Ya eso'ntar-hṛdaya ᾱkᾱśaḥ: Here, in this little ether of ours is the Ruler of all, the great Master of beings, the great Creator, Preserver, Destroyer. The God of the universe is seated in the little heart of the human being also. Tasmin śete, sarvasya vaśī: 'The great Controller, who keeps everything under subjection and to whom everyone is obedient, including the sun, moon, stars and all creation; sarvasyeśānaḥ - the Master and the Ruler of all; sarvasyādhipatiḥ - the Overlord of all beings is within each one's heart.' You carry this great treasure within yourself and yet walk like a fool, like a beggar on the earth. This is a great message of the Upaniṣhad, very useful for deep meditation.

Sa na sᾱdhunᾱ karmaṇᾱ bhῡyᾱn: 'This great Being within you is not going to be affected either by your good deeds or by your bad deeds.' It is unconcerned with what you do or what you think, just as the activities in this world are not going to affect the space, or the ether outside. Neither the fragrance of a scented stick nor the sharp edge of a knife are going to affect space. It is unconcerned with what is happening within it. Likewise, what you call virtue is not going to affect this great Being within. What you call evil, too, is not going to affect it, because 'it is uncontaminated Existence' - sa na sᾱdhunᾱ karmaṇᾱ bhῡyᾱn no evᾱsᾱdhunᾱ kanīyᾱn. Eṣa sarveśvaraḥ: 'This is the Overlord of all.' Esa bhutadhipatih: 'This is the king of all.' Eṣa bhῡtapᾱlaḥ: 'This is the Protector of all.'

Eṣa setur vidharaṇa eṣᾱṁ lokᾱnᾱm asambhedᾱya: 'This is like a bank or a bridge, as it were, to connect every apparent diversity in this creation.' The so-called diversity of things would have caused them to be scattered like particles of sand, hither and thither, without any interconnectedness among themselves but for the fact of the existence of this connecting link. How is it that you know that there is diversity? How can I be aware that many people are sitting in front of me if my consciousness is segregated? It is not segregated. It is indivisible. If I am also one of you, if my consciousness is just one particle, one individuality, I would not be able to even apprehend the existence of diversity. The consciousness of intelligence that apprehends a multitude or a variety is transcendent to this multitude. It is more comprehensive than the variety that is presented before it as objects. My consciousness should be as vast as this hall, otherwise I cannot know that the hall exists. My consciousness should be as vast as this entire space, otherwise I cannot know that space exists. My consciousness should be at least as extensive and expansive and comprehensive as the object that I apprehend with my mind. Otherwise, how is it possible for the mind to apprehend it? So, by inference in this manner, you can know your own greatness. You are not a little, tiny, insignificant person. You are a great being with tremendous capacity, and a huge maxim of force is hidden there in the hearts of you all. This Being is the connecting link behind all apparent diversity. The sun, the moon and the stars, and the variety of objects that are visible in this world, are all apprehended by this single Being. The system, the symmetry of action, the justice of creation, the methodology of action and the precision with which everything works in this world, is due to the fact of this Total Being bringing all of them together under its compass - Eṣa setur vidharaṇa eṣᾱṁ lokᾱnᾱm asambhedᾱya. If it were not to be there, the world would collapse in one second, just as when the government is not there, people fight among themselves. There would be chaos in one day. There would be a chaotic universe and it will not anymore be fit to be called a universe. It will be only a confusion, a mass, a medley of unknowable diversities. This does not happen on account of the existence of this Being who is indivisible. The indivisibility of the existence of this Being is the cause of the symmetrical existence and the precise activity of the diversity that is visible outside.

Tam etaṁ vedᾱnuvacanena brᾱhmaṇᾱ vividiṣanti: tam etaṁ vedᾱnuvacanena brᾱhmaṇᾱ vividiṣanti,: You cannot know this by mere reasoning also. There are many people who can argue, but they cannot understand, because the argument also has to be based on right premises. It should not be based on false premises. Logic is good if it is based on a proper foundation; otherwise, it becomes a dangerous weapon. You can establish anything through logic. You can prove and disprove, either way. It becomes a help only when it is based on right apprehension of premises that are acceptable. Now, this is a difficult task for the senses because they do not know what is proper, and they cannot have even the least idea of the right foundation or the right premise for the purpose of argument in the line of the assessment of the nature of Reality. Vedas are the true guide. They include the Upaniṣhads, also. They are supposed to be revelations of Masters who had direct experience of Reality. Tam etaṁ vedᾱnuvacanena brᾱhmaṇᾱ vividiṣanti: 'All seekers have tried to apprehend this Reality through the word of the Veda.' The Divine Word is the gospel to be followed, because it comprehends and describes such Truths as cannot be grasped through the senses or gross mind. The practice for the realisation of this Being is put in three small terms - yajñena, dānena, tapasānāśkena.

