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Friday, February 27, 2026

Isavasya 8 Translation Fantasia

sa paryagach chukram akaayam avranam asnaaviram shuddham apaapa viddham kavir manishi paribhuh

svayambhur yathatathyatorthan vyadadhac chashvatibhyas samabhyah.

सः – he; पर्यगात् – all-pervading; शुक्रम् – bright; अकायम् – bodiless; अव्रणम् – scatheless, without wound; अस्नाविरग्म् – without muscles; शुद्धम् – pure; अपापविद्धम् – unpierced by evils; कविः – wise; मनीषी – omniscient; परिभूः – transcendent; स्वयम्भूः – self-existing; याथातथ्यतः – respectively; अर्थान् – functions, duties; व्यदधात् – allotted; शाश्वतीभ्यः – eternal; समाभ्यः – for years to come (figuratively the Creators that is Prajāpatis)

He, the Ᾱtman, is all-pervading, bright, bodiless, scatheless, without muscles, pure, unpierced by evils, wise, omniscient, transcendent and self-existing. He alone allotted respective functions (duties) to the various eternal Creators.

Here is a stanza typical of the literature of Upaniṣads which attempts at a complete and exhaustive definition so as to give to the readers, if not a word painting of the Eternal, at least a sufficient amount of data to give a sincere student an intuitive understanding of the all comprehensive factor called Life or Ᾱtman. The great commentator, Śaṅkara, has himself more than once used this stanza and the expressions therein in his commentaries to indicate the Self in us.

It is this Self or pure Consciousness that is the power and the strength behind the laws of all natural phenomena. If the movement of the planets, the regularity of the seasons, the harmony in nature, the rhythm in reproduction have all been strictly followed without exception all around the globe for millions of years now, it is because of the unquestionable authority of the law giver and His law. That authority, might or power belongs to the supreme Reality, the Self.

~Chinmayananda

It is He who pervades all-He who is bright and bodiless, without scar or sinews, pure and by evil unpierced; who is the Seer, omniscient, transcendent and uncreated. He has duly allotted to the eternal WorldCreators their respective duties.

WHO PERVADES ETC: Brahman interpenetrates everything and pervades the phenomenal universe as fragrance pervades sandal-paste. BRIGHT: Refers to the luminosity of the pure Self. BODILESS: Without a subtle form. WITHOUT SCAR ETC: Without any defect. Brahman is devoid of a gross form. PURE: Free from a causal body. BY EVIL UNPIERCED: Uncontaminated by such limitations of prakriti as dharma (righteousness) and adharma (unrighteousness). As a witness, He watches the modifications of prakriti; He is not impressed or troubled by them. SEER: He sees all in detail as well as in its totality. OMNISCIENT: The ruler of the mind, which is the· organ of understanding. TRANSCENDENT: Beyond all manifestations.

~Nikhilananda

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.

~Paramananda

Isavasya 7 Translation Fantasia

yasmin sarvani bhutani atmaivabhud vijanatah

tatra ko mohah kah shokah ekatvam anupashyatah

यस्मिन् – in whom; सर्वाणि – all; भूतानि – beings; आत्मा – Self; एव – alone; अभूत् – have become; विजानतः – knowing; तत्र – these; कः – what; मोहः – delusion; कः – what; शोकः – grief; एकत्वम् – oneness; अनुपश्यतः – while constantly seeing

To the seer, all things have verily become the Self: what delusion, what sorrow, can there be for him who beholds that oneness?

Both ignorance (avidya) and its effect, that is to say, multiplicity, are destroyed for the knower of Atman. This Knowledge itself is Liberation. The knower, though living in a body, is free from attachment and aversion, pain and pleasure, and the other pairs of opposites.

~Nikhilananda

When, to the knower, all beings have become one in his own Self (Ᾱtman), how shall he feel deluded thereafter? What grief can there be to him who sees oneness everywhere?

In the previous stanza, the ṛṣi explained to us the glory of Self-realisation in a language of negative assertions and not in the language of positive declarations. We were only told that the individual will have no more any repulsion against or hatred for anything in life. But here, in this stanza, the same idea has been explained to us by the ṛṣi with more emphasis and practical assertions.

~Chinmayananda

This is a corollary to what has already been said before. Yasmin sarvani bhutaniatmaivabhud vijanatah – ‘When one realizes that that Supreme Self is the inner reality of all beings, when one realizes that all beings are verily his own Self,’ Tatra ko mohah kah shokah ekatvam anupashyatah- ‘Such a person, who is established in complete Oneness, when he sees that all is One, where in him is the place for delusion and where is the place for sorrow?’

