ॐ ईशा वास्यमिदꣳ सर्वं यत्किं च जगत्यां जगत् ।
In the Ishopansihad there is this first verse that tells us that whatever animate or inanimate, living, non-living, movable, non-movable things and beings exist in this world are all pervaded by the Supreme entity, God.
Yesterday in the beginning of the seventh chapter we read that Lord says, I am present equally in the earth, air, water, ether and fire. All the human beings are my superior energy. Though bonded with illusion in the form of my inferior energy.
One who crosses over this illusion attains the Supreme abode and God.
We also read about the story of sage Uddalaka and his son Shvetaketu who were discussing on the subject matter of the absolute truth by knowing which everything can be known. In the seventh verse of the seventh chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Shri Krishna tells Arjuna that, there is no truth beyond Him or greater than Him. Everything. All the beings. All the universes. Demigods. Rest upon Him and depend on Him as pearls are strung on a thread. This whole world is same under the control of that Supreme entity and is beautifully managed by Him.
मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय।
मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव।।7.7।।
Meaning: O conqueror of wealth, there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.
रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययोः।
प्रणवः सर्ववेदेषु शब्दः खे पौरुषं नृषु।।7.8।।
Meaning: O son of Kunti, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.
पुण्यो गन्धः पृथिव्यां च तेजश्चास्मि विभावसौ।
जीवनं सर्वभूतेषु तपश्चास्मि तपस्विषु।।7.9।।
Meaning: I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.
बीजं मां सर्वभूतानां विद्धि पार्थ सनातनम्।
बुद्धिर्बुद्धिमतामस्मि तेजस्तेजस्विनामहम्।।7.10।।
Meaning: O son of Prtha, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent and the prowess of all powerful men.
बलं बलवतामस्मि कामरागविवर्जितम्।
धर्माविरुद्धो भूतेषु कामोऽस्मि भरतर्षभ।।7.11।।
Meaning: I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O Lord of the Bharatas.
ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास्तामसाश्च ये।
मत्त एवेति तान्विद्धि नत्वहं तेषु ते मयि।।7.12।।
Meaning: All states of being – be they of goodness, passion or ignorance – are manifested by My energy. I am, in one sense, everything – but I am independent. I am not under the modes of this material nature.
I am the taste of water. I am the fragrance of earth.
These verses very much relate to the fact that we discussed in the beginning of the session, isavayam idam sarvam, that God is the only one who exists and pervades the entire universe, beyond Him nothing exists. He is the Absolute truth. He is the Supreme Knowledge. And whatever we see before our eyes, and feel with our senses is the manifestation of that Supreme Lord. All three modes of material nature are also part of His energy. But He is beyond all that. He is independent to all modes of nature. And being independent and beyond everything, He is the one who pervades the entire cosmos.
Now this subject could be little confusing to some, who may ask, that if God is independent then how could He pervade and exists in everything and if He exists in each and everything then how He could not be affected by all those things. This is quite interesting to know that God is all pervasive and all powerful, He is omniscient and omnipresent. And the description of this analogy can be better understood by the anvay and vyatirek nature of God as explained in the Vachnamrut by Bhagwan Swaminarayan.
For now, we must understand that God is the Supreme Controller. He is eternally manifested in each being and every thing and yet He remains equally independent from them.
त्रिभिर्गुणमयैर्भावैरेभिः सर्वमिदं जगत्।
मोहितं नाभिजानाति मामेभ्यः परमव्ययम्।।7.13।।
Meaning: Deluded by the three modes, the whole world does not know Me who am above the modes and inexhaustible.
Man under different modes of material nature is ever engaged in various activities but seldom he thinks upon in his mind about knowing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is said that we are constantly tormented by the world that we always cry, complain and yet forget the reason of our intense misery to be our ignorance. We focus on the non-essentials and neglect the essentials. We try to find temporary solutions in exchange for the permanent loss. The sages possessing true divine wisdom they announce all the time, ‘Life is sacred. Life is sacred. Do not waste it. Do not waste it. Focus on God. Focus on God.’ But we turn our heads and sometimes shout back, ‘There is time. There is time.’
But Buddha has said a beautiful thing, he said, that, the biggest problem of man is that he thinks there is time.
There is no time. You cannot predict when you are going to die so it is the utmost necessity of time that you utilize it well and subdue your mind in the knowledge of self (Brahman) and the Supreme Self (Para Brahman).
दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया।
मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन्ति ते।।7.14।।
Meaning: This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.
It is indeed very difficult to cross the oceans of misery and understand and realise the glory of God. Lord Krishna says here, that, the process of self-realization and knowing the absolute truth is not simple it is full of difficult roads but once you surrender unto Divine Supreme, He takes care of you in His hand and one can then easily cross it over.
न मां दुष्कृतिनो मूढाः प्रपद्यन्ते नराधमाः।
माययापहृतज्ञाना आसुरं भावमाश्रिताः।।7.15।।
Meaning: Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the aesthetic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.
Moodha.
