Isha Upanishad | Shloka 8 | English | Does Lord Vishnu Exist? | More on Self | sa paryagācchukrama

Welcome back to our blog. Today we will decode eighth shloka of Isha Upanishad.

So, without any further delay, let's recite the Sloka.

स पर्यगाच्छुक्रमकायमव्रणमस्नाविरंशुद्धम् अपापविद्धम् ।

कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्ययम्भूर्याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान्व्यदधाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥

“sa paryagācchukramakāyamavraamasnāviraśuddham apāpaviddham |

kavirmanīī paribhū syayambhūryāthātathyato'rthānvyadadhācchāśvatībhya samābhya ||”

Translation in English:

The Self is all-pervasive, seed of everything, bodiless, scatheless, without sinews, pure, untouched by sin; omniscient, master of mind, transcendent, self-existent, duly allotted respective duties to the eternal years.

In this shloka we will understand more about the Self – the 'Aatman'. As it is impossible to relate all these abstract words to any object or any character, hence, rather than explaining this sholka through a story, let's understand this word by word. For the visualization purpose, Rishis created a transcendent human figure called Lord Vishnu, so that this complex concept can be understood by any layman. If anyone has any difficulty in understanding, one can visualize Lord Vishnu's image. When you imagine Lord Vishnu, you see a beautiful blue complexioned delighted peaceful loving omniscient being lying on one side on the coil of Ananta snake on cosmic ocean named Kshira Sagar. All stars, the Sun, the earth, the universe are like small celestial objects which are hanging near him. All the principal deities like Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva and others born from his different body parts. He distributed all the duties to all the deities for the eternal years. He is pure, self-existent and untouched by the sin. He is everywhere and in everything. He is controlling everything.

Whoever is reading this Shloka, requesting you to read previous Shlokas for better understanding. Links of previous sessions are given at the end.

All-pervasive – The Self exists everywhere. It is inside and it is outside. It is very near to you and it is very far off. It is moving and it is unmoving. It is manifested as life and it is unmanifested as any non-living. Whatever you are seeing, it is that only. It is in every being and in everything. It is in every cell and every subatomic particle. It is in this universe and outside of this universe. It is like space. You will find it everywhere. But it is not separate like people imagine a soul.

Relate this with Lord Vishnu. He is everywhere and in everything. When you see the sky or an ocean, you don't find the beginning or end. What color do they have? Blue. That's why Blue complexion was picked for Lord Vishnu to show the nature of all-pervasiveness.

Seed of everything – The Self is the root of everything. When there was nothing, the Self or Aatman was existing. From that Self everything started whether that is Big Bang or first life on this earth or evolution.

Relate this with Lord Vishnu. The creator of the Universe and Destroyer both of them were born out of Lord Vishnu. Later other deities and the universe were created.

Bodiless, scatheless, without sinews – The Self does not have any physical body like ours. It does not have any ligament or joint or muscle. Because it does not have any body, it is completely wound free or scatheless.

For the sake of understanding, we imagine Lord Vishnu as a human figure but actually he does not have any body. Even in the imagination we see him without any wound or cut mark or any spot on the skin. The skin and body parts are way better than any real human being without any make-up or plastic surgery or implants. The idea is to look beyond the body, where there is no form or body. Because of the same reason the color of the body is blue. Blue is deep like the sky and ocean. You will be lost because it’s deep. Actually, neither the water nor the sky is blue, both are deep and formless but caught by the human eye in blue shade.

Pure – Because the Self is not mixed with anything, so it is pure. It is pure like a water drop on the Lotus leaf. It is so pure that you can’t take its name also. There is no name which human tongue can pronounce for Aatman and because of that it is pure. When we say Aatman or Brahman that is not the name. These words are not nouns. Aatman means the Self and Brahman means the bigger Self. Another aspect to it is that our mind is impure because of our ego. Hence, the Self can't be a subtle body as well.

You can relate the image of Lord Vishnu here. The ever smiling, closed eyes beautiful charming face denotes the purity.

Untouched by sin – When someone does any action then that action yields some results. Whether you like them or not, but those results can’t be ignored. You have to take them. Either those will give you suffering or happiness. The Self does not do any action and because of that it does not care for any result. That means no suffering and no happiness. That is why it is untouched by sin.

