|| ōm̐ śrī gurubhyō namaḥ hariḥ ōm̐ ||
Mantra #17 (Part 2)
उपनिषत् upaniṣat
योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥ १७ ॥
yō’sāvasau puruṣaḥ sō’hamasmi || 17 ||
This is part 2 of 2 on mantra #17. Let us recall some of the things we said in part 1. There only two kinds of philosophies.
1) Those that followed śrī vēdavyāsa and
2) Those that are opposed to śrī vēdavyāsa.
” स एव अहमस्मि sa eva aham asmi” of this mantra poses a difficulty.
स sa – what has been established so far as the jaganniyāmaka, sarva-kartr, the anugraha-kartr Parabrahman
एव eva – that Parabrahman with these attributes is indeed
अहमस्मि aham asmi – is me or I AM THAT.
So, a seeking mind knows that if I were Parabrahman, then, I should have known that I am Parabrahman even before any philosopher came along to tell it. Let us not forget that a philosopher did not create this universe. A philosopher is only giving out his right ( or wrong ) idea ‘after’ observing the created universe. If one has understood the meaning of all mantras upto this one, then his/her mind refuses to accept the meaning “I am myself that Parabrahman who has created this universe”.
That is the difficulty. Having refused to accept the literal meaning, now the seeking mind is looking for another possible meaning for the same mantra. The mind that is fit for knowledge, is seeking ‘Veda’ and the final meaning that comes out of a study of Veda. The origin for Veda is no one because Veda is authorless and the origin for the latter is Sri vēdavyāsa.
So, what we need is the meaning of “sōhamasmi” which has come from a study of entire shāstra. What we need is the meaning of “sōhamasmi” which is consistent with the previous mantras so far learnt. What we need is the meaning of “sōhamasmi” which continues to cause śrēyas to an adhikārin.
‘asmi’ can also become an ‘avyaya’, ‘aham’ can also become a noun denoting the same Parabrahman as indicated by Sūrya, Yama, ekarsha, Pūshan, prājāpatya, etc. ‘aham’ as a pronoun indicated ‘me’ no doubt, and ‘asmi’ is uttama-purusha kriyā-pada (first person verb form) no doubt. In the previous mantras, pūshan, yama, sūrya these words indicated those devatās in a secondary sense, and in the primary sense they indicate only their antar-niyāmaka Parabrahman. For this reason, the primary meaning of pūshan is Parabrahman. When that word was applied as indicating a mahimā of Parabrahman, that meaning of that word became primary, mukhya.
‘Sūrya’ is Sun no doubt. But when that word was applied as indicating a mahimā of Parabrahman as “सूरिगम्यत्वात् सूर्यः sūrigamyatvāt sūryaḥ” (attainable by the knowledgeable), then that meaning of that word became mukhya, primary in Parabrahman and amukhya, secondary in sun, Sūrya.
‘Yama’ is the Lord of death no doubt. But when that word was applied as indicating a mahimā of Parabrahman as “yamō niyamanāt harihi” (as the controller of All, Parabrahman is ‘yama’) then that meaning of the word became mukhya (primary) in Parabrahman, and amukhya (secondary) in Yama.
‘prajāpati” is caturmukha no doubt. But when that word was applied as indicating a mahimā of Parabrahman as “especially attainable by caturmukha and therefore, Parabrahman is prājāpatya”, that meaning of the word prājāpatya became primary in relation to Parabrahman, and secondary in relation to caturmukha.
From the same logic, the word ‘aham’ is secondary (amukhya) in jeeva and primary (mukhya) in Parabrahman, as the antar-niyāmaka of jeeva. This ‘aham’ indicates Parabrahman. It is not a pronoun, it stands for ‘ ahēya ‘ – that which you can’t live without or that which is indispensable.
“ham” stands for jīvātman, since jīva goes through dukha-prāpti, apūrṇatā, body-seperation types of nāsha, whereas “aham” is that which is opposite to ‘ham’ i.e., ‘aham’ stands for Parabrahman who does not go through any of that. Śruti calls Parabrahman as avināshi.
Every action needs a doer, kartr. When we understand the secondary meaning of ‘aham’ as ‘me’, we also understand that for all my actions, ‘me’ as the doer is aheya, indispensable for that action. Similarly, when we understand the primary meaning of ‘aham’ as Parabrahman, that pravartaka for ‘me’ becomes aheya, indispensable in the primary sense. In this context, the word ‘aham’ is not a pronoun anymore, because it does not apply to ‘me’ but that word indicates another mahimā of Parabrahman, in the primary sense.
‘asmi’ is the verb form suitable to that form of ‘aham’ which is not a pronoun anymore. The Parabrahman, who is in all prateekas, is also in me (aham). It indicates the nitya sthiti of Parabrahman. This truth is expressed in taittareeyōpanishat as “sa yascāyam purushe yascāsāvāditye sa ekaha”.
An adhikārin who understands this upanishadic truth, for him the Vedic Parabrahman who has nitya-astitva and who is aheya, is something closer to him than ‘himself’. Thus, even more than ‘himself’ his controller Parabrahman becomes closer to him, this feeling itself is what comes out as the meaning of this mantra, in this “prayer” form.
This is the path of upliftment, śrēyas – because this upanishadic knowledge obtained by #17 builds on what was obtained from the previous mantras #1 to #16. It builds on what was learnt from other upanishats as well.
More mantras bring out more mahimās of Parabrahman. There is growth in knowledge. This also establishes that the entire vēda only teaches Parabrahman and nothing else consistent with another śruti which says ” sarvē vēdāḥ yatpadamāmananti…. ōmityetat – All the vēdas have come about to teach ōmkāra-vāchya Parabrahman. In the Gītā, Sri Krishna has taught us the same truth as “वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो vēdaiśca sarvairahamēva vēdyō” – ‘From all of Vēda, it is Me SriKrishna that needs to be understood’ – teaches gītā in the fifteenth chapter.
With this background, let us make an attempt at understanding the meaning of this mantra which is consistent with first sixteen mantras.
उपनिषत् upaniṣat
योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥ १७ ॥
yō’sāvasau puruṣaḥ sō’hamasmi || 17 ||
अन्वयः — यः असौ असौ पुरुषः सः अहम् अस्मि ।
anvayaḥ — yaḥ asau asau puruṣaḥ saḥ aham asmi |
This mantra opens up in two ways.
1) The One established by the previous mantras (यः असौ yaḥ asau) this Purusha (असौ पुरुषः asau puruṣaḥ) that Parabrahman (सः saḥ) is ‘aheyam’, is the One that can’t be given up (अहम् aham) and He is the One who is eternally present (अस्मि asmi)
2) The One established by the previous mantras (यः yaḥ), The One who is in everything (असौ असौ asau asau) the same antaryAmin also (पुरुषः सः puruṣaḥ saḥ) exists eternally (अस्मि asmi) as aheya (अहम् aham), is my antaryAmin also. (अहम् अस्मि aham asmi).
śrī kr̥ṣṇārpaṇamastu,
Jayakrishna Nelamangala
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