Yajña, Dana, Tapas - these three are the terms used in the Upaniṣhad. They also occur in the Bhagavadgītā. 'Yajño dānam tapas cai va pāvanāni maniṣinām', says Bhagavan Sri Kriṣhna in the Eighteenth Chapter of the Bhagavadgītā. 'You can renounce any other action, but you cannot renounce these three actions - Yajña, Dāna and Tapas.' Here the Upaniṣhad also says: 'By Yajña, Dāna and Tapas It has to be known.' Yajña is, in some way we may say, the duty that we have towards God. Dāna is the duty that we have towards the world and Tapas is the duty that we have towards our own selves. Yajña is the sacrifice of the self for the purpose of the realisation of the Absolute. Dāna is the charitable feeling that we have towards the people outside in the world, and Tapas is the austerity of the senses which has to be performed for our own selves in order to subjugate the passions which urge us to move towards the objects of sense. So service of God, world and soul are all three comprehended here in one gamut of expression by the terms Yajña, Dāna and Tapas. Ānāśkena: A peculiarly difficult word is used here, ānāśaka, which perhaps indicates that the 'practice should be moderate and should not go to extremes of starvation and death'. You may at times practise such austerities that you may even kill yourself. Of what use is that? That is not the intention of the scripture; that is not the intention of the teacher. There should be a moderate approach to Reality, and the practice should be a golden means, not an extreme of any kind. 'There should be moderate activity, moderate enjoyment and moderate subjugation of the senses, ultimately ending in complete mastery' - yajñena, dānena, tapasānāśkena.

Etam eva viditvᾱ munir bhavati: 'Having known this Supreme Being in this manner, by such practice meticulously conducted every day in one's own life, one becomes a sage, or a Master. You become a Yogin.' You become a great sage. A Muni is a sage. Etam eva pravrᾱjino lokam icchantaḥ pravrajanti: 'Renunciates set aside all their attachments because of their aspiration for this great Being.' You must have heard of various types of monks and various orders of hermits in this world. Hermits exist in every religion. The order of hermits is indicative of a higher aspiration that is present in people. Why do they set aside their attachments? Why do they renounce things? Why do people become monks and nuns? Why do they go to monasteries? What is the reason behind all this? The reason is simple. The reason is an aspiration within to catch the Highest, and to achieve a freedom far above the clamour of attractions and repulsions of this world. For the purpose of the realisation of this great goal of life, people renounce things belonging to this world - etam eva pravrājino lokam icchantaḥ pravrajanti.

Etadd ha sma vai tat pῡrve vidvᾱṁsaḥ prajᾱṁ na kᾱmayante: 'Because of this great aspiration within, ancient seekers renounced their attachments to the temporal values of this life.' There are many interesting things in this world, many things that attract us, many things that we regard as worthwhile. Great things do exist in this world also, but they are not great in comparison with this great Being. So, desire for even the highest values in this world are set aside, are renounced, are relinquished for the purpose of a greater achievement which is the realisation of Brahman, the Absolute. They had neither desire for children nor desire for wealth nor desire for fame. These are the three great desires of man. They renounced all these three for the sake of the achievement of a higher purpose - vidvᾱṁsaḥ prajᾱṁ na kᾱmayante.

