Talk:Commentary on Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad: The Temporary and the Permanent
By Vishal Agarwal
Context Some may be inclined to dismiss the material world and its objects as insignificant or unworthy of attention. The following triad of mantras explains that although created material objects are indeed temporary, they are nevertheless indispensable for embodied existence. When used in accordance with dharm, they can serve as aids on the path to mokṣa. However, ultimate liberation arises only from absorption in the uncreated and eternal root cause of the universe, namely Brahman.
Mantra 12 अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिमुपासते । ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्यां रताः ॥
Translation Into blinding darkness they enter who are absorbed in the created effects. Into still greater darkness they surely enter who are absorbed in the Origin or Cause alone. Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad 12
Mantra 13 अन्यदेवाहुः सम्भवादन्यदाहुरसम्भवात् । इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥
Translation Different indeed, they say, is the result of absorption in the Origin or Cause, and different, they say, is the result of absorption in the created effects. Thus we have heard from the wise ones who explained this clearly to us. Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad 13
Mantra 14
सम्भूतिं च विनाशं च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह । विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्यामृतमश्नुते ॥
Translation
He who knows both the Origin or Cause and the destruction, taken together, transcends death through the perishable and attains immortality through the Root Cause. Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad 14
Purport
Whatever is created inevitably perishes, whereas that which is uncreated is eternal. All material objects, together with the sensations they produce, including the human body itself, belong to the realm of creation. They are born, they undergo transformation, they wear out, and they ultimately perish. Only Brahman and the ātmā are unchanging and permanent. They constitute the root cause or seed of the entire creation, for without them nothing can endure.
The first mantra of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad employs the term Jagat, a concept that contrasts the eternal and unchanging nature of the Lord with the non eternal and ever changing character of the universe. The word Jagat literally signifies that which is constantly moving or changing. At every instant, material objects undergo transformation, even when such change is imperceptible to the senses. The human body likewise changes continuously at both gross and subtle levels. What remains constant is the ātmā within. The universe itself is subject to change and eventual dissolution. Hence one should not become excessively attached to Jagat, but should instead direct greater attention to that which is permanent. This teaching recurs throughout Hindu scripture.
Contact with the objects of the senses gives rise to sensations of cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and do not endure. Therefore, O Bhārata, endure them with forbearance.
Bhagavad Gītā 2.14
Of the unreal there is no coming into being, and of the real there is no cessation of being. The truth about both has been seen by those who perceive reality.
Bhagavad Gītā 2.16
Apart from the conscious principle, there exists no collection of things anywhere or at any time. Thus have I taught you the truth of existence, that the conscious entity alone is real and all else is unreal.
Viṣṇu Purāṇa 2.12.43
In the Mahābhārata, the ascetic Sulabhā addresses King Janaka with the following insight.
In the bodies of all creatures there exist diverse constituents for the fulfillment of different purposes. Their forms change at every moment, but the change is not perceived because it is extremely subtle.
Mahābhārata 12.320.122
This understanding does not imply that the material world or the body should be neglected. On the contrary, all spiritual disciplines employ them as instruments for progress towards mokṣa. Meditation involves bodily postures, regulation of breath, withdrawal of the senses, and the disciplined use of the mind. Devotion involves emotions, which are modifications of the mind. All such disciplines require the appropriate and careful use of material instruments, including the body and the mind. Hence one should maintain purity and health in one’s surroundings and in one’s body. Yet this alone is insufficient. Attainment of mokṣa requires devotion to Brahman without neglecting physical and mental well being.
In the same manner, relationships and worldly pleasures are created and therefore temporary. They possess a beginning and an end. Nevertheless, in the pursuit of Brahman, the cause of the universe and the sole Reality, one should not entirely reject relationships or the enjoyment of worldly pleasures. The teaching of these mantras is that the pursuit of Brahman and engagement with temporary relationships, pleasures, and bodily and mental needs must be aligned and mutually supportive rather than conflicting. Even while remaining engaged in the world, one should endeavour to make some progress towards mokṣa each day.
