Four Beautiful Mantrās from Brihadāranyaka Upaniṣad (4-4-12-15)& Śri Śankara bhāṣyam of those mantras.

Four Beautiful Mantrās from Brihadāranyaka Upaniṣad (4-4-12-15)& Śri Śankara bhāṣyam of those mantras.

ātmānaṃ cedvijānīyād ayam asmi iti pūruṣaḥ

kim icchan kasya kāmāya śarīram anusañjvaret .. 4.4.12 ..

 

If a man knows the Self (ātmānaṃ cedvijānīyād) as ‘I am this’ (ayam asmi iti), then desiring what and for whose sake will he suffer in the wake of the body (anusañjvaret) ?

 

Śri Śankara bhāṣyam: The word 'if' shows the rarity of Self-knowledge. Knows how? As 'I am this' Supreme Self, the witness of the perception of all beings, which has been described as 'Not this, not this,' ............which is always the same and is in all beings (i.e. Self), and which is naturally eternal, pure, enlightened and free (nityaśuddhabuddhamuktasvabhāvo). Since he as the Self has nothing to wish for, and there is none other than himself for whose sake he may wish it, he being the Self of all, therefore desiring what and for whose sake will he suffer in the wake of the body; (i.e why would he) deviate from his nature (as Self), or become miserable, following the misery created by his limiting adjunct, the body, i.e. imbibe the afflictions of the body?

For this is possible (i.e. all this suffering due to identifying with non-Self) for the man who does not see the Self (i.e. knows himself as Self) and consequently desires things other than It. He struggles desiring something for himself, something else for his son, a third thing for his wife, and so on, goes the round of births and deaths, and is diseased when his body is diseased.

But all this is impossible for the man who sees everything as the Self.

(Figure: Sri Swami Krishnānanda Saraswatiji ~ disciple of Sri Swami Sivānanda Saraswatiji (Divine Life Society).

 

Reflection by Swami Krishnānandaji on this mantram: Ātmānaṁ ced vijānīyād: If the Self is known as It is in its own essential nature, which means to say, ‘Ayam Asmīti, non-separate is your being from this Selfhood’—how can you isolate your Selfhood from your own being? You know the connection between the two. There is not even a connection; it is not a relation; it is just identity. So, if this identity of Self which you feel with your own being is to be recognized in a similar manner, in a similar intensity in respect of other things also, there would be a sudden illumination of what you call Universal Selfhood. This is liberation; and then, there is no further embodiment.

 

yasyānuvittaḥ pratibuddha ātmā asmin sandehye gahane praviṣṭaḥ

sa viśvakṛt sa hi sarvasya kartā tasya lokaḥ sa u loka eva .. 4.4.13..

He who has realized and intimately known the Self that has entered this perilous and inaccessible place (the body), is the maker of the universe, for he is the maker of all, (all is) his Self, and he again is indeed the Self (of all).

Śri Śankara bhāṣyam Further, he, the knower of Brahman, who has realized and intimately known the Self-how? -known himself as the innermost Self, as 'I am the Supreme Brahman,'(ahamasmi paraṃ brahmetyevaṃ).......through discrimination this knower of Brahman who has realized this Self through intuition, is the maker of the universe. Is it only in name ? (i.e. Is it mere eulogistic exaggeration to call him maker of everything ~ viśvakṛt or Iśvara ?). No - All is his Self. The word 'Loka' here means the Self. That is to say, all is his Self, and he is the Self of al (tasya sarva ātmā sa ca sarvasyā).

This innermost Self which has entered this body (which is imperfect and) beset with dangers and inaccessible, and which the knower of Brahman (through intuition ~ pratibuddhatayānuvitta) realizes it is not the individual self (i.e. I am not jeeva), but the Supreme Self. Since It (Self) is the maker of the universe(yasmādviśvasya kartā), the Self of all, and all is Its Self(sarvasyā'tmā tasya ca sarva ātmā). One should meditate upon one's identity with the Supreme Self,- the one only without a second. This is the gist of the verse. (eka evādvitīyaḥ para evāsmītyanusaṃdhātavya iti ślokārthaḥ)

 

Reflection by Swami Krishnānandaji: It is not merely that the world becomes his. Sa u loka eva: ‘He is the world itself.’ The reason why he is capable of working spontaneously in the world is because the world is not outside him. It is only a name that is given to the phenomenon of his own being. It is an expanse of his own self, and so it is not a work that he does in the world. It is a work that is going on spontaneously within himself. It is not someone doing something somewhere. It is not like that. It is a non-doing of anything anywhere. It is just a spontaneous experience of the expanse of being, which outwardly appears to be an activity of a person in the world outside, but inwardly or rather universally it is not activity; it is not a thought; it is not an achievement; it is not something that is moved; it is a mere experience. This is the consequence of Self-knowledge, namely, the realisation of the Absoluteness of Being.

