View source for Svetasvatara Upanishad Lecture 40 on 16 July 2023

== Full Transcript (Not Corrected) ==
We are studying the 6th chapter of Svetasvatara Upanishad. And yesterday we have seen the mantra number 8. This is a beautiful description of Brahman. What is this mantra saying to us? NATASYA KARYAM KARANANCHA VIDHYATE NA TAT SAMAHASCHA ABHI ADHIKASCHA DRISHYATE PARA ASYA SHAKTIR VIVIDHAYEVA SHRUYATE SVABHAVIKI JNANA BALA KRIYACHA A Brahman, he neither has any duty nor has any cause. Another way of understanding is, if we are finite, we have desires. When there are desires, we have to do activities. And somehow, sometimes our desires are fulfilled. And even when they are fulfilled, since all our actions are limited by time and space and causation, the results are also limited by time, space and causation. But since Bhagawan has no desire because He is everything, so He doesn't require activity. Activities require body and mind. This is one meaning. Karyam means body. Karanam means whatever sense organs through which the body can go out, fulfill its desires. But nothing of that is ever there. And not only that, to indicate the idea, He is one. NA TAT SAMAHA DRISHYATE No one is there other than Him. How could we say? In this world, when we say there is nobody equivalent, then we are presuming that there are more than one person. But this person is the best speaker, best singer, best cook, best king, etc. But where there is only one without a second? Where is the question of comparison? So both ways we can take. Since the whole universe is a creation of His, nothing that is created by anybody can equal the Creator. That is one way of looking at it. Another way is that even if there is somebody, after all it is Himself only. So if some actor dresses himself in a different drama as a different actor, he is the same person who acted in other dramas also. So even if there are billions and billions of people and many of them are great, that greatness actually belongs to Him only, which is so beautifully expounded in the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Whatever glories of Arjuna you see in this world, it is all mine only. That means there is no second being. I am only manifesting my own glories through various forms. So that is said either equivalent to Him. na tatsamaha cha, moreover, abhyadhikas cha, greater than me, greater than Brahma. We can never see, for the simple reason I explained, there is nobody other than Him. But if we see a great glory, whose glory is that? Asya, Para, He is the Supreme and His Shakti, He is only manifesting in the form of Shakti. Pivita means in infinite number of forms, He is only manifesting as everything else. And Swabhaviki, Jnana, Bala, Priyacha. Three incomparable qualities. He is Sarva Jnana, that is called Jnanam. And He is Sarva Shaktiman, it is called Balam. And everything is done by Him because of His power, that also belongs. Are these qualities? No, if any object has got qualities, those qualities go on changing. A beautiful flower in course of the day fades away and doesn't become so beautiful, remains so beautiful. A fragrant flower doesn't remain fragrant. A young man doesn't remain young. A rich man doesn't remain rich. So everything is changing. So no object in this world stays exactly in the same position and that is called change. Whereas the person, the being called Brahman is called Nirguna. Nirguna means what? He is having infinite possibilities of any quality that we can think of. How can we think of? Because we experience some quality whether it is one percent, half percent, hundred percent in this world. That is how we say this is the best flower, this is the best sweet, etc. But it is all there within Him. But in course of time as it is necessary, these qualities manifest themselves. That is why it is said Swabhaviki. They are inherent in Him as Himself but not as changing qualities like within ourselves. Through these descriptions, the Shruti, Upanishad is telling us how to meditate. We can take each one of them. What is God? God is the highest goal, Brahman. And how can I meditate upon Him? He doesn't have a body because if there is a body, He is confined. He is limited. He becomes finite. If He is bodiless, then He is everywhere. He is everything and He doesn't need. If we want to see something, we need the eye and light. If we want to hear something, we need the ear as well as the Adhishtatra Devata called Akasha to get knowledge with that special function called hearing. So also other sense organs. But He neither has body nor has sense organs nor has mind. Even the Shankaracharya tells us in the Nirvana Shatakam, I don't have. Even if a Jeeva Himself can say that I am not the body, I am not the mind, then what to speak of Parabrahman? So through these descriptions, if anytime if He says anybody feels I am God, then that is pride and pride is one of the greatest causes of downfall and we have to get rid of it. What should we do? That only God is great and if I am great, He is manifesting out of His infinite compassion. So this is called Pratipaksha Bhavana that is thinking everything belongs to God. So this is a