Gradually, one ought to shift emphasis from exclusive involvement in the world to increasing absorption in the Divine, thereby making full use of the rare opportunity of human life. Just as a land without toys for children is impoverished, but a land where adults never outgrow childhood toys is even more unfortunate, so too human life demands a transition from transient pursuits to higher and enduring goals. Balance in daily activities such as eating, recreation, and rest is essential even for spiritual progress, as taught in the Bhagavad Gītā.
Indeed, yog is not for one who eats excessively, nor for one who abstains excessively from eating. It is not for one who sleeps too much, nor for one who remains awake excessively, O Arjuna.
Bhagavad Gītā 6.16
For one whose eating and recreation are regulated, whose actions are disciplined, and whose sleep and waking are balanced, yog becomes the destroyer of sorrow.
Bhagavad Gītā 6.17
Notes on Saṃbhūti and Asaṃbhūti (Mantras 12–14)
Analogous to the preceding triad of mantras dealing with Vidyā and Avidyā, the present triad employs the pair Saṃbhūti and Asaṃbhūti. Here Asaṃbhūti is not the negation or opposite of Saṃbhūti, but that which is different from Saṃbhūti. This is made explicit in the third mantra of the triad, where Asaṃbhūti is replaced by the term Vināśa, meaning destruction or perishability. This substitution indicates that Asaṃbhūti denotes that which is perishable.
Both Saṃbhūti and Asaṃbhūti are rare terms in Vedic literature, making their precise interpretation difficult. A relatively late Upaniṣadic passage employs the term Saṃbhūti in the following manner.
सभं तूत् वै यासु नादो वायोस्तप उच्यते ।
The Saṃbhūti, or origin, of sound, namely the unstruck sound, from Vāyu is said to be the tapas of the heart.
Kuṇḍikā Upaniṣad 21
More illuminating usages occur in the ancient Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa of the Sāmaveda. In one passage, Prajāpati is described as sixteenfold, and Saṃbhūti is mentioned as one of these aspects, though its meaning is not immediately clarified. This ambiguity is resolved later in the same section, where Saṃbhūti is explicitly identified as Prajāpati’s seed, retas, from which beings are born. Elsewhere, Prāṇa is designated as Saṃbhūti, with the explanation that through the Prāṇas, offspring and animals come into existence. In another passage, the Prāṇas are described as the Saṃbhūti of human beings.
From these occurrences, it becomes clear that Saṃbhūti denotes the cause, origin, or seed from which beings arise. Hindu tradition consistently teaches that the uncreated and underlying cause exists eternally, while all effects or manifestations that arise from it are temporary and eventually perish, merging back into their cause, which is Brahman. At the individual level, the ātmā alone is Saṃbhūti, permanently existing, whereas the body that it animates is temporary. Likewise, relationships based on the body and the pleasures enjoyed through it are impermanent.
Traditional and modern commentators have offered varying interpretations of these two terms. Without entering into an extended survey of these views, one concise definition offered by a contemporary teacher may be noted. According to this explanation, Saṃbhūti signifies svatantra sambhava, that which has independent origin. God alone is Saṃbhūti, since He is the cause of all causes and does not derive His existence from anything else. Asaṃbhūti, by contrast, signifies that which is not of independent origin. All beings and objects in the material world are Asaṃbhūti, having come into existence from God, who is the original source of everything.
Accordingly, worship of Asaṃbhūti, described as Asaṃbhūti upāsanā, means attachment of the mind to created beings and objects of the world. This includes celestial beings, ancestors, human beings, spirits, and material objects. The teaching of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad is not that such engagement should be rejected outright, but that exclusive absorption in Asaṃbhūti, to the neglect of Saṃbhūti, leads to bondage. Liberation arises only when engagement with the perishable is properly subordinated to knowledge and devotion directed towards the imperishable cause, Brahman.