Fools. Those who are evil-minded, miscreants, and fools with demonic nature. They do not surrender unto Supreme Personality of Godhead. You might notice those few everywhere around us, that when one goes to mandir or attend some spiritual lecture, they are the ones who mock them instead of joining them, and so they under the big illusion do not cross over the pangs of material grief.
चतुर्विधा भजन्ते मां जनाः सुकृतिनोऽर्जुन।
आर्तो जिज्ञासुरर्थार्थी ज्ञानी च भरतर्षभ।।7.16।।
Meaning: O best among the Bharatas, four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me – the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
Of all the various types of devotees of Lord, Lord Krishna tells that they are mainly of four types: one, who are distressed, they suffer miserably in this world, and then they cry out for help in those situations, those are the ones distressed. The story of Gajendra Moksha is very prominent in the Shrimad Bhagavat Puran. Once an elephant-king goes to bathe in a river with his fellow mates. They enjoy the splash and fresh water all together but suddenly a crocodile attacks on the feet of the elephant king. The crocodile takes the big feet of elephant-king in his mouth and starts taking him down the river. The elephant-king totally hapless cries out for his fellow buddies. But they too full of scare leaves from there rendering the elephant-king more helpless and alone. When all the pushes and efforts of his own turns out useless, the elephant-king pulls out a lotus in his trunk and pleads upfront to the Lord Vishnu. He prays Him to relieve him from this pain and Lord too comes down there and ultimately rescues the elephant-king from the grip of crocodile.
The elephant-king when he was helpless remembers the Lord but before that he was busy in all the different activities. And same happens with us many times that we use God as the sparing wheel, that, may be useful in the times of need. But remember God must be the front wheel of our life and not the sparing wheel. Though it is fine even if you remember God ultimately somehow but do not wait for something wrong to befall on you and then asking for Lord. We must keep Him in front of all our activities in our day to day life same as we take care of our body and our comforts. God should be on our first priority.
यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्तः श्रद्धयार्चितुमिच्छति।
तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्धां तामेव विदधाम्यहम्।।7.21।।
Meaning: I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship the demigods, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular deity.
Lord Krishna tells Arjuna, that He is present in the heart of every jiva (being). Bhagwan Swaminarayan in Shikshapatri writes down that as the soul resides in the centre of the heart similarly Supreme God resides in the centre of the soul.
And here, Lord Krishna also tells that, if someone being desirous of something worship some demigod then I make his faith steady so he can devote his mind to that particular demigod and attain that desirable thing he wants to attain.
God is very compassionate towards all. And often while we neglect Him under the different modes of material nature and remembers Him back when we feel needy, He comes down for help. When we seek some grace from some demigod to fulfil our material desires He even helps us in that. We see it many people goes out at different pilgrimages or places of different devi-devtas with some particular wish or deal that ‘If you offer me that thing then I will do such and such.’ ‘If I achieve that then I will come here every month’ and so on. The Supreme Being so compassionate and kind says, ‘I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself.’ And in the next verse He explains, that, it is only due to His wish the person attains all the kinds of things. We make deals with different demigods for the fulfillment of our material desires but the ultimate giver is the Supreme One whom we forget and He being kind enough, still fulfills our wishes.
नाहं प्रकाशः सर्वस्य योगमायासमावृतः।
मूढोऽयं नाभिजानाति लोको मामजमव्ययम्।।7.25।।
Meaning: I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency; and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible.
But for foolish God is never manifested before them. They are always under the illusions of His potency. And thus they do not know Him.
साधिभूताधिदैवं मां साधियज्ञं च ये विदुः।
प्रयाणकालेऽपि च मां ते विदुर्युक्तचेतसः।।7.30।।
Meaning: Those who know Me as the Supreme Lord, as the governing principle of the material manifestation, who knows Me as one underlying all the demigods and as the one sustaining all sacrifices, can, with steadfast mind, understand and know Me even at the time of death.
We read so many beautiful verses today explaining the profound knowledge of the Supreme Lord. We know it in our heart that there is God. We know it in our heart that yes, He is there in our heart. And we know it that He is present in all the hearts of all the beings around us. And He is also present in all the things around us. He is every where. He is with us every time. Isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t that wonderful to know that you are in the hands of One who is there for you always. I know it, it is the most beautiful feeling in the world for me to know my Ultimate friend. And it is, simply amazing.
Jai Swaminarayan
25 April 2020
Gaurav S Kaintura
Note: If you find any error or have any doubts then please notify in the comments, you can also raise your questions. This is something sublime and beyond the comprehension of an average human mind, for any mistake on my part, I ask forgiveness in advance. For there could be any flaws in the expression or iteration but here I try to present best of what I understand and know with best of my intentions.
References:
- Bhagvada Gita: as it is https://asitis.com/
- Ishopanishad: https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_upanishhat/Ishaa_bhaashhya_Shankar.html?lang=sa
- Anvaya Vyatirek: https://www.anirdesh.com/vachanamrut/index.php?format=en&vachno=7
- Gajendra Moksha: https://www.baps.org/Article/2011/Prayer-Wishes-Turned-Godwards-2178.aspx
In the joy of others lies our own 