~Sri M

Mandukya 2025 TOC

Isavasya 6 Translation Fantasia

yas tu sarvani bhutani atmany evaanupashyati

sarva bhuteshu chatmanam tato na vijugupsate.

यः – who; तु – however; सर्वाणि – all; भूतानि – beings; आत्मनि – in the Self; एव – alone; अनुपश्यति – constantly sees; सर्वभूतेषु – in all beings; च – and; आत्मानम् – Self; ततः – then; न – not; विजुगुप्सते – shrinks, feels hatred

He who constantly sees everywhere all existences in the Self and the Self in all beings and forms, thereafter shrinks not from anything.

This stanza explains more vividly than in any other Upaniṣad about the state of perfect tranquillity gained by a Self-realised sage, and as such, this stanza has been oft quoted and repeated in books and heard from platforms.

The one who has thus realised the core of all beings as the core in himself, and his own Self as the Self in every name and form, he is a sage, a prophet, a God-man, a true leader of the people, and a guiding power in the universe.

In realising thus, the individual gets permanently divorced from all his mental ideas of repulsion, shrinking, dislike, fear, hatred and such other perversions of feelings.

~Chinmayananda

The wise man beholds all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings; for that reason he does not hate anyone.

The perception that Pure Consciousness is the essence and reality of all is the foundation of the Golden Rule. He who is firmly established in the perfect equality of Atman, samatva, has overcome all repulsion, secretiveness, shrinking, dislike, fear, hatred, and other perverse traits which arise from the perception of separation.

~Nikhilananda

He who sees all beings in his own self, and his own self in all beings, does not feel any revulsion whatsoever.

That means, a person who begins to understand, who is absolutely still and quiet, who begins to inhale the fragrance of that Supreme Being, sees that he has no enemies anymore. He cannot be revolted he cannot be against anything or anybody, because he sees his Self in them and their Self in him. That Supreme Being pervades all. He is your antaryami, the antaryami in every one of us.

~Sri M

He who sees all beings in the Self itself, and the Self in all beings, feels no hatred by virtue of that (realization).

This is only a restatement of a known fact. For, this is a matter of experience that all revulsion comes to one who sees something as bad and different from oneself, but for one who sees only the absolutely pure Self as a continuous entity, there is no other object that can be the cause of revulsion. Therefore he does not hate.

~Shankara (tr-Gambhirananda)

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Dayananda on Jijnasu & Jnani (BG7:16)

caturvidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛtino’rjuna ārto jijñāsurarthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha (16)

caturvidhāḥ – four-fold; janāḥ – people; sukṛtinaḥ – who do good actions; mām – me; bhajante – worship; arjuna – O Arjuna!; ārtaḥ – the one in distress; arthārthī – the one who seeks security and pleasure; jijñāsuḥ – the one who desires to know; ca – and; jñānī – the one who knows; bharatarṣabha – O the foremost in the clan of Bharata!

Arjuna, the foremost in the clan of Bharata! People given to good actions, who worship me are four-fold–the distressed, the seeker of security and pleasure, the one who desires to know (me), and the one who knows (me).

The jijñāsu is not invoking Īśvara’s grace for simple accomplishments. He wants to know the truth of Īśvara, the ultimate cause of everything. And this jijñāsu is a great devotee. He does not use Bhagavān as an accomplice for his small pursuits. He wants to know who is Īśvara and as a bhakta he invokes Īśvara’s grace for this.

Knowledge of Īśvara is nothing but knowledge of ātmā. Īśvara, the cause of everything, happens to be in essence, oneself. If Īśvara were other than ātmā, he would be anātmā, and therefore, inert. The only conscious being is ātmā, and Īśvara is not separate from it.

This seeming difference between Īśvara and the individual is due to upādhi, as we have seen. There is only one reality which the jijñāsu wants to know. He is a devotee because he seeks the help of Īśvara and performs prayerful actions to earn this help.

When one is a jijñāsu one necessarily becomes a jñānī, the one who knows the truth of Lord Viṣṇu, Parameśvara, as oneself. Such a person is a real bhakta.

The jñānī’s devotion is what we call sādhya-bhakti. There are two types of bhakti. One is sādhana-bhakti, a devotion to Īśvara as a means. This is the devotion of a jijñāsu. But the bhakti of one who understands Īśvara, who recognises the truth of Īśvara as ātmā, is sādhya-bhakti. It is a bhakti that has fulfilled itself in the form of parama-prema-svarūpa-bhakti, absolute love.

This is the devotion of a jñānī. For him, the bhakti has fulfilled itself. So, how can we call him a bhakta? He is still a bhakta if we consider a bhakta as someone who is in union with Īśvara. For a jñānī, Īśvara is aparokṣa, immediate. It is the only difference, and it is a great difference.