great aid for our spiritual life. So that is what we discussed yesterday. Bhagavad Gita being essence of all Upanishads, all Shrutis, all scriptures, not only of the Upanishads because we have been accustomed to hear Bhagavad Gita is also essence of the Bible, essence of the three Pitakas, essence of the Quran, essence of everything. Same teaching. God exists. We have come from God. We have forgotten that we have come from God and we have to go back to God. That is the essence of every scripture. There is no doubt about it. Crystal clearly the Lord says to Arjuna, I do not have any duty and in these three worlds, in three times, past, present and future, and why? There is nothing that I do not possess and there is nothing that I need to possess. But still I am going on doing it as to set an example. Is there anybody who is equivalent to it? Neither equivalent to Him nor greater than Him. Again Bhagavad Gita, after seeing the universal form of the Lord, Arjuna crystal clearly enumerates. That is you are the progenitor of this entire universe. You are the father. You are the mother of what? Characharashya lokashya. And tvam asya pojiyashya, you are the only one worthy of idiom, worship worthy. And you are the teacher because all teachers are getting their knowledge only from you. And you are gariyam, you are greater and you are earlier. Na tvatsamaha, there is nobody equivalent to you. Apsyatikaha, not to speak of greater than you. There is nobody else. And therefore you are incomparable in the whole world. We have got beautiful stories. There was a false great proud king called Poundarekha. In Bhagavatam we get this story. And he tried to copy Lord Krishna. And Krishna ultimately had to kill because this fellow had acquired some artificial gada, artificial chakra, etc. He tried to dress like an anti-Ramarao cine actor and he forgot that whatever he is, it is all derived from the God. And but had he been a bhakta, then he would not have been killed. But he forgot God. What is pride? Forgetting God. What is kama? Forgetting God. What is krodha? Forgetting God. So he pretended that I am the greatest and he became laughing stock of the town. And Ravana, he could not tolerate the thought that there is another God called Narayana and his son leaving the true God who is himself. He is running after some false God and so he was also killed. So Hiranyakashipu, exactly he was like that. He thought he was greater than God himself. But Prahlada, his son, taught him a great lesson. So there is nobody, the idea, what is the idea? That whatever my body, my mind, my sense organs, my talents, my intelligence, my life, everything is his, he, I do not exist. When I understand this, then I completely surrender myself to him. Surrender myself to him like a river entering into the ocean. How? Namarope Vihaya. And that is what had happened. In the Bhagavatam, there is a great story. The first person to create this world was called Manu. That's why we are all called Manavas. And Brahma created Manus and one of the Manu had to get married in order to propagate the offspring, populate the world. His wife's name was Shataropa and they prayed to God, O Lord, please bless us with a child. We want a child but like you. And the Lord said, there is nobody like me. I alone shall incarnate as your son. So everything is his power only. God's great power manifests as the ability, as our body, as our sense organs, as this entire world, as our desires, as our memory, everything is nothing but he. And this idea is further elaborated in mantra number nine. Remember, the whole of this sixth chapter, essence is there is none other than God. Everything is God. To think that I am separate from God, even a bhakta, I am a devotee, but I am devoted to God, no doubt, but I am separate from God is a false idea. There is nobody, even your body, mind is he, even your feeling that I am a devotee is also he, everything is he. That is being the Bhagawan's greater description. For what purpose? I mentioned earlier, for the purpose of contemplation, upasana, meditation. And this is how we have to meditate. Why? If I really feel there is somebody else either equal or greater than God, even equal to God or even nearer to God, then I have a choice. Shall I go to this person or shall I go to God? True devotion will never arise in that case. That is why all these beautiful epithets in the form of descriptions are given to us purely for the sake of contemplation. Mantra number nine goes like this. What does it mean? He means God, means Brahman, has no master in the world, no ruler above him, nor is there even a sign of him by which he can be even inferred. He has no lingam. I will come to that point, very beautiful point. He is the cause, he is the Lord of the Lord of all organs and he is without progenitor or controller. So what does it mean? That is what we have to see. There is nobody greater than God because if somebody is greater than God, then God is not God. He becomes anatma. First of all, there is one infinite God and so there is no pati. But even the idea that he is the Lord of all, he is the earliest, he is the ruler, all these ideas remember