FROM ISA UPANISHAD

From Shukla Yajurveda-believed to be ritualistic but really not-

 

ON CHANGE IN THIS UNCHANGING WORLD

It is like a movie projected on a screen. The movie changes but the screen is constant. Similarly the phenomenal world is projected on the lord.

 

TO SHOW IT IS A SUPERIMPOSITION-About change

It is like seeing a snake superimposed on a rope in a dark night. The snake has no independent existence. It exists because of the rope and it ceases to exist as soon as a light is brought. The snake then dissolves into the rope. In the same way, when you know Brahman, the world merges into it and you realise that you and Brahman are one and the same.

 

THINGS ARE TEMPORARY NOT PERMANENT

Take for example a piece of sandalwood which has long been under water and thereby has come to acquire bad odour. For a while the fragrance of the sandalwood is suppressed and the bad odour prevails. But when the sandalwood is rubbed a little the bad odour disappears and the natural fragrance becomes predominant/comes to the fore. Similarly your attachment to the world is temporary.

 

TO DESCRIBE THE ATTRIBUTES OF BRAHMAN

In one aspect it is without attributes (Nirguna). In another it is without attributes (Saguna). This is like a child wearing a mask. The attributes are mere superimposition. They cannot affect Brahman.

 

BRAHMAN NEVER MOVES NEVER CHANGES

Sometimes we see the moon move behind some clouds, but actually the moon does not move. It is the clouds that are moving. In the same way, Brahman, is always the same. It is never born, it never dies. We wear a new coat and when it gets old and torn we throw it away. This is the relationship the coat has with the body. The same relationship the body has with the self.