Īśāvāsya Upanishad – Tyāga and Bhoga

Creation emerges from Truth,
And merges back into Truth.
There is no place without Truth.
All that exists is a manifestation of pure, unsullied Truth.

Ekam Sat Viprāḥ Bahudā Vadanti – Truth is one, but seers describe it in various ways. Truth is not the property of any one person. It is not related to a particular country, religion or era. People of all times and places have equal right to attain the Truth.

Truth does not follow anyone - all must follow Truth. The forefather of mankind, Manu, taught this fact. The word manuja (man) means “one born of Manu.” Manu also decreed that one must be prepared to sacrifice everything for Truth. However, people yield to the pressures of situations and give up Truth for everything else!

Speak the Pleasant Truth

Man perceives Truth as his enemy and derives enjoyment from falsehood. He endeavours to understand everything except the Truth. All pleasures and prosperity emerge from Truth alone. Since ancient times, kings ruled only with the strength of Truth. Truth is character, Truth is religion, Truth is life, Truth is penance, Truth is God. It is weakness to forget the eternal Truth and trust in falsehood.

Manu declared another aspect of Truth to mankind. He said – Satyam Brūyāt, Priyam Brūyāt, Na Brūyāt Satyam Apriyam – Speak the truth, speak pleasantly and do not speak an unpleasant truth. Meaning, we should not lie to sound sweet. On the other hand, we should not bluntly state the truth when it is difficult to palate. Truth must be spoken all the time, but in a way producing a beneficial effect on the listener. This is also emphasised in the Gītā – Anudvegakaram Vākyam Satyam Priyahitam Cha Yat – Speech must be truthful, pleasant, beneficial and cause no excitement.

Suppose you meet a blind man. If you shout, “O blind man!”, it will pain him. The words are true, but unpleasant. When you call out to a lame man, “Hey cripple!”, you will hurt him badly. It is best to greet him in some other manner. Never hurt others under the excuse of truth. Day-to-day actions accrue to become our character. It is important to speak the pleasant truth to develop a sterling character.

Īśāvāsya Upanishad

The Upanishads are the head in the body of Vedas, among which the Īśāvāsya Upanishad is chief. Īśāvāsya Upanishad appears as a collection of mantras in the Śukla Yajurveda. The path of action, Karma-yoga, is expounded in the Śukla Yajurveda till the thirty-ninth chapter. Jñāna-yoga, the path of wisdom, begins in the fortieth chapter. This is also the beginning of Īśāvāsya Upanishad.

Īśāvāsya Upanishad reveals that when you perform actions without ego and when you experience the world without attachment, there remains no distinction between bhoga and tyāga. Work without ego and attachment is selfless work - a pleasurable sacrifice. All selfless work is nothing but delightful renunciation.

Pleasure with Sacrifice

The Īśāvāsya Upanishad proclaims that all pleasures (bhoga) should be enjoyed with a feeling of renunciation (tyāga). Upon casual enquiry, pleasure and renunciation seem to be opposites. A renunciant does not crave for pleasure, and a pleasure-seeker cannot even entertain thoughts of sacrifice! Therefore, you might ask, how can one enjoy pleasures with an outlook of sacrifice?

Every man must perform his actions without the egoistic feeling, “These are the results of my action.” When he considers the action his own, it is natural to take credit for the results and get attached to them. The Īśāvāsya Upanishad demonstrates that yoga, the path to Ātma-jñāna, is the merger of tyāga and bhoga.

Yoga and Kṣema

What is yoga? The Divine treasure earned after spiritual practices is called yoga. Krishna told Arjuna, “Yoga Kṣemam Vahāmyaham – I shall look after your yoga and kṣema.” In everyday usage, the terms yoga-kṣema mean the welfare of wife, children, job, property and so on. But Krishna did not intend this worldly concept of welfare.

Yoga is the name given to man’s attempts to achieve Godhood. To attain the unattainable God is yoga. To envision the invisible Divine is yoga. To bring into daily experience that which cannot be seen by the eyes, heard by the ears, comprehended by the mind or felt by the heart is yoga. To manifest the unmanifest Divinity is yoga.