When we imagined Lord Vishnu, we imagined him resting for eternal years. He is not doing any action and because of that he is not bothered and resting with a smiling face. That denotes how he is untouched by sin.

Omniscient – The Self has been experiencing everything since the beginning of the Big Bang. It knows about everything before that incident. It is seer of all. It is the seer of everything. It will experience everything when this universe will end one day.

Lord Vishnu is experiencing everything. He is omniscient. Lord Brahma created this universe but Lord Brahma was created by Lord Vishnu. So, he knows everything before time started.

Master of mind – Mind is subtle. It has a similar quality like the Self, because the Self is bodiless and same goes with the mind. The inception of this universe happened by the Self and the same way the mind is the first point of all the innovations. Inception of an idea happens in this mind before it gets shaped. But this mind can't do anything without getting a physical body. It also depends on the energy of the body, previous experiences etc. Without the Self, directly or indirectly the mind does not have any existence.

Lord Vishnu created Lord Brahma for creation and Lord Shiva for destruction. One is creative, innovative and constructive and another is destructive. But the master is the same for both. Our mind also has both constructive and destructive sides but without Self it can't do anything.

Transcendent – The Self is something, beyond our imagination or human experience. Our intelligence can’t capture it. Our logic can't analyze it. Our memory can't hold it. Our ego can't recognize it. It is out of reach of our mind. Our mind can’t go beyond a certain limitation. After that limitation you have to stop your mind and be the Self to know it.

When we imagine Lord Vishnu, we imagine him like a superhuman. Someone larger than life and human experience. All stars, the Sun, the earth, the universe are like small celestial objects which are hanging near him.

Self-existent – The Self does not depend on anything. It is completely free from everything.

Same way Lord Vishnu is the primary deity and others got existence because of him but he himself is self-existent. He created his own body in his mind. He can change his body according to his wish. He can be born as different Avatars like Shri Rama or Shri Krishna according to his wish. He does not need anyone's permission or approval or any biological process of fertilization of an egg etc. to appear in this physical world.

Duly allotted respective duties to the eternal years – The Self ignited the universe and everything started based on the laws it created. From the Big Bang to Evolution. From sub atomic particles to biological cells. From single cells to human beings. Everything is allotted certain duties. If someone does not perform the duty the whole chain gets disturbed. If the earth does not rotate, the seasons will not change. If the distance between the Sun and Earth changes, life will not flourish. If trees do not grow, who will give oxygen and take CO2. If water does not become cloud, how will it rain and trees will grow? In the food chain, everyone is dependent on each other.

Same way Lord Vishnu created Prajapati Brahma to create this Universe, Lord Shiva to destroy everything and other deities like Lord Indra for rain, Lord Varuna for water, Lord Surya for the Sun, Lord Pavana for air and many more and distributed different duties to them for eternal years.

As human beings we have that intelligence to understand all the above-mentioned points. When we know these, our responsibility towards this universe increases. The Self has allotted many duties to us. But because we could not identify our true nature, we are not performing our duties properly. We are making this earth miserable for all the animals, birds and insects by replacing forests with jungles of concrete. We are polluting the water body in such a way that species like fishes, turtles and other water animals are dying. Because of our air pollution the temperature is increasing day by day and because of that glaciers of polar regions and high heels like the Himalaya are melting continuously. To gratify our taste buds, we are killing animals, birds and fishes in millions daily. For our fishing hobby, we are hurting fishes. We are forcefully taking milk from cows and buffaloes. In that process we torture them and their babies. Is this humanity? If we believe we are the most intelligent species on this earth then we should behave like that. In a family everyone looks forward to father, as everyone believes he can arrange food, give shelter and solve all the issues. Same way on this earth all the species are looking at us. We should behave like a Guardian. The Self allotted duties to everyone including us. Others are doing their job perfectly based on their capability without harming others but we forget our duty.

This Shloka is a reminder for us. Remember your duties as a human. See the Self in every life and everything and every life and everything in the Self. Remove your ignorance. Recognize your true nature which is described above. Don’t judge anyone by mere intelligence, education, race, color, ethnicity, religion, social status, money etc. All are the same and from the same seed, the Self. Time has come to show humanity towards everyone and every life and save this world from further destruction. All the animals, birds, fishes, plants, insects are looking towards you for your grace.

Dear readers, be with us in this journey of Universal Vedanta movement.

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