sees Him in every manifested form. They who have a true conception of God are never separated from Him. They exist in Him and He in them. 

 

XV 

 

The face of Truth is hidden by a golden disk. O Pushan (Effulgent Being)! Uncover (Thy face) that I, the worshipper of Truth, may behold Thee. 

 

XVI 

 

O Pushan! O Sun, sole traveller of the heavens, controller of all, son of Prajapati, withdraw Thy rays and gather up Thy burning effulgence. Now through Thy Grace I behold Thy blessed and glorious form. The Purusha (Effulgent Being) who dwells within Thee, I am He. 

 

Here the sun, who is the giver of all light, is used as the symbol of the Infinite, giver of all
wisdom. The seeker after Truth prays to the Effulgent One to control His dazzling rays, that his
eyes, no longer blinded by them, may behold the Truth. Having perceived It, he proclaims:
"Now I see that that Effulgent Being and I are one and the same, and my delusion is destroyed."
By the light of Truth he is able to discriminate between the real and the unreal, and the
knowledge thus gained convinces him that he is one with the Supreme; that there is no difference
between himself and the Supreme Truth; or as Christ said, "I and my Father are one." 

 

XVII 

 

May my life-breath go to the all-pervading and immortal Prana, and let this body be burned to ashes. Om! O mind, remember thy deeds! O mind, remember, remember thy deeds! Remember! 

 

Seek not fleeting results as the reward of thy actions, O mind! Strive only for the Imperishable.
This Mantram or text is often chanted at the hour of death to remind one of the perishable 

 

 

 

 

nature of the body and the eternal nature of the Soul. When the clear vision of the distinction
between the mortal body and the immortal Soul dawns in the heart, then all craving for physical
pleasure or material possession drops away; and one can say, let the body be burned to ashes that
the Soul may attain its freedom; for death is nothing more than the casting-off of a worn-out
garment. 

 

XVIII 

 

O Agni (Bright Being)! Lead us to blessedness by the good path. O Lord! Thou knowest all our deeds, remove all evil and delusion from us. To Thee we offer our prostrations and supplications again and again. 

 

 

 

Here ends this Upanishad 

 

 

This Upanishad is called Isa-Vasya-Upanishad, that which gives Brahma-Vidya or knowledge of
the All-pervading Deity. The dominant thought running through it is that we cannot enjoy life
or realize true happiness unless we consciously "cover" all with the Omnipresent Lord. If we are
not fully conscious of that which sustains our life, how can we live wisely and perform our duties?
Whatever we see, movable or immovable, good or bad, it is all "That." We must not divide our
conception of the universe; for in dividing it, we have only fragmentary knowledge and we thus
limit ourselves. 

 

He who sees all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings, he never suffers; because when he sees
all creatures within his true Self, then jealousy, grief and hatred vanish. He alone can love. That
AH-pervading One is self- effulgent, birthless, deathless, pure, untainted by sin and sorrow.
Knowing this, he becomes free from the bondage of matter and transcends death. Transcending
death means realizing the difference between body and Soul and identifying oneself with the
Soul. When we actually behold the undecaying Soul within us and realize our true nature, we no
longer identify ourself with the body which dies and we do not die with the body. 

 

Self-knowledge has always been the theme of the Sages; and the Upanishads deal especially with the knowledge of the Self and also with the knowledge of God, because there is no difference between the Self and God. They are one and the same. That which comes out of the Infinite Whole must also be infinite; hence the Self is infinite. That is the ocean, we are the drops. So long as the drop remains separate from the ocean, it is small and weak; but when it is one with the ocean, then it has all the strength of the ocean. Similarly, so long as man believes himself to be separate from the Whole, he is helpless; but when he identifies himself with It, then he transcends all weakness and partakes of Its omnipotent qualities.