The treasure of yoga, won after arduous spiritual effort, needs to be safeguarded. This preservation of yoga is kṣema. Therefore, the true significance of Krishna’s usage of yoga-kṣemam is (i) the attainment of Divinity which is beyond the mind, and (ii) the preservation of that sacred Realisation. Yoga with kṣema is, therefore, equivalent to bhoga with tyāga.

Antah-karana - The Inner Instrument

Bhoga with Tyāga is most important. Sacrifice is the soil in which Divine traits of man sprout. Instead of treating the Upaniṣadic statements as worthless dry grass, man should try to live them in his daily life and thereby, watch Divinity dawn in himself.

Man is not just a combination of body and mind. He possesses prajñāna – constant integrated awareness. Prajñāna is the permanent witness or awareness pervading the Antah-karana (inner instrument). What is Antah-karana? Man’s thinking faculty is categorised into four entities based on function - manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), Chitta (memory) and ahamkāra (ego).

All four – mind, intellect, memory and ego – are aberrations of the true mind. The one mind has four names. For example, a brāhmin is called a cook-brāhmin when he specialises in cooking for feasts. The same brāhmin, engaged in worship, is called a pūjari (priest); when imparting Vedic education, he is called an Āchārya (teacher); when reading a horoscope, he is called a paṅchānga brāhmin (astrologer). The brāhmin is one, but based on his task, his name differs. The mind, intellect, memory and ego are thus synonyms.

Desireless Actions Purify the Mind

First, purify the inner instrument. To this end, it is compulsory to engage in action. Without activities, the mind cannot be purified. The Vedas say – Chittasya Śuddhaye Karmaḥ – The mind is refined with action. Every man must undertake good deeds to purify the mind. What are ‘good actions’? Without an eye on results, without selfish intent, all actions performed are niṣkāma-karma (desireless actions). Niṣkāma-karma is nothing but bhoga with tyāga.

Thus, Īśāvāsya Upanishad elaborates beautifully on the unity of bhoga and tyāga. We must not be inactive. Action sanctifies the body and time. The goal of human life is to harmonise kāla, karma, kāraṇa and kartavyam: time, action, cause and duty.

Craving is a Disease, Action is the Cure

Food is necessary for the upkeep of the body. Bhikṣānnam deha rakṣārtham, Vastram śīta nivāraṇam – Food protects the body, clothes shield against adverse weather. The body is the home of mucus, phlegm, urine and disease. The body is a mound of waste matter, hardly the boat to ferry man across the ocean of birth and death! O mind, do not trust this body. Instead, seek refuge at the Lotus Feet of Hari. The body is bound to rot like waste, collapse like a broken chariot.

To prevent against disease, we must take medicine. What is disease and what is good health? Everything is a disease. Hunger is an affliction, food is its medicine. Thirst is the disease, water is the cure. For every disease, there is a prescribed remedy.

Similarly, the craving for pleasure is a disease. Action is the medicine. We may desire bliss. But how can we secure it without action? You can place potato and chapati in a plate and repeat their names as long as you wish - Your hunger is not satisfied. To fill your stomach, put your hand and mouth to work! Meaning, hands busy in work, and mouth busy in the repetition of the Divine Name. With such dual effort, you will definitely attain bliss.

Forget Your Help and Others’ Hurts

In this world, if we forget two issues, we succeed in bringing tyāga and bhoga together. First, the good we have done to others. If we recollect favours done by us, we begin expecting something in return and open ourselves to disappointment. This also paves the way to jealousy and hatred. Forget the help you give, immediately.

Secondly, forget the harm others have done to you. With recollection of suffering, you develop vengeance and related defects. Before such harmful feelings sprout, forget the harm caused by others.

When we are able to set aside these two thoughts, we merge tyāga with bhoga. If we unearth these issues in our memory all the time, we become a heap of foul-smelling vices. Our thoughts create reactions. In ancient Indian tradition, reactions of actions are held paramount.

Sacrifice to Receive More

Indian culture stands on certain strong convictions:

Results of karma are inescapable.
God incarnates in human form as an Avatār.
Everything in the world is a form of God, and is naturally sacred.

With purity, patience and perseverance, we can realise the truth of these ancient beliefs.