Illustrations on the Temporary and the Permanent
Story: The Temporary Nature of the Human Body
Under Bhagavad Gītā 11.27, Madhvācārya cites a story from the Purāṇas concerning King Purūravas and the Aśvinī Kumāras to illustrate the fleeting nature of the human body. Purūravas was exceedingly proud of his physical beauty and devoted great attention to maintaining his handsome appearance. Once, the Aśvinī Kumāras, the twin Devas renowned for their own radiant beauty, paid him a visit.
Eager to present himself at his best before the arriving Devas, the King hastily applied ointments and lotions to his face. Observing his obsession with outward appearance, the Aśvinī Kumāras smiled and remarked that although he might conceal wrinkles from ordinary sight, they, as Devas, could perceive the minute transformations occurring in his body at every moment. Their words conveyed that the human body is in a state of constant change and decay, however carefully one may attempt to preserve it, and that pride founded upon physical form is therefore misplaced.
Story: The Buddha Feeds His Student Once, the Buddha perceived through his insight that in the village of Ālāvī there lived a poor farmer who alone was capable of fully understanding his teaching. He therefore went to that village with the intention of instructing him. When the villagers heard that the Buddha was arriving, they gathered joyfully at the entrance of the village to welcome him.
The farmer, however, was unable to attend the welcome because he was working in his fields. After completing his work, he hurried home intending to eat quickly and then go to hear the Buddha. On reaching home, his wife informed him that their only cow had wandered away. Being dependent upon that cow for survival, the farmer resolved to search for it first and then, after meeting the Buddha, return to eat his meal.
Meanwhile, the villagers assembled around the Buddha and requested him to deliver a sermon. Not seeing the farmer among them, the Buddha chose to rest instead. The farmer searched throughout the village late into the night and eventually came upon the hut where the Buddha was staying. On seeing the Buddha emerge, he fell at his feet and apologised for his absence, explaining that he had been delayed while searching for his lost cow.
The Buddha smiled gently and told him that the cow was behind the hut, but instructed him first to eat some food. Some of the Buddha’s disciples mocked the farmer, suggesting that he had come merely for free food, having neither welcomed the Buddha nor attended the sermon. The Buddha rebuked them, explaining that the farmer was hungry and that a person distressed by hunger could not grasp spiritual teaching. He therefore fed the farmer with kindness.
Once the farmer was nourished and at ease, the Buddha instructed him in dharm. As the Buddha had foreseen, the farmer understood the teaching immediately, and by the end of that night he had attained the first stage of enlightenment. Thereafter, he indeed found his cow behind the Buddha’s hut.
These two illustrations together affirm that while the human body and its conditions are temporary and ever changing, they must nevertheless be cared for appropriately. Spiritual progress requires neither neglect of the body nor attachment to it, but a balanced understanding of its impermanent nature and its role as an instrument for attaining higher wisdom.
Story: The Human Condition and the Little Pleasures of Life
In the Mahābhārata, Vidura narrates the following parable to Dhṛtarāṣṭra in order to explain the human condition. The story conveys that although life is surrounded by dangers, pressures, and uncertainties, small and moderate pleasures enable human beings to preserve their mental balance and continue forward.
Once, a Brāhmaṇa found himself lost in a vast and dense forest inhabited by ferocious beasts such as lions and tigers. The forest was also infested with poisonous snakes. Overcome with fear, he ran about desperately in search of refuge. In the course of his wandering, he fell into a deep pit whose opening was concealed by trees, creepers, and thick vegetation. Before he could hit the ground, his fall was arrested midway by branches and creepers, leaving him suspended upside down, with his head pointing downward and his feet upward.
From this precarious position, the Brāhmaṇa saw a large venomous serpent coiled at the bottom of the pit. Above him, he noticed a huge elephant approaching the mouth of the pit. At the same time, black and white mice were gnawing at the creepers and branches that supported his body. Above his head hung a beehive, around which bees hovered continuously. Drops of honey began to fall from the hive onto his head. The Brāhmaṇa turned his face slightly and tasted the honey, drinking the drops that fell upon him, even while fully aware of the imminent dangers surrounding him.