For a jijñāsu, however, there is a possibility of Īśvara becoming aparokṣa and for the jñānī, he is aparokṣa because Īśvara, the cause of everything, is non-separate from ātmā. Even though Īśvara is the ātmā of everyone, it is only the jñānī who appreciates it. Only he has an intellect subtle enough to recognise what is true for everyone. And the jñānī is distinguished here among the bhaktas as a fulfilled bhakta. The jijñāsu is going to be fulfilled.

Bhakti, devotion, is any type of union between jīva and Īśvara. By a proper action or even a thought you are uniting yourself to Īśvara. But jñānī does not try to make a bridge between jīva and Īśvara. Gaining the knowledge, he finds that he is always united. There is only one thing–Īśvara, that is ātmā. There is no second thing at all to unite with. So, he is nitya-yukta, always united.

There are four kinds of virtuous men who worship me, Arjuna: the man in distress, the man who seeks power, the man who seeks wisdom, and the sage. ~Bhagavad Gita 7:16 (tr-Stephen Mitchell)

Isavasya 5 Translation Fantasia

tad ejati tan naijati tad dure tad vadantike tad

antarasya sarvasya tad u sarvasyasya baahyatah.

तत् – It; एजति – moves; तत् – It; न – not; एजति – moves; तत् – It; दूरे – far; तत् – It; उ – verily; अन्तिके – near; तत् – It; अन्तः – inside; अस्य – of this; सर्वस्य – all; तत् – It; उ – verily; सर्वस्य – all; अस्य – this; बाह्यतः – outside

It moves and It moves not. It is far and also It is near. It is within and also It is without all this.

It is near to those who have the power to understand It, for It dwells in the heart of every one; but It seems far to those whose mind is covered by the clouds of sensuality and self-delusion. It is within, because It is the innermost Soul of all creatures; and It is without as the essence of the whole external universe, infilling it like the all-pervading ether.

~Paramananda

The Ᾱtman moves and It moves not; It is far and It is near; It is within all this, and It is also outside all this.

Pure Consciousness is homogeneous and all-pervading and, as such, the Self cognised here is the same as the Self experienced as revelling there. This idea is again more clearly brought out in the expression: It is within all this and It is without all this. Not only is the Ᾱtman the central core of the spirituo-physical personality in the seeker, but the same Consciousness is the very substratum for the entire perception of the universe. To consider this Self to be only within and thus to live a life of pure introversion is a negation of Truth.

~Chinmayananda

Tad ejati tan naijati tad dure tad vadantike – ‘It moves, yet it moves not. It is far and yet it is near.’ Tad antarasya sarvasya – ‘It is within all this.’ Tad u sarvasyasya baahyatah – ‘It is outside all this.’

The fifth shloka is a typical presentation that sounds very close to the Zen teachings. One of the important teachings of Zen is to make it clear that even the highest level of intellect, by itself, cannot find the Supreme Truth. This is not to discourage intelligence; we are differentiating here between intelligence and intellect. What the Upanishad is trying to say, what it is trying to do, is to put all our logical thinking into an arrangement that appears to be totally contradictory. That means, what we call cold logical thinking cannot be applied to the understanding of the Supreme Being.

~Sri M

That moves, That does not move; That is far off, That is very near; That is inside all this, and That is also outside all this.

That is inside; asya sarvasya, of all this- in accordance with the Vedic text: `The Self that is within all' (Br. III. iv. 1) -, of all this world consisting of name, form, and activity. Tat, That; u, also; sarvasya asya bahyatah, is outside all this, because It is all-pervasive like space; and It is inside, because It is extremely subtle. Besides, It is without interstices, (It is continuous), in accordance with the Vedic text: 'Pure intelligence alone' (Br. IV. v. 13).

~Shankara (tr-Gambhirananda)

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Isavasya 4 Translation Fantasia

anejad ekam manaso javiyo nainad deva apnuvan purvam arshat

tad dhavato nyan atyeti tishthat tasminn apo matarishva dadhati

अनेजत् – unmoving; एकम् – One; मनसः – than the mind; जवीयः – swifter; न – not; एनत् – this; देवाः – gods; आप्नुवन् – reached, overtake; पूर्वम् – before; अर्षत् – ran; तत् – it; धावतः – running; अन्यान् – others; अत्येति – overtakes; तिष्ठत् – staying; तस्मिन् – in it; अपः – activities (lit. water – here figuratively used for action); मातरिश्वा – wind; दधाति– supports or allots

The Self is the motionless one, swifter than the mind. The devas (senses) could not overtake it; It ran before them. Sitting, It goes faster than those who run after It. By It, Mātariṣvā (the element Air) supports the activity of all living beings.

