By : JayaKrishna Nelamangala
Previously, in the mantra where it stated ‘taddūrē tadvantikē’ the existence of Parabrahman in everything in the form of giving āshraya to everything was established. The result of knowing it that way is stated by the current mantra #6 starting with the word ‘yastu’ and so on.
उपनिषत्: upaniṣat
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।सर्वभूतेषु चाऽत्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥ ६ ॥
yastu sarvāṇi bhūtāni ātmanyēvānupaśyati ।sarvabhūtēṣu cā’tmānaṁ tatō na vijugupsatē ॥ 6 ॥
All existing things i.e., this entire world consisting of living and non-living exist only in ātman i.e., this world exists only as having Parabrahman as its Ground. One who knows this without a doubt, and also one who understands the order of this Support (i.e., āshraya ) as it is presented by Veda and Sri Vedavyasa, this is the significance of the word ‘anu’ .
This entire world of living and non-living, has ‘Paramātma-āshraya’. The world entities with their svarūpa, pramiti and pravrutti need God to be in them as their Controller. ‘anu’ means ‘without a doubt’ but this does not mean it must be firmly believed in. A believer’s doubt is never resolved. So, doubtless state is possible only when there is proper study of shāstra. It is shāstra that raises several doubts in our own faith that we have firm belief in. Shāstra does so, based on our own experience and by logically establishing the need for resolution of those doubts through proper knowledge. This is how, there is no resolution of doubt unless there is study of shāstra. There is no firm knowledge, unless there is resolution of doubt. By demanding knowledge that is doubtless, the upanishat is demanding a study of shāstra. The basic difference between faith and knowledge is that, faith appears to be knowledge whereas knowledge does not need faith. There is no need to believe in a thing that is known.
The fact that all entities have paramātma as their āshraya implies that paramātma is in all things as their Controller. In this manner, no single thing is its own controller and no other thing which is similar to it can be its controller either. It is paramātma that is सर्वनियामक sarva-niyāmaka and hence सर्व-रक्षक sarva-rakshaka, the Protector of all that exists. One who knows this truth is ज्ञानी jñānī. He won’t make an attempt to protect himself, because, he does not fear anything else. Paramātma under whose fear the entire world operates, is protector for this jnyāni. For this reason, the jñānī is protected in all his states. This is stated to uphold the efficacy of the knowledge of that jñānī, which in turn establishes the greatness of paramātma who the object for that knowledge is.
Note that the word ‘पश्यति paśyati’ or “sees” is almost always translated as जानाति jānāti or knows. Thus, he has ‘seen’ God, simply means he has gotten the direct knowledge of God. That knowledge is in the form of श्रवण-मनन-निदिध्यसनारूप ब्रह्मजिज्ञासा shravaṇa-manana-nidhidhyāsanā-rūpa Brahma-jignyāsā.
ācārya teaches under निर्धारणाधिकरण nirdhāraṇādhikaraṇa of the brahma-sootras :
श्रुत्वा मत्वा तथा ध्यात्वा तद् अज्ञान विपर्ययौ संशयम् च पराणुद्य लभतॆ ब्रह्मदर्शनम्
śrutvā matvā tathā dhyātvā tad ajñāna viparyayau saṁśayam ca parāṇudya labhate brahmadarśanam
In all things, Paramātman as their Controller Parabrahman, Hari that is in them as their Controller one who knows such a Parabrahman. thus, is the word ordering.
As a result of that knowledge of Vedic Parabrahma-svarūpa in this manner, because of this reason, does not wish to protect himself i.e., in order to protect himself he does not desire, because he has no fear. This is the meaning of the passage. This meaning is the traditional meaning given by soukarāyaṇa śruti.
Soukarāyaṇa śruti says that, Parabrahman who is everywhere (सर्वगं परमात्मानं sarvagaṁ paramātmānaṁ) and Parabrahman is the ground of all (सर्वं च परमात्मनि sarvaṁ ca paramātmani) one who is able to know both (यः पश्येत् yaḥ paśyēt) that ‘fit’ person (स sa) without any fear (भय अभावात् bhaya abhāvāt) will not (न na) intend to protect (गोप्तुम् इच्छति gōptum icchāti) himself (आत्मानं ātmānaṁ).
With this background, we will study the mantra.
उपनिषत्: upaniṣat
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।सर्वभूतेषु चाऽत्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥ ६ ॥
yastu sarvāṇi bhūtāni ātmanyēvānupaśyati ।sarvabhūtēṣu cā’tmānaṁ tatō na vijugupsatē ॥ 6 ॥
This world of living and non-living things (सर्वाणि भूतानि sarvāṇi bhūtāni) is indeed dependent on Parabrahman, (आत्मन्येव ātmanyēva) one who has (यस्तु yastu) this definite knowledge (अनुपश्यति anupaśyati), and also (च ca) one who knows without a doubt (अनुपश्यति anupaśyati) the Vedic Brahman, Paramātman (आत्मानं ātmānaṁ) That is in all things living and non-living (सर्वभूतेषु sarvabhūtēṣu) as their Controller, such a person, because he has gotten the definite knowledge of Paramātman, (ततो tatō) he will not intend to protect himself from worldly objects. (न विजुगुप्सते na vijugupsatē) (Parabrahman is his protector in all respects).
NOTES:
1. Fearlessness is in doubtless knowledge that paramātma is sarva-niyantru, and not knowing this truth itself is fear. Vedic Brahman, who is everywhere is taught as “भयकृत् भयनाशनः bhayakr̥t bhayanāśanaḥ”. For the ignorant, fear from God who is everywhere means fear from all things around him. For this reason, he is constantly worried about protecting himself from various worldly things. For the knowledgeable, there is no fear. Vedic Brahman that is everywhere is his Protector. For the same reason, all things around him also protect him. In this situation, there is no need for him to protect himself.
2. When it is said, Vedic Brahman is in all, those other things must be there even before Brahman occupies them. So, how can Brahman be the Cause of all? Such arguments do not hold good. Whatever shape and form those other things are, still they are all the work of Brahman. If a certain thing existed even before He occupied it, then it becomes svatantra, because it could exist on its own without being created and hence was svatantra at least to that extent and consequently it is the so-called Brahman that should be in fear of that thing. But upanishat has denied it already by stating that Brahman is ‘anejat’. Hence, those who argue independence for any other thing apart from Brahman, would be those that are characterized by this upanishat as “ye ke ca ātmahano janāh”.
3. This mantra, without giving any room for any defective thinking, establishes the clarity behind the distinction between what is Self-Dependent i.e., Vedic Brahman and all else as His work i.e., paratantra.
श्रीकृष्णार्पणमस्तु
śrīkr̥ṣṇārpaṇamastu
Leave a Reply