Purnam adah, purnam idam, purnat purnam udachyate, purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate (Isa. Invocation): The eternal Wholeness, which is God's Existence, manifests His Wholeness which is this creation. This creation is very vast. It looks infinite. This infinite creation has come out from the infinite, timeless Eternity which is God. That is the meaning of purnam adah, purnam idam: "That is the infinite, this also is the infinite." Mathematically there cannot be two infinites and, therefore, the coming out of one infinite from another infinite is to be understood in its proper sense. When this infinite comes out from the infinite, there is no diminution in the infinitude of that infinite. It remains nevertheless the same infinite. Purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate: Having taken the infinite from the infinite, the infinite always remains without any kind of lessening of its quantum.

If God was totally outside the world of creation and you were part of the creation, there would be no ladder or link between the world and God; there being no linkage between you and God's Existence; there would be no propriety in even attempting to attain God. But, this world is a revelation of God. He Himself appears as this world. This is the reason why through this world you can attain God. Even the littlest material in this world can act as a ladder to climb to the pedestal of God's Existence. There is no atom in the cosmos where God's eternal Soul is not present. Here, just now, you can enter into God without moving anywhere else because of the pervasion of God in all creation, even in the littlest atom. So this creation in which you are also included, being pervaded by God Almighty, cannot stand outside Him. And your concept of God - as the creator of the world - should require proper educational discipline, in case you have the wrong notion that God is far away and He exists as a creator of the world at a distance. This is the fourth instruction that we can gather.

The Isavasya Upanishad is pregnant with many other wise sayings, all of which we will bypass for the time being. It is enough if you know these four instructions: 1) God envelops the whole cosmos. 2) It is incumbent on the part of every individual to perform duty. 3) Knowledge and action are always in a state of harmony. 4) There is also harmony between God and the universe.

I shall briefly cover the theme of the Kena Upanishad, which has a very interesting anecdote. The anecdote is attached to the teaching of the Kena Upanishad. You will be highly pleased to hear the story and also to know where you stand in this world of creation. We always say that we do things. "I have tilled this land; I have planted this tree; I have won victory in war" - do we not say that? Are we justified in making such statements: "I have done this and that"?

It appears that in the heavens there was a battle between the gods and the demons of yore, and the demons were overthrown. The gods won victory and patted themselves on their backs and exclaimed, "Oh, we have won victory! Oh, we have won victory! Oh, we have won victory!"

The Great Being, God Almighty, thought, "These fellows, these gods, are thinking that they have won the victory and all the strength comes from them. Let me teach them a lesson."

This Great Being appeared as some frightening spectre and sat on the top of a tree, near the abode of the gods. The gods just beheld it. "What is this peculiarly structured spectre?" they wondered.

All the gods went to Indra and said, "Sir, something frightening is sitting on the top of a tree."

Indra called one of his emissaries, the god Agni, and said, "Go and find out what it is."

Agni is the god of fire - what power! The whole earth, everything he can burn to ashes. Agni went and looked at this spectre, and It asked, "Who are you?"

"I am Agni, the god of fire."

"Oh, I see. What can you do?"

"I can burn anything to ashes. The whole earth I can reduce to ashes," replied Agni.

"I see," said the spectre. It placed a little piece of grass in front of Agni and said, "Burn this."

It was an insult to Agni. "You are asking me to burn a piece of grass!"

Agni ran with great speed to burn it to ashes, but he could not even move it, let alone burn it. He tried again and again, and he failed in the attempt to burn the blade of grass though he had the strength to burn the whole earth. He could not understand what had happened. He went back and told Indra, "I cannot understand who it is. Send another person." He did not say he was defeated. He only said, "I do not understand."

Then Indra sent Vayu, the god of wind.

"Go and find out what is the matter," Indra told Vayu.

Vayu went and the spectre asked, "Who are you?"

"I am the wind god," Vayu replied.

"What can you do?" asked the spectre.

"I can blow away the whole earth," said Vayu.

"Now, blow away this," the spectre said, and it put a little blade of grass in front of Vayu.

Vayu was insulted. "You ask me to blow a blade of grass!" And Vayu blew, but nothing happened. The grass would not move. He was also defeated, and returned to Indra.

Vayu told Indra, "I do not understand anything. You can go yourself and find out."

When Indra went, the spectre vanished. The Upanishad does not clearly tell us why it vanished when Indra went, when it was visible to the other two gods. Anyway, there are lots of commentaries explaining why it happened in that manner. It is not very important for us. When Indra went, what he saw was not the spectre, but something else. Uma-Haimavati was visible there. The Devi - Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Uma-Haimavati, the Shakti of the universe, the Power of the cosmos, God's Energy - was there in the form of a divine enchanting medium and told Indra, "What you saw was the Supreme Creator Himself. You were under the impression - very, very wrong indeed, Indra - that you won victory over the demons, these rakshasas. What strength do you have? You cannot lift even a blade of grass. All the strength came from that Being. He was operating through you, and you felt that you did the work. In order to subdue your ego, the Creator came in this form and taught you a lesson." Having said this, Uma Haimavati vanished from that place.