From this stanza onwards we have, in four continuous mantras, the description of the Supreme indicated in terms of Its qualities, and these stanzas together is one vākya. Though the Eternal has no quality of Its own, and since language can explain only in terms of guṇas or experiences, the qualities of the Self indicated here are not to be taken literally.

The Upaniṣad asserts that the Self is swifter than the mind. By denying motion, it is not denying the speed which is its rate of motion. The mind is the fastest thing in the universe. But the Self runs faster, because the Reality in the form of ‘existence’ is already there, before the mind could reach the spot of its contemplation.

~Chinmayananda

That One, though motionless, is swifter than the mind. The senses can never overtake It, for It ever goes before. Though immovable, It travels faster than those who run. By It the all-pervading air sustains all living beings.

This verse explains the character of the Atman or Self. A finite object can be taken from one place and put in another, but it can only occupy one space at a time. The Atman, however, is present everywhere; hence, though one may run with the greatest swiftness to overtake It, already It is there before him.

~Paramananda

Anejad means, ‘that which does not move.’ In other words, ‘that Supreme Self does not move’. It is that which is unmoving.

Ekam – ‘One’

Manaso javiyo – ‘Even faster and swifter than the mind.’ If that ‘One’ is faster and swifter than the mind, there is no way that the mind can find It.

Nainad deva apnuvan purvam arshat – ‘There is no way that the senses can ever reach It.’

Tad dhavato nyan atyeti tishthat tasminn apo matarishva dadhati ‘By itself It stands still. It out-strips those who run to reach for It. In It, the all-pervading air or energy – prana, supports the activities of all beings.’

~Sri M

That non-dual Atman, though never stirring, is swifter than the mind. The devas (the senses) cannot reach It, for It moves ever in front. Though standing still, It overtakes others who are running. Because of Atman, Vayu (the World Soul) apportions the activities of all.

VAYU: The first cosmic manifestation of the Absolute in the relative universe, also known by such epithets as the World Soul, Hiranyagarbha, and Prana. It sustains the whole universe by apportioning to everyone his function. But the World Soul can exercise its lordship because Atman is its inner Self. Without Atman even the highest cosmic entity becomes powerless and ceases to exist.

~Nikhilananda

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Isavasya 1 Translation Fantasia

ishavasyam idam sarvam yat kincha jagatyaam jagat

tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma gridhah kasya svid dhanam.

ईशावास्यमिदगं् (ईशा-वास्यम्, ईशा-आवास्यमd) – indwelling or clothing of the Lord; [वास् – to dwell, वस – to clothe]; इदम्d – this; सर्वम् – all; यत्-किञ्च – whatever; जगत्याम् – in the universe; जगत् – moving world; तेन – by Him; त्यक्तेन – by abandonment, by that which is left; भुञ्जीथाः – (you) may enjoy; मा – do not; गृधः – covet; कस्य-स्वित् – whose, anybody’s; धनम् – wealth

That Supreme Being pervades everything here.

That which moves and That which does not move.

Therefore, let go and rejoice!

Whose wealth is this anyway?

The Upanishad says, ‘Ishavasyam idam sarvam’ – ‘that Supreme Being pervades everything here.’ Yat kincha jagatyam jagat – ‘That which moves and That which does not move.’ Actually, the word jagat, which we call the world, comes from the root, ‘to move.’ Tena tyaktena bhunjitha – ‘therefore, let go and rejoice! Let go!’ Don’t get caught up in this circus. Let go and enjoy yourself – rejoice! Ma gridhah kasya svid dhanam – Whose wealth is this anyway?

~Sri M

All this, whatsoever exists in the universe, should be covered by the Lord. Having renounced (the unreal), enjoy (the Real). Do not covet the wealth of any man.

The word "enjoy" is also interpreted by the great commentator Sankaracharya as "protect," because knowledge of our true Self is the greatest protector and sustainer.

~Paramananda

All this, whatever moves in this universe, including those that move not, is indwelt or pervaded or enveloped or clothed by the Lord. That renounced, thou shouldst enjoy. Covet not anybody’s wealth.

The word vāsyam is a pregnant sound in Sanskrit with unlimited suggestiveness and innumerable meanings. It may be used to mean ‘to be clothed’, ‘to be worn as garment’, ‘to be inhabited’, ‘to be enveloped,’ or ‘to be pervaded.’ And here in this context, all these meanings are applicable. The great ṛṣi exclaims that ‘all this’ that we are perceiving through our sense organs or by the intervention of our mind and intellect – all this – is indwelt by the Spirit which is the Lord of the world of perception.