again and again and again and again and again. I am telling you so many times. This is the function of the mind to create all these thoughts. Do you think God doesn't have a ruler? God has got somebody greater than him to control him. In your deep sleep, never. If this is the condition, if this is our experience of the deep sleep, just imagine what happens when a person realizes there is no thought will be there because he is mano vacham agocharam. He doesn't fall within the preview, within the process of either thinking or even speaking about it. Speaking comes only from thinking. Since he is beyond the mind, the process of thinking itself doesn't arise at all. As I said, these are all for the sake of contemplation. That is to say that God is my Lord. God is my natha. That is why we say I am an anatha. God alone is my natha. So God himself doesn't have anybody else and since I know that he is the greatest, I should turn only towards him. Na Ishita. There is no greater being than God himself. So God is the protector and the Lord of all and also the controller of all. Controller means what? He is the impeller. He creates the desires. Am I a rakshasa who created all that impulse? Remember, when we say a person is God or a demon, we are not talking a special species called gods or demons. A person who thinks divine thoughts is a God. A person whose thoughts are full of evil, selfishness and cherishes the idea of hurting other people, harming other people is called a rakshasa. Chanda mama we see with big, big teeth and all those things. That is only to depict. Chanda mama is meant for children. If you want to remain children, that is absolutely fine. But if you want to grow up, then you will have to understand that all this depiction is only depicting, bringing to our mind what is called evil, what is called godliness. That is why we see the moderate cultured devil comes in the most sophisticated form. Beautiful, impeccable English. His dress is marvelous. Probably French tailors have created specially tailored for him. He puts on beautiful scent when he speaks. Even it is said that butter also will just melt in his mouth. He is so soft. So like that he will come. But his mind is full of poison. His thoughts are poisonous and he is thinking only how to cheat you, how to annihilate you, how to do these things. So do not imagine evil people like Chanda mama stories. There are many such devils, demons within our own self. But the greatest demon is myself, ourselves. How? There is something called prajna aparadha, crime of prajna. What is it? Being divine, to think that I am not divine is the greatest murder, self-suicide. That is what is said in the Ishavasya Upanishad. So there is nobody greater than him, equal to him and there is no ruler of him. There is nobody who created him and that is why in Vishnu Sahasranama, if there is a beautiful among thousand names, there is one name called Anisha. Isha means a ruler. So God doesn't have any ruler. He rules. But even he rules is a misnomer because he rules over whom? If there is somebody else then one can rule, boss over, do something. But if he is himself, who is the ruler? He himself is the ruler. He himself is the ruled. That is the idea we have to get and that is what we get in Ramcharitmanas also. Narada, he praises the Lord. You are supremely independent with none over yourself. Above your head there is nobody else. That is why Ramanuja beautifully calls the Lord as Sarva Tantra Swatantra, absolutely free. He can do Nigraha, Anugraha, Samarthaha. He can control, he can also bestow his grace and not that he has personal agenda. Depending upon what we do, the reaction would be is a Pidhata. Remember, if God is making us suffer, no, God is not making us suffer. Neither God also gives us happiness. If we deserve happiness, we get it. If we deserve suffering, we get it. But this suffering and happiness are not absolutes. They are only meant for training us, teaching us, My child, you are going in the wrong path. And persistently if we refuse to listen to him, he will give a small blow. No mother would ever give a blow which will hurt the child. But it appears as though mother is hurting the child. And there is only appearance. If the child is hurt, who will be more hurt, mother or the child? No, God is like that. God is always in control of everybody and that is what is even God also. He says, even though I am the Lord, very funny thing He says. In Bhagavatam, Bhagavan Krishna says, I always remain under the control of my devotee. Bhakta is greater than me. And that is the beauty of devotion. Now you may think, oh, God voluntarily submits Himself to be ruled by, controlled by the devotee. Now we have to remember some stories. Yashoda wanted to punish Krishna because he was becoming too much of a nuisance. So she wanted to bind him to a husking stone. But then any number of ropes she was trying to get were falling short. Who can bind the Ananta Infinite? But God said, my mother is tired. I played enough. I will allow myself to be tied. And then she could tie. But Yashoda also knew that it was only Krishna who allowed her to bind. It's a beautiful story. Sri