 

ihaiva santo'tha vidmastadvayaṃ na ced avedirmahatī vinaṣṭiḥ

ye tadviduramṛtāste bhavanty athetare duḥkhamevāpiyanti .. 4.4.14..

Being in this very body we have somehow known that (Brahman). If not, (I should have been) ignorant, (and) great destruction (would have taken place). Those who know It become immortal, while others attain misery alone.

 

Śri Śankara bhāṣyam: Further, being in this very body, so full of dangers i.e. being under the spell of the long sleep of ignorance, we have somehow known that Brahman as our own self ; oh, blessed are we - this is the idea.

If we had not known that Brahman which we have known (now as Self), I should have been ignorant (Avedi). 'Vedi' is one who has knowledge ; hence 'Avedi' means ignorant.

What harm would there have been had I been ignorant? Great, of infinite magnitude ; destruction, consisting in births, deaths, etc., would have taken place.

Oh, blessed are we that we have been saved from this great destruction by knowing Brahman, the one without a second ; this is the idea. As we have escaped this great destruction by knowing Brahman, so those who know It become immortal, while those others, people other than the knowers of Brahman, who do not thus know Brahman, attain misery alone, consisting in births, deaths, etc.

That is to say, the ignorant never escape from them, for they regard misery itself (i.e. the body = misery) as the Self.

 

Reflection by Swami Krishnānandaji: In this very body you can realise this. You need not quit the body for the purpose of this realisation, because the body itself is not the bondage. It is your attitude towards the body that is the real bondage. The segregation of this body from other bodies, and the feeling of your consciousness being inside this little location all alone, is what is called bondage. The body is not the bondage. It is the connection of the consciousness with the body in an erroneous manner that is bondage. So, in this very body itself we can know it. The body can become a temple instead of becoming a prison.

If it (i.e. body) is not used for the purpose for which it is intended; if this body, if this mind, if this psychophysical complex is misused, abused and not used for the purpose of the realisation of the Self; if you are not going to recognise this life on earth as a link in the chain of the development of the soul to God; if you are not able to recognise that you are a pilgrim in this journey; if you think that this world is the all; if you think that here is the halting place and there is no movement further; if you are under a wrong impression that this is a world of enjoyment and not a world of duty and activity; if you think that there is no hereafter and everything is complete here, and this body is the all, this world is the all, the things are the all; if this is your notion, then there is really a great loss— mahatī vinaṣṭiḥ.

Ye tad viduḥ, amṛtās te bhavanti: ‘Immortality is what you are going to attain if this Truth is known to you.’ Athetare duḥkham evāpiyanti: ‘If this is not known by you, sorrow is the consequence.’ You have to suffer, suffer not merely here, but also hereafter.

 

yadā etam anupaśyati ātmānaṃ devam añjasā

īśānaṃ bhūtabhavyasya na tato vijugupsate .. 15..

 

When a man after (receiving instructions from a teacher) directly realizes, this effulgent Self, the Lord of all that has been and will be, he no longer wishes to hide himself from it.

 

Śri Śankara bhāṣyam:: But when a man, somehow meeting a highly merciful teacher (paramakāruṇikaṃ)and receiving his grace, afterwards directly realizes this effulgent (Deva) Self, (paścātpaśyati sākṣātkaroti svamātmānaṃ devaṃ)

or,

the Self that bestows on all the respective results of their deeds, the Lord of all that has been and will be, i.e. of the past, present and future

 

(then) ==> he no longer wishes particularly to hide himself from It, this Lord.

 

Everyone who sees diversity wishes to hide himself from God. But this man sees unity, hence he is not afraid of anything.

 

Or another meaning can be: When he directly realizes the effulgent Lord as identical with his own self, he no longer blames anybody, for he sees all as his self (sarvamātmānaṃ hi paśyati), and for that reason whom should he blame?

 

Reflection by Swami Krishnānandaji: Language cannot express the truth of this situation. It is not a perception; it is not an inference; it is not a vision in the ordinary sense. It is an enlightenment from within in respect of what is within you, namely, what you yourself are. ‘And the moment this awakening takes place, you begin to visualise that which was past and future at one stroke.’ Just as a miraculous surprise is sprung upon you, as it were, when you wake up from a tedious dream, you will be sprung a surprise when you wake up from this dream of the world. Suppose you are absorbed in a very painful dream, and seem to be undergoing much hardship in this dream, and then you wake up into the consciousness of this world which is true for you, which is totally different from the world of suffering in which you were in dream; what would that wonderful feeling be like?

Then what happens? Na tato vijugupsate: ‘You have nothing to ask for; you have nothing to fear from. Neither do you turn away from anything, nor do you ask for anything.’ Everything is all right. Everything looks all right because everything was all right and shall be all right.

Now everything looks chaotic because of the isolation of your will from the Divine Will, but when there is harmony of your will with the Divine Will, perfection and illumination results. Then in that grand condition you ask for nothing and ‘shrink from nothing’—na tato vijugupsate