The Hindu : Miscellaneous / Religion : Stages of progress

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Thursday, Jul 07, 2005

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Miscellaneous - Religion

Stages of progress

CHENNAI: : The Isavasya Upanishad, named after its opening verse, is a brief yet profound Upanishad belonging to the Yajur Veda. It covers the important concepts of Vedanta in 18 verses and can be divided into four sections according to the treatment of the topics discussed in it. The first verse describes the path of knowledge (Jnana yoga), the second the path of action (Karma yoga) and the remaining verses elaborate these bringing in all the important philosophical concepts.

The first verse, "By the Lord is encompassed all this, whatsoever changing there is in this changing world. Through renunciation of that (world) may you enjoy; covet not anyone's riches," gives the quintessence of Vedanta and hence is an oft-quoted verse in the spiritual tradition.

In her discourse, Swamini Satyavratananda said, as man's senses were turned outward, he was familiar only with the material world and so the scriptures first implored man to include God in his engagement in worldly life. Then the Upanishad gives the vision of God as the truth when the spiritual seeker becomes more mature. The final stage is enabling the seeker to transcend duality by gaining the vision of the Absolute in all. The example of an ornament made of gold illustrates these progressive stages in vision, which unfolds in the Upanishad. First, one sees the ornament only as a ring, chain or bangle and then as made of gold. But essentially all of them (diversity) are just gold (one) with different names and forms and this is the vision of the Vedanta. So in spiritual evolution there is transcendence— from diversity (name and form) to unity of the Reality.

The scriptures first tell a beginner to do good actions and then to include worship of God; finally worship takes the centre stage. This is to emphasise that even actions done for the sake of welfare of others— as service— do not enable one to evolve spiritually until the seeker develops the outlook that he is serving for the sake of God. This will rid the mind of ego, which is essential to progress on the spiritual path to the level when he can renounce action and engage totally in worship of God through meditation. One may wonder why the Upanishad deals with both the paths of action and knowledge. It is to benefit both the initiate and the advanced spiritual aspirant.

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