Ramakrishna mentions, Sita was exiled and then Maharshi Valmiki had taken pity upon her. Brought her to... and Sita was fully pregnant by that time. And then in course of time, she gave birth to two children called Kusha and Lava. Lava Kusha. Beautiful Telugu film has come and beautiful songs, incomparable songs are there. Now, they have grown up. Valmiki was teaching them not only scriptures, but he knew in future they were going to rule this entire Kosala kingdom. So he was teaching them astra vidya, archari. He made them expert. One day, they went out. At that time, Rama decided to do a great igna... But for that igna, a horse had to be left. The horse will roam wherever it wills. And anybody who ties it has to fight with Rama's soldiers. And then only if Rama is conquered, then Rama cannot complete the Ashwamedha Igna. But if anybody... nobody tried actually, but if anybody tries, he has to prove that he has the power to resist Rama. And so the horse was running here and there, entering one after the other kingdoms. And as soon as that king said, they bowed down, accepting the sovereignty of Rama. And it so happened that the horse had to be protected by Hanuman and other people. And it entered slowly into the forest. It came near the Valmiki's ashrama and Lavakosha by that time were well-drained. And then they caught hold of the beautiful horse because they liked the horse. Hanuman said, you will have to fight with me. And then they said, yes, you are a monkey, you are nothing. I will fight with you, we will fight with you, we both of them. Even each one of us is a billion times greater than you. That was the pride they inherited from knowing that we are the children of a great mother like Sita. Because they don't know anything about their father. Now as they were fighting, Hanuman saw that they were getting tired. And Hanuman got a boon from Brahma that nobody will be able to conquer Hanuman. Even Brahmastra works only for just a moment, no more than that. So Hanuman allowed himself to be caught and they tied him and dragged him proudly to the mother. And somebody had composed a beautiful poetry about this incident. Ore Kushi Love, had I not allowed myself to be bound by you, did you have any power to bind? But how did they bind? Because they uttered the name of Mother Sita. And then as soon as Hanuman heard the name of Sita, immediately he understood that these are the children of Rama, these are the children of Sita. Now if you ask the question, whom did Hanuman love more, Rama or Sita? The categorical answer will be only Sita. Nobody loved Sita more than Hanuman. And if there is a conflict between obeying Rama and Sita, unhesitatingly Hanuman would have obeyed only Mother Sita. And of course Rama would never do such a thing. So this is the most marvellous thing to do. Ore Kushi Love, ami na dhara na dile, tumi ki dhurte pari re? Is it possible for you? So if God Himself does not allow Himself to be bound, do you think it is possible to bind Him by anybody? So but the God willingly, more than willingly, just as a modern father willingly becomes a horse for the child to ride. And the child thinking, I subdue my father, I can ride him whenever I want. But later on the child will come to know it is only willingly the father makes himself available. So God becomes Bhakta Paradhena only out of His great love. The next epithet is Natasya Lingam. There is a beautiful story in the Puranas. I don't remember exactly where it comes. Once there was a difference of opinion between Brahma and Vishnu. They both wanted to find out this. Suddenly they thought they were greater. Nobody greater than me. Each Brahma was also thinking, Vishnu was also thinking. And then they were walking, perhaps itching for a quarrel. Suddenly they saw a huge Shiva Linga and then they wanted to measure it. Of course they could not. It went beyond their sight above, beyond their sight below. So they said that Brahma and Vishnu, we will go. Whoever can measure the length of this Shiva Linga, that person is a greater person. That was the agreement between them. So Vishnu went up and Brahma went down. And then Vishnu went up and up and up. And he understood that it is impossible to measure him. So he came down. After some time, Brahma came proudly and told a lie. I have reached the bottom. I know the bottom of this Shiva Linga. And immediately Shiva appeared and cursed him. You had told a lie being Brahma. You should never have lied. But Shiva was highly pleased with Vishnu because frankly he said that I cannot find, I cannot fathom the limit of Shiva Linga. Now what is Linga? That which indicates, points out. That is like an arrow mark on the wall. Go this way. That is why it is Shiva Linga, always seen roundish. Round means what? A zero, a round something, always a symbol of infinity. So Shiva Linga, don't think you can fathom any one of us. But if you have devotion, you can think of me as infinity. So even Saligrama, any Murthi, it is only a Lingam. Lingam means what? Pointing out to something far greater than itself. Whether it is an image, whether it is an icon, whether it is a symbol, whatever it is, something that