Students! Enquire into these matters from a tender age. Desire tyāga with bhoga, not roga with bhoga! Tyāga, tyāga, tyāga…tyāga is our true bhoga. I often quote – Na Karmaṇā Na Prajayā Na Dhanena Tyāgenaike Amṛtatvamānaśuḥ – Not by actions, wealth or children, but by sacrifice alone is immortality attained. If we do not release the air we inhale, do we help or hurt ourselves? Our lungs will perish. If the remnants of digested food are not excreted, is it tyāga or bhoga? It is neither. It becomes roga and the stomach suffers.

Just as we release air and food, we must sacrifice the money we earn. In the above quotation, what is dhanam (wealth)? Wealth refers to education, youth, wisdom, joy and so on. For instance, having earned the wealth of education, we must apply it to serve others, disseminate its gist to others. Then your knowledge will grow. If you do not propagate and apply your skills, you lose them. The more you sacrifice, the more you receive and progress. Never feel that you help someone else. You help only yourself!

Every Day is an Opportunity

Students! In our worldly, physical view of life, we pay attention only to growth, but not to the decay that accompanies it. Our body grows, but our life-span decays correspondingly! We rejoice upon sunrise and sunset. At sunrise we feel, “Good, now I can do my tasks.” At sunset, we feel equally happy, “Finally, I can take some rest.” This is nothing but ignorance. Every sunrise and sunset consume a day of our lifespan, which we treat carelessly.

Therefore, engage in your duty by understanding the significance of dawn and dusk. Sri Ramakrishna used to pant for the Lord’s vision from dawn to dusk. At the end of the day, just before sleeping, he used to look around dispiritedly and cry, “Oh no! Yet another day has gone by without the Lord’s vision!” Treating every moment as a day, he used to ache for the Lord without interruption. Our ancient Ṛṣis also turned their yearning into penance and experienced Divinity.

Unity and Purity in Thought, Word and Deed

What is meant by tapas (penance)? Standing on your head and squinting your eyes is not penance! Trikaraṇa-śuddhi – unity and purity in thought, word and deed – is penance. Manassyekam, Vachassyekam, Karmaṇyekam Mahātmānām – A great soul has unity in thought, word and deed. Manas Anyat Vachas Anyat Karmaṇ Anyat Durātmānām – A sinful soul is characterised by disagreement in thought, word and deed.

When thought, word and deed are not one, only Tamas (darkness) will result instead of tapas. Jantūnām Nara-janma Durlabham – A human birth is rare in living beings. We should aspire for the Divinity beyond us, not for worldly pleasures beneath us. Therefore, it is no mistake to pursue secular education. But keep the permanent goal of life in view. We are truly Yogis, not bhogis or rogis. Yogis are known by tyāga.

Attain God Through Troubles

Students! The Upanishads express the most profound subjects in the most lucid manner. Secrets are inherent in every statement of the Upanishads. If we enquire where secrets are present, it is only in pain and troubles. The Vedas say - There is praśānti (peace) in aśānti (unrest), prakānti (light) in praśānti, param-jyoti (supreme light) in prakānti and Paramātma (God) in prakānti.

Without darkness, there is no value for light. Nobody would value food if hunger did not exist. Without the oppressive heat of summer, why would anyone buy air conditioners? Na Sukhāt Labhate Sukham – Happiness does NOT result from happiness! True tranquility is obtained only through difficulties and troubles. If you spend the entire day in an air-conditioned room, you become desensitised to its comfort. Step outside for two hours and return – You will realise why air conditioners are so desirable! Thus, human life is necessarily a combination of joy and sorrow, profit and loss, heat and cold. Without duality (Dvaita), there is no value for the state of non-duality (Advaita).

Lesser Truth to Higher Truth

Today man is half-blind. How? “A man with dual mind is half-blind!” Today, we perceive a difference between “that” and “this”. “That” is the Ātma. “This” is Tvam, the body. “That” is He, “this” is I. We must experience that He and I are really not separate. We must journey from I to “we”. We feel we need to proceed from untruth to truth. No, no. Our path starts at “lesser truth” and ends at “higher truth”. How? Imagine a full circle.

Pūrṇamadaḥ Pūrṇamidam
Pūrṇāt Pūrṇam Udachyate
Pūrṇasya Pūrṇamādāya
Pūrṇam Evāvaśiṣyate

That is full, this is full,
From the full emerges the full again.
If the full is subtracted from the full,
What remains is full.

