Isavasya Upanishad for Beginners : 12. Swami Gurubhaktananda (Chinmaya Mission).

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Saturday, August 1, 2020. 4:47. AM.

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD -  “The All-Pervading Reality”

Wave-3 : The Integration of  KNOWLEDGE : Mantram -9 to 14. ( 6 in NOs ).

A. AVIDYA AND VIDYA : 

Mantram 9: Worship of Avidya & Vidya

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Mantram 10: The Fruits of Avidya & Vidya

"5 Anyat eva aahuh vidyayaa, 6 anyat aahuh avidyayaa; 

7 iti shushruma dheeraanaam, 8 ye nah tat vicha-chakshire."

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Translation :

5 Anyat eva aahuh vidyayaa,      = One thing, they say, is obtained from Vidya,

6 anyat aahuh avidyayaa;           = and another thing, they say, from Avidya;

7 iti shushruma dheeraanaam,    =Thus we have heard from the wise,

8 ye nah tat vicha-chakshire.      = who have explained it to us.

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Mantram 11: Combining Avidya & Vidya

"9 Vidyaam cha avidyaam yah, 10 tat veda ubhayam saha;

11 avidyayaa mrityum teertvaa, 12 vidyayaa amritam ashnute. "

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Translation :

9 Vidyaam cha avidyaam yah,    = Vidya (knowledge) and Avidya (ignorance) – he who

10 tat veda ubhayam saha;         = knows them both together (at the same time),

11 avidyayaa mrityum teertvaa,   = he overcomes death through Avidya

12 vidyayaa amritam ashnute.     = and obtains immortality through Vidya.

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Three options are examined :

A. Combining Darkness & Light:

B. Combining Karma Yoga & Jnana Yoga:

C. Combining Karma with Karma Yoga:

Let us take up each one and see if it fits all the three Mantra-s:

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A. Combining Darkness & Light: This is the standard interpretation of the terms,

without any reference to the context. It is quite clear that we cannot accept these literal

meanings because Knowledge and Ignorance are diametrically opposed to each other. They

cannot be combined. Hence we have to drop this interpretation.

B. Combining Karma Yoga & Jnana Yoga: This is a feasible possibility because both

are of the same type – both are Yogas. They can be combined with each other. However,

the Vidya here is taken as the preparatory stage of Jnana Yoga. What happens when the

preparation is over and one is ready to start the path in earnest? At that point the person

has to separate from Karma Yoga. The two paths then cannot go together from that point

onwards. It will be equivalent to the first option.

C. Combining Karma & Karma Yoga: This is the case that fits the present context. It

is like one who combines a regular earning job (Karma) with a hobby (Upasana).

This interpretation takes Vidya to be an intermediate type of knowledge: It drops

the level of Vidya from knowledge of the Self, yet keeps it raised above secular knowledge.

It is that knowledge which is sufficient for the performance of Upasanas prescribed by the

scriptures for purification of the mind. It can include knowledge of devotional worship,

knowledge of the science of Karma Yoga (actions done as selfless service), and knowledge of

the performance of rituals.

Knowledge of this intermediate type is like a ‘hobby’ that takes the person forward

in spiritual life, while he still does a full-time ‘job’ for earning wealth.

The ‘job’ side of his life will fall under Avidya. It requires him to do some legitimate

Karmas for the upkeep of his family. (It is most likely that such a person will be a

householder, although that is not a pre-condition.) Such actions and the secular knowledge

required for it is classified as Avidya.

The fruit of Avidya is the maintenance of the body and the household. The fruit of

Vidya is the development of the Spirit. It may occupy secondary place to the earning, but

there could come a time when the person starts applying more effort to the Upasana than

to his job. If this becomes very intense, he may decide to leave his job and do Upasana all

the time for the love of God. In this case he will be like the one who drops his job in order to

pursue his hobby.

Combining a job and a hobby is quite commonplace. In the same way combining

Karma with worship is quite common. One gains freedom from ‘death’ – which could mean

freedom from poverty, hardship, diseases, pains, etc. – by doing the ‘job’ called Avidya; and

relative immortality through pursuing the ‘hobby’ of Vidya. [Absolute immortality as defined

in Vedanta can come only through Self-knowledge, and that has been excluded here.]

Relative immortality refers to life in higher planes of existence. For example, there are

heavenly worlds where one does not age, and feels no hunger or thirst, etc.

The human being is a spiritual being with a material body. Both have to be taken

care of. It is not advisable to be completely immersed in the world of sense pleasures; nor is

it advisable to be completely immersed in study of scriptures, gaining more in scholarship,

and avoiding one’s responsibility to care for the body. Hating the world is worse than being

attached to it.

These higher planes could mean a place or Loka in the heavenly worlds after death,

or it could be taken as a higher standard of living in this world itself. In either case it implies

progress towards a life of goodness, morality, virtue and well-being, free from the hardship

endured by the less endowed.

A Non-Religious (Secular) Interpretation:

The third option above can include the following purely secular interpretation: This

considers living a purely secular life, with no link to religious life. Avidya would refer to a

labourer’s life where no knowledge at all is required. Such people are considered ignorant,

but they have a virtue of having very little ego. They endure great hardship, which comes to

their lot due to poverty and dullness of intellect. Yet they live very good, pure, simple

lifestyles as peasants. That is the fruit of this Avidya.

Vidya, in this case, refers to secular knowledge as gained in the universities. He who

gets educated and strives to understand more about the world he lives in, graduates and

earns well in some profession. He has a better standard of living than the man of Avidya, but

that is all. Spiritually he is still ignorant. In fact, because of his wealth and knowledge, he

becomes more egoistic, proud, and even arrogant, and that places him in greater darkness

than the simple darkness of the peasant.

Combining these two would give one the fruit of a better living from the Vidya and

an egolessness and endurance gained from the Avidya type of life. The hardship takes one

across death, and the learning takes one to ‘immortality’ or fame in this world.

This option, although it fits all three verses, may not be favoured because it does not

bring in the spiritual dimension of life, which is the purpose of an Upanishad.

Now we consider the second set of 3 verses, dealing with the Unmanifest and the

Manifest. This is a lot more difficult to understand than the first, on Avidya and Vidya.

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Next : B. SAMBHOOTI & ASAMBHOOTI

Mantram 12: Worship of Unmanifest & Manifest

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To be continued ....

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