points out to beyond itself is called Lingam. So God has no sign. God is like this. Why is it like that? Because there is, we say, that God's description or description of God or Brahman here to be precise, no words can describe him. Description means limitation. Description means to admit that there is something else. If you have to say this is a table, then you have to say this is not a chair, this is not a wall, this is not a tree, etc. And if there are two chairs, then you will have to say it is not the left side chair, right side chair, smaller chair, bigger chair. You have to point out some difference. That precisely separating and pointing out to one thing ultimately, that is called a description. And the business of a Lingam is to describe. But since God cannot be described, He is Namo Namo Prabhu Vakyamana Atitha Yato Vacho Nivartante Aprapya Manasaasaha But what does a Lingam do? It is not completely useless. It points out, do not get stuck here, go forward. And that which makes us go forward is a Lingam. And if something doesn't allow us to go forward but makes us just get stuck there and remain there, that is not a Lingam at all. That is why it is called Lingam. Linga means Lakshanam Sujayati Iti Lingam. Lingyate Iti Lingaha. So we can see how do we know there is fire beyond the hill because of this smoke. How do we know that this person is so and so? Always if this person comes with a particular scent, as soon as you smell that scent, immediately you understand. Or supposing you know a person and we have unique ability, every creature has unique abilities. Sometimes you hear the voice on the telephone and immediately this is my mother, this is my father, this is so and so. Most of the voices, at least some of the voices, we can definitely identify even with closed eyes. Why? Because there is an identifier. That is called Linga. So it means God is beyond Linga. He is not available to the 5 sense organs. Therefore He will ever remain. This is how we say in Sanskrit language Nyaya. Nyaya means analogy. So Shakha Chandra Nyaya or Arundhati Nyaya. Somebody doesn't know. Arundhati is a small star, so small, even Vasishta is very small. Especially married couple are pointed out by our modern Urohitas. Even at midday also they will point out because they want to get their Dakshina and disappear as soon as possible. So at night this priest will bring them and then this fellow had never looked up and known anything. He points out. You see a big tree? Yes. Do you see there are two branches? Yes. Do you see a smaller branch? Yes. At the end of that you will see seven dots there? Yes. And that last smallest dot, do you see? Yes. And look carefully, there is very dim spot is there, light is there. Do you see? Now I see because you pointed out. That is called Arundhati. If it is a woman, you be like Arundhati. But I rarely heard any bridegroom being told you also should be like Vasishta. Now only to the woman we show that. This is called Arundhati Nyaya. I never heard about Vasishta Nyaya. Anyway, it is because of the superiority complex of the man. There were a couple, husband and wife, and the wife wanted a divorce from her husband. So she filed a case in the court and the judge called both of them and he asked, Who filed the case? Wife said me. And why do you want to divorce? Because we have major religious differences. Oh, religious differences. Is it a big cause? Yes, it's a very big cause. We can't accept each other. And may I know what is this big religious difference? She said that I am a devotee of God. So I believe in God. Okay, that is fine. What about your husband? No, he believes he is God and I don't accept it at all. Immediately the judge said granted divorce. So something to be pointed out. We can only point out and every object in this world is a Linga. There is a mosquito. It is wriggling. It has consciousness that if we are intelligent, its existence points to Sat. It's knowledge. What knowledge? If you flip your hand, it will immediately run away. However clever you are, it is clever most. So that intelligence points to the Chit Swaroopa, original Chit Swaroopa, knowledge absolute. And the mosquito, you notice when it is able to sit upon you and happily drinking the nectar, how happy it is. That Ananda it is deriving and the source of that Ananda is the Ananda of Bhagawan. Sat, Chit and Ananda. So everything in this world points out to either Sat if it is non-living, Sat, Chit and Ananda if it is living. Only to that we should have the eyes to see that everything is a Linga. If we know that, that will be true worship. Otherwise, no. Then the next epithet, Sa Karanam, Karanadhipaha. He is the Supreme Lord of both the cause and the master of what He created. He is the Karanam. That means He is the cause. From Him or He is manifesting as this entire world. And whatever is the cause, it is called Karana. But whatever is the effect, that is called Karyam. But according to Advaita interpretation, there are two types of this Parinama Vada and Ivartha Vada. That is seeming creation, real actual creation. And of course, Advaita doesn't accept actual creation. Actually, the rope never