Think of a circle. Inside this circle is a smaller circle. Inside it, a still smaller circle. The smallest circle is the body. The middle circle is the mind. The largest circle is the Ātma. The circle of the Ātma is immutable. We must broaden our heart, enlarge the innermost circle… expand, expand, expand, till it becomes the middle circle. That means, merge into the mind. Then, expand the mind, make it vast as an ocean, till it merges into the Ātma. That is when we realise the unity of the body, mind and Ātma.

Another example. You see a wall clock here. It has three hands – the seconds hand, the minutes hand and the hour hand. Which is more important? The hour hand is of no use if the second hand is absent. The minutes hand is equally useless. All three are essential, but the chief hand is the seconds hand. Sixty revolutions of the seconds hand cause once in the minutes hand. Similarly, the hour hand circles once every sixty revolutions of the minutes hand.

Our body is a wall clock. When innumerable good actions are done, our mind is refined slightly, to a purer state. When the mind, in turn, entertains innumerable thoughts of the Divine, the Ātma dawns in it gradually. Therefore, good deeds with the body and good thoughts in the mind are the only means to attain bliss of the Ātma.

Ātma Pervades Everything

In the world, we find three indispensable elements (ādhāra) for existence – earth, sky and light. Water and air are food (āhāra). Without ādhāra and āhāra, nothing can exist. The presence of water and air is evidence of the Ātma. The Ātma is ever present, even in absence of water and air, but they cannot exist without the Ātma. The Ātma is not related to anything in any way. It is described as –

Nirguṇam Nirañjanam Sanātanam Niketanam
Nitya Śuddha Buddha Mukta Nirmala Svarūpiṇam

Attributeless, stainless, eternal, the final abode,
Ever pure, intelligent, free and purity itself.

Everything thrives and survives only on the power of the Ātma. You find fathers without sons, but can you find a son without a father? You find water without fish, but not fish outside of water. Similarly, Ātma exists even without air and water, but these two elements cannot exist without the Ātma. The five elements do not constitute the Ātma, but rather, they are formed and sustained by the Ātma. The five elements are nothing but a manifestation of God’s Divine glory.

To experience Divinity through the five elements with tyāga is true bhoga. Every moment we cannot but experience the five elements. Can we stop breathing? Air is all around, inside and outside us. But it is invisible and intangible. Likewise, God is omnipresent.

Sarvataḥ Pāṇipādam, Tat Sarvato'kṣi Śiro Mukham
Sarvataḥ Śrutimal Loke, Sarvamāvṛtya Tiṣṭati

With hands, feet, face and head everywhere,
Pervading all the worlds, God envelops everything.

Expand Love to Experience God

God is everywhere, but not realised through the senses. Fools demand sensory perception. No, no, God can only be experienced. He is called Aprameya because He is beyond physical measurement. Here is a tumbler full of water. If you mix sugar in it, it dissolves. Where is the sugar? It is at the bottom, top, all over. But you cannot see it or touch it. How do you realise its existence? Place a drop of water on your tongue, and you can taste its sweetness. Therefore, God can be known only through experience, not by physical measurements. Direct experience of God is the bliss obtained from spiritual effort.

Thus, enquire into the Ātma, fix your sights on eternal Bliss, desire only proximity and merger with God and expand your Love. Then the embodiment of Love Himself will awaken in you.

In these hearts barren without Love,
To sprout the seedlings of Love,
Shower nectareous Love
To drench everything,
To make rivers of Love flow,
Compose melodious notes on the flute,

-O Krishna, play a song!

The gopikas prayed, “Krishna! Our hearts are deficient in Love. For Love to sprout, we crave water. What water? The rain of Divine Love.” Words of love are pure, cool rain. Our hearts are fields where this rain produces a harvest. Love is like flowing water, and our Bliss is the fruit of Love. This flow of Bliss leads us into the ocean of Divinity.

When the individual seeks to offer himself into the infinite ocean of Grace, he must tread the path of Love. This is tyāga coupled with bhoga. The bhoga united with tyāga is not bhoga of the body or the mind. It is the bhoga of the Ātma, which is natural to us, not artificial or acquired. It is the bliss of the Ātma. Today anger and hatred are so pervasive that it seems dry grass placed between any two men will catch fire! Therefore, expand your hearts and cultivate Love.

Swami sang “Prem Mudit Man Se Kaho, Rāma Rāma Rām” in His Golden Voice

May 24, 1991