Kiṁ prajayᾱ kariṣyᾱmaḥ: 'What is the use of these acquirements which you call wealth and progeny, name and fame?' That which we can attain through these instruments of satisfaction, we can attain also through that which we ourselves are. We do not anymore require external instruments for our satisfaction. We ourselves are the instruments. We require external aids or tools for satisfaction as long as we act as agents or remain as independent individual subjects separated from the objects that we are asking for or looking for in this world. But, when we have become something which is superior to this dualistic existence of subject-object relationship in this world; when we have become the comprehensive Ātman itself; when the object of aspiration has become part and parcel of our own daily life, why should we struggle hard to acquire these objects of sense? The senses ask for objects because they are outside the senses. They are unreachable by ordinary grasp, but if by an indescribable and an extraordinary type of practice one has succeeded in assimilating the existence of the object into one's own being, where comes the desire of the senses to grab them? Knowing this they renounced all longing for these temporal motives in life, keeping alive their desire for the realisation of the Self - kiṁ prajayᾱ kariṣyᾱmaḥ.

Yeṣᾱṁ no'yam ᾱtmᾱyaṁ loka iti: 'This world is a part and parcel of our life.' We do not live in the world anymore; we have become the world itself. It becomes a great satisfaction for one to know that the world has become an inseparable appendage of one's own existence. When we think, we think through the world; when we act, we act through the world; when we breathe, we breathe through the world. And so, the world that we are seeking through the activities of the senses has become inseparable from our existence, because the world has become the Self. Up to this time the self was only an individual subject that was running after the objects of the world. But now what has happened? The cart has turned upside down. The tables have turned. The object is not anymore a mere content in the world that is external to the individual subject. It is not a target of the senses anymore. That which was looked upon as a source of satisfaction to the senses has now become his very own, inseparable from his very existence. When such a realisation has come, where comes the occasion for ordinary desires?

23. tad eṣa ṛcᾱbhyuktam:
    eṣa nityo mahimᾱ brᾱhmaṇasya na vardhate karmaṇᾱ no kanīyᾱn
    tasyaiva syᾱt pada-vit, taṁ viditvᾱ na lipyate karmaṇᾱ pᾱpakena,
    iti tasmᾱd evaṁ-vit, śᾱnto dᾱnta uparatas titikṣuḥ samᾱhito bhῡtvᾱ,
    atmany evᾱtmᾱnam paśyati, sarvam ᾱtmᾱnam paśyati;
    nainam pᾱpmᾱ tarati, sarvam pᾱpmᾱnaṁ tarati;
    nainam pᾱpmᾱ tapati, sarvam pᾱpmᾱnaṁ tapati;
    vipᾱpo virajo’vicikitso brᾱhmaṇo bhavati; eṣa brahma-lokaḥ, samrᾱt;
    enam prᾱpitō’si iti hovᾱca yajñavalkyaḥ;
    so’ham bhagavate videhᾱn  dadᾱmi, mᾱṁ cᾱpi saha dᾱsyᾱyeti.

Tad eṣa ṛcᾱbhyuktam: eṣa nityo mahimᾱ brᾱhmaṇasya na vardhate karmaṇᾱ no kanīyᾱn: 'The greatness of the knower of Brahman does not increase or decrease by action done or action not done.' The question of good action or bad action does not arise in his case, just as there is no such thing as good and bad in nature as such. To the universe, there is neither good nor bad. And also to God, there is neither good nor bad. Anything that is directly or indirectly connected with the Supreme Being we think is good, and anything that falls short of this ideal we regard as erroneous. Now, the question of goodness and badness arises on account of the extent of self-affirmation involved in one's personal life. The greater the self-affirmation and body-consciousness, the greater the assertion of individuality; the greater the appropriation of meaning to oneself exclusive of the existence of other people, the greater the selfishness of existence characterised by what is called bad. And anything else which is morally bad, ethically bad, socially bad, communally bad, or politically bad follows automatically as a corollary from this central evil which is self-affirmation. All other evils are offspring of this self-assertion, meaning the affirmation of the ego as an exclusive principle, independent of connection with other individuals. Now, this sort of affirmation is abolished when knowledge of the Absolute dawns. There is affirmation, no doubt, but a universal affirmation. If you call it the ego, it is universal ego. There is a humorous anecdote in this connection. It appears, one of the disciples of Achārya Śankara came after bathing, but Śankara was inside the room and the door was bolted. The disciple knocked at the door, whereon Śankara asked from inside, "Who is there?" "I" was the answer. "Oh, either expand it to infinity or reduce it to zero," was the retort of Śankara from inside. This 'I', either expanded to infinity or reduced to zero, is good. But it should not be left midway. The essential trouble with all human beings, the trouble with every created being, is this mid-positioning of the ego.