Isha Upanishad: The Practical Guide for Divine Life : ( Part 14)

You may like to read Part 13 here.

Verse 15 &16:

hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitaṃ mukham | 

tattvaṃ pūṣannapāvṛṇu satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye || 15 ||

pūṣannekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmīnsamūha | 

tejaḥ yatte rūpaṃ kalyāṇatamaṃ tatte paśyāmi yo’sāvasau puruṣaḥ so’hamasmi || 16 ||

Literal Meaning:

The entrance of the Truth is covered as if by a golden vessel. Remove, O sun, the covering that I who have been walking the path of Truth may witness it.

O Fosterer, O sole Seer, O Ordainer, O illumining Sun, O power of the Father of creatures, marshal thy rays, draw together thy light; the Lustre which is thy most blessed form of all, that in Thee I behold. The Purusha there and there, He am I.

My Personal Understanding :

As our beloved Swamiji says that one should discover their own version of the Truth. 

Some people see the Truth in the form and some see the same truth as formless reality. Formless or with form, as long as something is being perceived and has a separate existence from you, the truth is covered as if by a golden vessel.

A vessel means some receptacle or a medium that let us perceive the Truth. The difference is in the subtlety of the object. A form, light, sound, and idea are manifestations of Truth. They are like rays of the Sun, inseparable from them, and are a vessel for the Absolute Truth to reach us. A human being needs a kind of vessel to see the Truth.

The Lower Realms:

In Vedas, three lower realms of existence are mentioned as Bhur, Bhuvah, and Svar. Bhur Loka is the realm where awareness dwells upon matter as its basis and this becomes the basis of divisibility. Next is the Bhuvah Loka, here the mind frees itself from the subjection of matter and awareness dwells upon life force as its basis and the various energy forms become the basis of divisibility. The third is Svar Loka where the mind frees itself from the subjection to material sensation and the mind determines its own forms.

The matter is the basis of multiplicity in Bhur Loka, Life is the basis of multiplicity in Bhuvar Loka, and the Mind is the basis of multiplicity in Svar Loka.

The Higher Realms:

The three higher realms of existence are mentioned as Janah, Tapah, and Satyam. The lower realms are the separated rays or mirror images of these higher realms which are always in oneness. 

Janah Loka is a realm of unity where the mind dissolves its individuality and awareness dwells in oneness in the bliss of Being with all manifestation. Through this bliss( Ananda), they experience oneness.

Ananda is the basis of oneness in Janah Loka.

Tapah Loka is a realm of unity where awareness dwells upon oneness in life as its basis. The soul is one with all manifestations in this Energy.

Chit is the basis of oneness in Tapah Loka.

Satyam Loka is a realm of unity where awareness dwells upon pure existence as its basis, the soul is one with all the manifestations in the oneness of essence.

Sat is the basis of oneness in Satya Loka.

The Golden Lid:

Between these two creations, linking them together is the realm which is known as Mahar Loka in Vedas. This is the golden Lid the text is talking about removing so that one can exist in the oneness of three higher realms.

The principle of MaharLoka is intuition, revelation, inspiration, and perception.

A conscious being in this realm sees himself as Being as well as Becoming. It is an intermediate state that separates Truth from non-Truth. They intuitively experience that all becoming is an idea imposed upon Self, Pure Being. Once this golden lid is removed, one can see the existence of oneness. 

How do we reach the Truth?

The text says that Truth is covered by a golden lid. What lies beneath the golden lid, is a world of matter, life, and mental ideas. We all are mental beings and the truth we see can only be imagined in mental ideas or forms at best. This is means of our knowledge, these are the rays of truth. 

To reach the Truth, the text is requesting Divine Sun within us to marshall your rays. This can be taken in two ways. I will try to touch upon both here. The way of duality and the non-dual way. One should take whatever works for them.

The Non-Dual Way:

Knowing that all matter, life, and mind are separate ideas built upon the one Being. Cast off these ideas in speech, thought, and actions. Think that you are one in the matter, life, and Mind. Speak to others as if you are one. And Act accordingly. If one can align his internal and external actions with the Truth. They will become one with Truth inevitably. Having said that, this is a path only a rare few spiritual giants can walk. This is the path of Adi Shankara, Swami Vivekanda, or Ramana Maharishi.

The Dual Way:

For the majority of us, we are so deeply identified with our form, our life existence, and our mental ideas that it is difficult to walk the non-dual path. This is at least my truth. 

The Dual way urges you to find truth in Matter, Life, or Mind. Divine is not separate from existence. Hence, the dual way recommend you to take either a form, energy or mental object as the basis and become one with it. 

If you are deeply identified with matter, visualize a form and bring that form to your mind, speak about that form, and see that form alone in the world outside. Inevitably, in time to come, you will become one with the form and the Truth will manifest to you in that form.

You see your truth( a chosen form of Divine) in everyone and everywhere.

If you are deeply identified with your existence as Life, concentrate on the reality of Life. Concentrate your energies, bring your mind to stillness, and observe the various manifestation of life within you. Imagine them all in your mind to be one, communicate to various energy forms as one, and act in the world outside as one manifestation of the cosmic energy.

You see your truth( Divine Energy) manifesting in everyone and everywhere.

If you are deeply identified with the mind, take up a path of mantra and sonic energy. Chant a mantra (click here to learn what is a mantra)verbally to bring familiarity to the sound. Then, slowly start hearing it in your own voice, Next, recall the mantra in the inner space. Over time, you would hear the mantra without chanting due to the force of sound already manifested in your inner space. Imagine the sound of your mantra to be the force within you, bring it into your speech and chant it as much as you can, and act outside in the world knowing everything around you as a manifestation of this one sound. 

    You see your truth( Sonic Sound) pervading everyone and everywhere.

Conclusion:

The point to note is this seeker has always walked the path of the Truth once he started his spiritual journey. This lays down the importance of being established in the Truth as one of the most important requirements of one who wants to realize the Supreme Truth. His actions are aligned with the Truth and he has also realized his own version of the Truth.

Now, such a seeker is praying to Lord to take away all the manifested form so that he can be a witness(drstaye). What can he witness? He is asking the Lord to make him a witness of being and becoming. He wants to be a witness of the one that is seen and the one who is seeing. He wants to understand the reality of the seer and the seen, at once. The one Truth that is unmanifested and manifested, at once. The one that is being and becoming at once.

All Glories to the Absolute Truth and to my Guru who is the representation of that Truth “Tat”.

P.S: The explanation of various realms is based on the explanation provided by Sri Aurobindo Gosh in their commentary on Isha Upanishad.