Isha Upanishad: The Practical Guide for Divine Life : ( Part 11)

You may like to read Part 10 here.

Verse 11:

vidyāṃ cāvidyāṃ ca yastadvedobhayaṃ saha | 

avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtamaśnute || 11 ||

Literal Meaning:

He who simultaneously knows both Vidya and Avidya gets over Death by Avidya and attains immortality by Vidya.

My Personal Understanding :

What dies when we call it death? Every time a form disintegrates, due to the attachments and duality that exists within it, it appears as death to himself and others. It again manifests with the baggage of latent desires, karmas, and attachments. This cycle of becoming is death. This cycle will continue as long as actions are performed in the realm of duality and duality continues as long as one has karmic baggage. This is Avidya and the path to come out of it is also through Avidya alone.

In essence, this duality reflected as shadow and light create a duality in the samsara. Violence is the shadow of the light of non-violence, falsity is the shadow of the light of truth, laziness is the shadow of the light of disciplined actions, greed is the shadow of the light of contentment, non-fulfillment and restlessness is the shadow of the light of fulfillment and bliss. As long as light exists, shadow will also survive. Why? Because both shadow and light are the ideas imposed upon pure consciousness to create experiences. Without these mass of experiences, the ego can not survive, and the play of creation will come to a halt. However, the shadow can only be conquered by the light. This is the reason, the text says one can conquer death by Avidya. The path of Tantra explores this concept beautifully. You focus on certain aspects of the Supreme to rise above the shadow of that aspect so that you establish yourself in the light of that manifestation. One-by-one, you rise above all the becoming(ideas imposed upon the pure consciousness) and establish yourself into the Being.

By seeing the oneness and light in the world, one realizes the true nature of Being. This path of moving from Becoming to Being is what is called “ he gets over death by Avidya”. 

Such a being who found his oneness with the Supreme, become one with Vidya, experienced his true nature as Being comes back to the world of duality and fulfills God’s work in the universe. He has to help the life, the mind, and the body in all beings to express progressively Immortality and not mortality. One may do this by the becoming in the material body which we ordinarily call birth, or from some status in another world, or even, it is possible, from beyond the world. But birth in the body is the closest, divine, and effective form of help that the liberated can give to those who are themselves still bound to the progression of birth in the lowest world of the Ignorance. 

By seeing the multiplicity of shadow and light in that one Supreme, one enjoys the fullness of the Becoming. This path of coming back from Being to the fullness of Becoming is what is called “ he attains immortality by Vidya”.

Knowing simultaneously Avidya and Vidya also mean knowing how to live and enjoy this world helping others to evolve as well as knowing how to leave the physical body when one likes to. Our Beloved Master, Om Swamiji is the living example of this verse, he is an accomplished Siddha, a self-realized soul, one with a Supreme soul, perfectly established in the knowledge of Brahman. However, he also knows how to live and enjoy the fullness of the world.

To be Continued…

🌼🌼🌼All Glories to Swamiji Alone🌼🌼🌼