‘That renounced’ (tena tyaktena) – This is the effective part, the technique to experience the Lord that ‘envelopes all this’ (īśāvāsyam idagṁ sarvam). Identified with the beauty of a sculpture, many a time, we fail to notice the material with which it is made. Very rarely are you recognising the paper on which these words are printed – you are seeing the ideas through the word meanings, and not the colour of the white paper. And yet, you know that these printed words are impossible to be read if the paper were black in colour! To see the colour of the paper is to ignore the words. To renounce the enchantments of and hunger for the names and forms is to recognise the Lord, the Infinite. ~

~Chinmayananda

ALL THIS-whatever exists in this changing universe-should be covered by the Lord. Protect the Self by renunciation. Lust not after any man's wealth.

This universe, from the standpoint of Absolute Reality, is nothing but the Lord. That it is perceived as a material entity is due to ignorance. One should view the universe, through the knowledge of nonduality, as Atman alone.

~Nikhilananda

Monday, February 23, 2026

Isvayasa 0 Translation Fantasia

Chinmayananda on the structure of the Isa Upanishad:

The thought flow in the Īśāvāsyopaniṣad gallops on to its vivid goal in seven distinct waves. Because of the brevity of the expressions, which are made to convey an entire philosophy at once sublime in thought, divine in concept, and scientific in treatment, to a hasty reader the Īśāvāsyopaniṣad would be a confusing medley of rambling thoughts and, perhaps, would seem to contain only some wrecked, half expressed ideas.

This conclusion has become very familiar especially with alien commentators because each new adventurer, reaching the portals of this scripture, gets himself all the more confused because some of the expressions used in the Upaniṣad, though looking familiar, bear in themselves special significance and particular connotations in the context of the stanzas.

In the first wave (stanza-1), an entire chapter of ideas has been summarised by the great teachers to expose the theory of Truth and how it can be gained via the path of renunciation, and how the realised Truth can be maintained and consistently enjoyed through values of life founded upon a complete detachment from all the material glory, passing successes, and flimsy popularity!

In the second wave (stanza-2), the Master indicates the path of action which, according to the seers, must be sincerely pursued by all others who cannot follow the earlier advocated path of renunciation.

In the third stanza (stanza-3), which forms the third wave, it is even hinted that to refuse to walk either of these two paths, is to go astray into an abyss of pain and darkness!

In the fourth swing, comprising of five stanzas (4-8) of the seer’s poetic brush, his word pigments have gathered a transcendental shine to indicate vividly to his students what exactly is the goal of life as indicated in the first stanza, and how one who has gained that goal will thereafter live in his inner world of subjective ‘Truth-experience’.

Immediately following these immortal verses explaining the infinite qualities of the ‘Subject’, the ṛṣi, in the following six stanzas (9-14), is exhausting the fifth wave. Here he indicates to the students that knowledge and action (meditation and worship) are to be taken together, hand in hand, if they are to be coaxed to yield their maximum dividend. Neither of them is to be practised to the exclusion of the other, but they are to be faithfully followed one after the other as a harmonious and integrated programme. Then alone can one of them be reinforced by the other, and in its turn, vitalise the other. Thus, mutually strengthening each other, ultimately the pair takes the individual seeker to the state of Self-recognition, or Self-awareness.

The next three stanza (15-17) together constitute the sixth wave of thought in the scripture, which is a call of the mortal man to the glory of the immortal Self in himself to reveal Itself in the joy of Self-experience.

The last stanza (18) in itself represents the seventh wave of thought. After explaining the highest goal, both the teacher and the taught together pray to the Supreme for guidance and help on the path of Self-development.

Saturday, February 21, 2026

SR15: That's

1. Aum/Ohm

In Maya, Brahman is two-faced. In reality, Brahman is one without a second.

Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman are the two sides of That in nonduality.

The truth of Turiyam is beyond Brahman and Atman as quantum physics is to classical mechanics.

2. On High and Lo

The lower cause is transformational.

The higher cause is apparitional.

Thinking is the lower cause.

Pure consciousness is the highest.

Dreaming is the lowest state.

Self-awareness is the highest.

3. Ten Revelations

Seeing through a glass wall

isn't bad for the eyes.

There is no snake.

The rope is a vehicle.

That's Maya, Jack.

DNA is the stuff of karma.

Time is like a family tree.

Space is forgiveness.

The god of atheism is theism.

Atma of Brahma is Brahman.

4. What's Apparitional?

The last step

of any particular stage

is caused by the first step

of the very next stage.

That's apparitional.

~sr15