Isa Upanishad [was Praying other deities. . .]

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> It is stated in the Sri Isopanisad:

>

> andham tamah pravisanti

> ye 'sambhutim upasate

> tato bhuya iva te tamo

> ya u sambhutyam ratah

>

> "Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest

> region of ignorance, and still more do the worshippers of the impersonal

> Absolute."

 

The translation of "asambhuti" as "demigods" and

"sambhuti" as "Impersonal Absolute" is not appropriate,

according to our acharyas, such as SrutaprakASika Bhattar

(Sudarsana Suri) and Sri Desika. The above translation

does not follow from the context and does not represent

the flow of thought of the Upanishad in the best manner.

 

This is a very difficult verse to construe; it is one

of the great riddles of the Vedanta, and is not easy

to understand (I am not sure I do myself).

 

Let me try my best to address this topic.

 

The context in the Isa Upanishad is the nature of karma

(religious action) vis-a-vis jnAna, or meditative

knowledge, in the attainment of liberation, i.e., the

unobstructed enjoyment of the Divine Absolute.

 

Every word in this sloka is understandable except

"sambhUti" and "asambhUti". "sambhUti" here is

derived from "samIcIna bhUti", or the blissful,

clear contemplation of the self. This

is also more popularly known as "samAdhi".

 

asambhUti is that which is not sambhUti -- something

different from this. In essence, what the Upanishad

is saying, as explained by our acharyas, is that

mere contemplation on the individual self as blissful

is not enough to attain the Highest. If this were the

end, it would be akin to "theft" of the self. The

realization must dawn upon us that we cannot attain

the Highest by our own effort -- upAsana or contemplation

on our own self is only a step in the process. It must

also be accompanied by a complete emptiness of agency,

and a complete emptiness of selfishness, upon which

contemplation rises to the next state, i.e., the

vision of God Itself.

 

This discipline of self-negation is what is known as "asambhUti".

One translation of this term, which I borrow from the

late vidvAn S. Sampath Iyengar, is "abnegativeness",

which he explains as (1) annihilation of self-conceit,

(2) pretentiousness, (3) violence leading to fanaticism,

and finally (4) theft of the self. Our individual self

neither belongs to us nor to matter, but to the Highest

Self alone, and It alone must guide us to liberation.

 

Therefore, sambhUti or samAdhi, as an independent process

without these accessory and contributory mental disciplines

will not lead to the Highest. One must have contemplation,

but one must also know that the Highest Self is our true

Source, our true Master, and that It is responsible for

our liberation in the end. Within our individual self

stands a greater entity, the Highest Self, or paramAtmA.

The cultivation of this feeling is "asambhUti".

 

This meaning is corroborated by the 14th verse:

 

sambhUtim ca vinASam ca yas tad vadobhayam saha |

vinASena mRtyum tIrtvA sambhUtyAmRtam aSnute || 14 ||

 

Here, the "asambhUti" of verse 12 is synonymized as "vinASa".

 

Putting the above verse and this one together, we arrive

at this translation:

 

Those who devote themselves [purely] to self-negation

(asambhUti) enter into thick darkness; those who

devote themselves [purely] to self-contemplation

go to greater darkness.

 

The person who understands both contemplation

and self-negation together, will cross over

death (hindrances to true contemplation) by self-negation

and will attain eternal blissfulness through

meditative self-contemplation.

 

It should be pointed out that it is clear from the verses

that follow, and from the first verse of the Upanishad,

that the highest form

of self-contemplation is none other than the bhakti-yoga

detailed by Sri Ramanuja in the Sribhashya and Bhagavad Gita

Bhashya.

 

The first verse of the Upanishad "iSAvAsyam idam sarvam"

(all this is enveloped by God) was considered by Mahatma Gandhi

to be the essence of our religion.

 

Mani

 

P.S. Note that if we kept the translation included at the

top of this email, the 14th verse would make no sense. It

would then read "The person who understands the demi-gods

and Impersonal together will cross over death by the

Impersonal and will attain blissfulness through the

demi-gods." This obviously violates the spirit of the

Upanishad.