We also have such instances in the case of the relationship between Sri Krishna and Arjuna. We know the power of Arjuna. Nobody could stand before him. He could stun anybody who stood in the way. When he took up his Gandiva bow and his arrows, the earth trembled under him. But when Krishna departed from this world, Arjuna could not even lift a stick, let alone the Gandiva bow. Sri Krishna was within him as the energising universality and did all the work, though Arjuna acted as an instrument. When the power was withdrawn because the purpose of the manifestation of the power in that manner had been achieved, Arjuna became an ordinary mortal, so poor and helpless that even a shepherd could drive him away.

We should not be proud. None of us should be proud. Arrogance often leads one to say to another, "What do you think you are? Come over here!" You should not speak like that. Everybody knows what kind of person you are. Why do you parade your ignorance? Go and tell the elephant standing in front, "What do you think you are?" Go and touch it and see! Ego is an abomination. It is the worst evil in this world. Ego is the Satan who rebelled against God, asserted independence and said: "The entire kingdom is mine. And God, You mind Your business!" Whoever rebels against God is ego, and if you assert your individuality, you are rebelling against God that very moment. As there is only One Being in the universe, how can there be another being - Mr. So-and-so being? This is not possible. Therefore, every act of yours with the consciousness of your doing something is a rebellion against God, which is very dangerous and unbecoming on your part. You have to be humble.

Trinad api sunicena taror api shisnuna amanina manadena kirtaniya sada harih (Siksastaka 3), says Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: "You are not fit even to take the name of God if you have egoism in your nature. Humbler than a blade of grass on which anybody can tread, more tolerant than a tree whose branches anybody can chop off, giving respect to others and expecting no respect from other people - such a person is fit to chant the name of Hari, the Great Being." You cannot proudly chant the name of God and say you are doing kirtan. That serves no purpose. You will be surprised that every action of yours is finally a manifestation of your ego, either covertly or overtly. Sometimes you purposely manifest your ego and project your pride, knowing that it is so. Sometimes, unconsciously, you pat yourself on your back.

Who is seeing? Who is hearing? That question is raised by the Kena Upanishad in the beginning itself. You may be thinking that the eyes are seeing, the ears are hearing and the nose is smelling. Nothing of the kind is taking place. The Smeller is somebody else. If the eyes are seeing, a corpse also can see, because the corpse has eyeballs. No function or sensation is possible when life is withdrawn, as you know very well. The life force is the pervasion of psychic power in your personality. If the mind is withdrawn, the energy will also not be operating in the manner required, as the mind, the psychic power, is nothing but the power of the Soul.

The Cosmic Soul, operating through the individual soul, energises the buddhi, or the intellect, through which it is reflected as knowledge and understanding. Secondly, it is reflected through the mind and, thirdly, it is reflected through the energy, or the prana. Fourthly, it is reflected through the body, and you feel as if you are alive. The body - which is nothing but a corpse, lifeless in its nature basically, composed of five elements, earth, water, fire, air and ether - appears to be living, grand and beautiful because of a portion of the life of the Soul, or the Self, which is revealed through this personality. The Universal Soul is manifest in the individual soul, the Atman - as it is called - in you. It is reflected through the buddhi, or the intellect; that is reflected through the manas, or the thinking medium; that passes through the prana that energises the body. Then the sense organs begin to operate; then you say: "I am doing; I am seeing; I am alive."

The Kena Upanishad says, in the very beginning itself, "He who sees through the eyes, He who hears through the ears, He who breathes through the breath, He who thinks through the mind, He who understands through the intellect, know Him."

"There is no use understanding things," says the Kaushitaki Upanishad. "There is no use knowing what you are understanding. You must know the Understanding itself." Understand the Understander, which is more beneficial to you than to know what is being understood by the understanding as an external object. Now I understand that there is a tree in front of me; I can see it. But, that is not enough for me; I must know how it is that the understanding is able to understand that there is a tree in front of me. Who understands the understanding?

These layers of transmission of energy from the Cosmic Soul to the individual soul, from the individual soul to the intellect, from the intellect to the mind, from the mind to the prana, from the prana to the body and to the sense organs have to be known very clearly. Neither is the body really alive and active, nor are the sense organs capable of perceiving things as you imagine. Neither is it true that the prana is working of its own accord, nor can you think through the mind independently; nor is it true that you understand through your intellect; nor is it true that you are existing even as an individual isolated being, but for the fact of the Universal revealed through this particular point in space-time, which is called the Atman proper, the Soul.

Both these Upanishads - the Isavasya and the Kena - tell us almost the same thing, only in different styles. The emphasis of the Upanishad is ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti (R.V. 1.164.46), which is a mantra from the Rig Veda. "Poets, sages, masters, men of insight and wisdom call the One Being by various names." All the colours and hues, all the names and the forms, all the movements and the forces and the activities in this world are, in one way or the other, the revelation of the One Being, ekam sat, One Existence. This One Existence is all the other existences which you are attributing to the forms of the objects of sense. Your existence and my existence and the existence of this desk and table, everything - they are participations in the Universal Existence. Thus, God-Being is All-Being and our existence has no significance except as a participating medium in the existence of the Universal Existence. Virtually God is, and nothing else is!