Despite the elephant above, the serpent below, the bees around him, and the mice gradually destroying his support, the Brāhmaṇa continued to savour the drops of honey. Vidura explains that human life is similarly beset with anxieties, competing responsibilities, and inevitable suffering. Yet, within these constraints, small and measured enjoyments of life sustain mental equilibrium and preserve the will to persevere. Such pleasures, when pursued within the bounds of dharm, do not obstruct spiritual growth but rather help individuals endure the challenges of worldly existence.
Story: The Eighteenth Horse This parable illustrates why engagement with the world in a constructive manner is essential for spiritual progress. Once, an old man who owned a ranch and seventeen horses lay on his deathbed. He summoned his three sons and instructed them that after his death they were to divide his land, house, and possessions equally among themselves, but that the horses were to be divided in a specific manner. He declared that half of the horses should go to the eldest son, one third to the middle son, and one sixth to the youngest son. He added that none of the horses were to be cut or sold. Shortly thereafter, the old man passed away.
The sons divided the land and other possessions without difficulty. When something could not be divided, they sold it and shared the proceeds equally. However, they were unable to divide the seventeen horses according to their father’s instructions, since the number could not be evenly apportioned in the prescribed ratios. Perplexed, they sought the counsel of Kṛṣṇa, renowned for his wisdom.
Kṛṣṇa listened to their problem and offered to lend them one of his own horses. With the additional horse, the total number became eighteen. The division was then carried out with ease. The eldest son received nine horses, the middle son received six, and the youngest son received two. When the horses were counted, it was found that the total given to the three sons was exactly seventeen, leaving one horse remaining. This horse was returned to Kṛṣṇa.
The teaching of this parable is that Bhagavān has created the universe as a field in which the ātmās may pursue knowledge, spiritual growth, and the four aims of human life, namely dharm, artha, kāma, and mokṣa. Without the universe, the ātmās would lack the necessary conditions for this pursuit. Just as complex calculations become effortless when aided by appropriate instruments, so too the ātmā advances more efficiently towards its goals when it employs the universe wisely and in harmony with dharm.
The Lame and the Blind Couple: Prakṛti and Puruṣa
In the Sāṃkhya Darśana, the relationship between the Jīvātmā and Prakṛti is illustrated through the well known analogy of a lame man and a blind man. The Jīvātmā, identified with Puruṣa, is likened to a crippled man who possesses vision but lacks the capacity to move by himself. Prakṛti, or material nature, is compared to a blind man who has the strength to walk but lacks sight and therefore does not know where to go.
According to this analogy, the crippled man mounts the shoulders of the blind man and guides him by indicating the direction. In this manner, the blind man provides mobility while the crippled man provides direction, and together they are able to reach the desired destination. In the same way, the Jīvātmā employs Prakṛti and its products, namely the body, senses, and mind, as instruments to move through the world and ultimately attain mokṣa, which it cannot reach independently without embodiment.
Vedānta Darśana accepts this illustration in principle but introduces an important refinement. It points out that unlike the blind man in the analogy, who is himself a living being with a destination to reach, Prakṛti is entirely inert and non conscious. Prakṛti has no aspiration, intention, or goal of its own. It does not seek liberation and does not benefit from the attainment of mokṣa. Only the Puruṣa, the conscious Jīvātmā, aspires for liberation.
Accordingly, Vedānta maintains that the relationship is not one of mutual cooperation between two seekers, as suggested in Sāṃkhya, but rather one of instrumentality. Prakṛti functions merely as a means or ladder employed by the Puruṣa to ascend towards its own goal. Once mokṣa is attained, Prakṛti has fulfilled its role and has no further purpose for the liberated Jīvātmā.