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.
No comments:
Post a Comment