becomes the serpent. That is actually the argument of what is called the Visistha Advaitins and Advaitins. That it is really, there is a, the transformation has come. Like milk has become curds. There are problems with that kind of argument. Of course, there is also problem with every type of philosophy. I'm not going to go into it. But God is the Karana, God is the Karya. That is why He is called Karanadhipaha. That is He is the master of all the Karyas. Because just as a pot, so to say, is getting ruled by clay. It is not that clay simply sits and says, hey you pot, I am ruling over you. It is simply the clay knows the pot has no existence apart from me. And if the pot comes to know, then it will be liberated from the idea that I am the pot. Henceforward, it will identify itself, I am the clay. And that will, that is called Mukti or the pot. That is called breaking the pot. Not literally, but in a metaphorical sense. Now, God is the cause, God is the effect, God is everything. In that sense only, God is the master. That is called Jagat Adipa, Jagadeesha. We say Jaya Jagadeesha Hare. Jagadeesha means the ruler, the lord, the controller of this entire universe. Not in the sense of a dictator controlling the world. And then Natasya Kaschit Janita. That is Janita means the creator. No one has created God because by definition God is one who is ever-existent, Nitya. Therefore, the question of somebody creating Him doesn't arise. Even in our case, we say metaphorically, my parents have created me. A pot can say, my parent called clay has created me. But this is truly speaking not acceptable because there is no creation at all here. One way of looking, it is a pot. Look with the eyes of respects of Nama and Rupa, name and form, then it becomes a pot. And if we look at it without this Nama Rupa, we will see only the clay. So, there is nobody who is the cause of God. He is self-caused. Even in our case, there is nobody. Then what is birth? Birth is previously I was behind the screen in the green room, in the drama. And then when my time comes, I will just step from the green room onto the stage, do my part and again go back. So, birth is nothing but to play my Prarabdha Karma role. And so I choose somebody. So, does God have any father or mother? No, it is impossible. Some children put that question. That is okay because they are children. So, we have to say God is the father of God. These are the descriptions, epithets for us again to contemplate. So, what do I get? That is, in my true nature, I am potentially divine. That means I am divine because I am God trying to play the part of the Jeeva with the help of these body and mind instruments. But when my play is over, I will go back. And the next mantra is a prayer. How do I realize Him? Nobody can realize Him without His grace. Sri Ramakrishna tells beautifully, at night, a police sergeant goes around with a powerful torch light. He can switch on the torch light and he can see everything crystal clearly. But nobody can see His face. But if someone desires to see Him, he has to pray with folded hands, Sir, please turn on the light on yourself. And out of His infinite grace, He will turn the switch. Oh, then we see His face. What is that seeing? The knowledge comes. I thought there was a difference between you and me. Now I know that there is absolutely no difference between you and me. This is called seeing God. This is called realizing God. The point is that only His grace can make it possible. That is beautifully put at the very end of the Bhagavad Gita called Charama Shloka. Prayer means Sharanagati. Aham tva sarva pape bhyo means I will remove you from the root cause of all these misunderstandings which is called Avidya or Maya. And then Mokshai shiyami I will free you from that Maya. That freedom from Maya alone is called Mukti. Not that we gain something. We were God. We are God. We will be God. We have forgotten and thinking, dreaming that we are somebody else. Just as we dream we are in a particular place but we might dream we are far away from that place. But when we wake up from the dream we understand we are exactly in the same place. This is being expressed. Sano dadhatu brahma apyayam Saha, that Brahman. Naha, all of us. We are familiar with this. Dhiyo yo naha prachodayat Exactly same thing. Dadhatu, may Brahman give us that buddhi, that knowledge, that understanding. What is it? Aham brahmasmi Apyayam means I merge. That is when do I know that I am Brahman? Not standing apart I am this but I am Brahman. That is a contradictory statement. What should we say? I am Brahman. There are no two, I and Brahman. Either Brahman is there or I am there. There is nobody else. May that non-dual Lord who by the power of his Maya covered himself like a spider with threads drawn from primal matter merges in Brahman. This idea we got. He is like a fisherman. He throws a net and that is being brought here. Yaha, that Brahman. So tantu nabha, that means a spider. Tantu means spiders threads and tantu nabha, who creates this spider. And those threads are called tantu. What does he do? The spider creates a web out of its own self and it can move freely