Isavayasopanishad - 7th manthram

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7th Manthram:

 

 

 

yasmin sarva:ni bhu:tha:ni

a:thmaiva bhu:dvija:nathah |

thathra ko: mohaha ka: so:kaha

e:kathvamanu pasyathaha ||

 

 

Man is always inflicted by sorrow. How can this sorrow be avoided? This

manthram provides an answer to this question of getting relief from

sorrow. This manthram has to be interpreted with reference to the

preceding manthram. The 6th manthram has established beyond doubt that

God dwells inside and outside everything and therefore, everything in

this universe represents God. To be precise, everything that is true and

permanent represents God. This manthram extends this idea and suggests a

beautiful solution to get rid of sorrow. For a person, who has realized

the truth of the 6th manthram, there is no sorrow. That is a person who

has come to believe that God pervades everywhere and everything, there

is no moha, delusion, and without moha, there is no so:ka (i.e, sorrow).

When he thinks that he is different from the other creatures and

entities of this world, the birth or death of these creatures and loss

or gain will cause joy or sorrow as the case may be. But once, he comes

to realize that there is no difference between himself and the other

creatures because everyone and everything including himself is the

manifestation of God, there cannot be a sense of possession or loss. The

moment, he is liberated from this bondage, sorrow does not touch him. He

is no longer under the grip of sorrow. The manthram literally means:

there is no sorrow for a person who realized that this entire universe

is the body of God and that God also dwells between the world and

himself and God.

 

 

 

An episode from Janaka's life is a good example to illustrate the

essence of this manthram. Janaka was the son of the king of Mithila. As

a boy, he was sent to the hermitage of sage Yajnavalkya for education.

The other pupils were envious of Janaka and angry with the teacher

because the teacher always looked at Janaka while teaching. They had

thought that their teacher was showing additional favour to Janaka as he

happened to be the King's son. Yajnavalkya understood this and decided

to open their eyes. One afternoon, the lesson was in progress; all were

sitting in the shade of a tree. Suddenly the pupils saw that their

cottages caught fire. All the pupils except Janaka rushed to their

cottages as if to save their things from fire. In fact, they had nothing

valuable to lose; for all they had were only cod pieces (there were no

books in those days). But when they reached the cottages, their

belongings were intact. The fire accident was only an illusion created

by the teacher! They returned to the tree where the teacher and Janaka

were sitting. The lesson was resumed. In a few minutes, there were tall

flames from distance in the direction of the city of Mithila, Janaka's

native place. Mithila was the capital of Janaka's kingdom. It was clear

that Mithila was on fire. All were upset, except Janaka, who did not

move an inch from the place where he was sitting. The the teacher said

to Janaka: 'What is this? You are not bothered a whit when your city is

burning down to ashes?' Janaka replied calmly: 'What is to me if Mithila

is burnt? I have my own thing with me which is not burnt by fires, not

wetted by water, not dried by winds, not scorched by Sun. why should I

bother if something external is burnt?' Janaka was not affected by any

sorrow when he faced with the ruin of something outside his being. In

other words, Janaka had no 'egoism' not any desire for external things,

as he had realized that there is 'brahman' everywhere and also in his

own self. This is the knowledge of the 'brahman', the knowledge that

this world is the embodiment of 'brahman'.

 

 

 

A person who has attained this knowledge is not affected by ignorance,

egoism or desire. Sorrow cannot come anywhere near him. This is the

purport of the seventh manthram.