from there. Similarly, God himself took that net called Maya and that net is consisting of what? Three gunas, sattva, prajna and tamas. This prakruti is also called pradhana according to the Sankhya Yogins. It goes by the name pradhana, primary. That means as if that alone is the root cause of this entire world. Of course, Advaita Vedanta doesn't accept it. It says only Ishwara, Brahman alone is the root cause. But what is the relationship between prakruti and Purusha? The power of Purusha is called prakruti, maya, avidya, etc. So pradhana jayi, pradhana is consisting of three gunas, three strands as it were. And the whole universe is these strands beautifully, skillfully, orderly way arranged. Swabhavataha, it is not something that happens artificially, happens very naturally. Then what does he do? Ekaha devaha, that one spider just as it covers himself, the God himself throws the cloak called maya upon himself just as any one of us. If we throw a tiger skin over ourselves completely, we may appear to be tigers and then we have the problem. We get frightened of others and others get frightened of us. So ekaha devaha, that one divine Lord, swam avrunoti, he covers up himself. That means what? I, you, everything in this world is a divine play. God has covered himself into maya. The one appears to be many, really there are not many. Like one sun shining in a hundred droplets appears to be hundred separate suns but actually they are only mirrors. You destroy the bubble, a water drop and immediately that reflected sun also will get destroyed. There is only one real sun. Swam avrunoti, sanodadhatu brahma apyayam. So let that divine Lord, unless He makes me understand, it is impossible for me to understand that I am not Brahman. I am Brahman is impossible to understand and when we don't understand we feel I am not Brahman. I am somebody else. Not only I am not Brahman, I am separate from everything else in this world and this world consists of billions of things. There is no doubt about it. So may that non-dual one Lord who by the power of his own maya covers himself like a spider covering itself with threads drawn from its own body. Similarly the Lord, where from does He derive all this covering from pradhana, primal matter, prakruti consisting of three gunas. May He give us that understanding how by merging us in Brahma, by knowing means realizing, realizing means knowing that I am none other than Brahma. Important point in this mantra is sanodadhatu brahma apyayam. So what happens? What does the spider do? After some time it withdraws the entire fibres into itself. So when God absorbs it, that is called apyayam, means dissolution. Srishti, sthiti, that laya process is called apyayam. And what is it that covers egotism? Maya in the form of egotism. So like that only when we pray to the divine Lord, only by His grace we will do. This is a very important lesson how to realize God only by His grace. And the same idea is going. When we realize Brahman, what happens? I will get the idea that not only I am Brahman, whatever is appearing to each one of us through the five sense organs as this infinite number of manifestations, everything is nothing but Brahman. That is the essence of mantra number 11. ekodhevaha sarvabhuteshugudhaha sarvavyapi sarvabhutantaratma karmaadhyaksaha sarvabhutadivasaha sakshi ceta kevalaha nirgunascha In that non-dual and resplendent Lord is hidden in all beings. He is all-pervading. He is the inmost self of all creatures. He is the impeller of all of us to actions. He abides in everything. He is the witness. He is the animator and He is the absolute and He is free from all gunas. These are again certain epithets for the sake of contemplation. So briefly ekodhevaha is not many as against our experience. He is only one. And where is He to be found? Where is He not to be found? Sarvabhuteshu in every being. Udaha. Udaha means what? He is hidden. Like you hide some money in the safety box. No, that is not the idea. He is there. It is an open secret. He comes to us because of the Nama Rupa. We are unable to really recognize Him. And where? Sarvabhuteshu in every being. Living as well as non-living. How do we know? Sarvavyapi. He doesn't exclude anything. Living, non-living, everything Himself. Sarvabhuta Amtaratma. He is the Amtaratma. He is the real being, real jiva, real consciousness, real awareness in every existing thing, including stones, including rivers. And Karmadyaksha. What does He do? He does actions Himself in the form of jivas and He awards Himself the results of His own actions as that is called Vidhata. And Sarvabhuta Adivasa. Same meaning Sarvabhuta Amtaratma. He is living in everybody. He is manifesting as everybody. At the same time, He remains separate as Sakshi, as witness, Jeta as pure consciousness, Kevalaha. One without a second. Nirgunascha. He is both gunasraye gunamayi, also nirgunaha sagunaha. So nirguna gunamaya. In our everyday Sandhya Aarathi, we see the very second line. There are some of the beautiful ideas we will discuss in our next class. Bless us all with bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.
[[Category:Svetasvatara Upanishad]]