I am entering into the first verse of the Upanishad. Before entering into every verse, I feel like wipe yourself completely, clean, be fresh, so that this verse enters into you as nectar and starts functioning.

Listen! Listen! Listen!

ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।

तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् ॥ 1 ॥

Eeshaavaasyamidham Sarvam Yathkincha Jagathyaam Jagath |

Thena Thyakthena Bhunjeethaa Ma Gridhah Kasyasviddhanam ||

The translation:

By the Consciousness enveloped must this all be, whatever moving thing there is in the moving world. With this renounced you may enjoy. Covet not the wealth of anyone at all.

Listen!

By the Consciousness enveloped must this all be, whatever moving thing there is in the moving world. With this renounced you may enjoy. Covet not the wealth of anyone at all.

Listen! “Eesha”! Understand this word. This word means “Consciousness which has all the auspicious qualities, and which is causal, actual material source of everything is, which we may know or we may not know. And, it is not only the source; it permeates.” Please understand, “Eesha” is not just the source of these plants, stones, you, me; it continues to permeate, fill all of us and everything is, even when we are in this form.

Listen! The consciousness is not just the source; it is the base. Not just the base material; it continues to be the base which keeps the material together in this shape.

ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।

Eeshaavaasyamidham Sarvam Yathkincha Jagathyaam Jagath |

“By the Consciousnessness enveloped must this all be.”

Listen! The word “vaasyam” means “must”. “Must”! There is no “may be”, “might be”, “can be”, “could be”. No! It is a declaration. Declarations are expected to be used as a basic cognition in our tradition. No other spiritual tradition gives so much space for question-answer and debate, and no other spiritual tradition is so conclusive and inclusive.

Listen! Inclusiveness always takes away the conclusiveness. Inclusiveness always takes away the conclusiveness. ‘Oh, everything is one and the same. Everything is…..’. The inclusiveness takes away the conclusiveness. But, here, inclusiveness and conclusiveness in Completion! Inclusiveness and conclusiveness in the space of Complete Completion! Vedic Tradition is the first and foremost, one and only, inclusive and conclusive tradition.

Understand, inclusiveness is always the extreme of emotion. Conclusiveness is always the extreme of logic. Both never go hand in hand. Only if the logic and emotion, both merge and see the reality….. Logic always operates from fear. So, it goes on dissecting, dissecting, dissecting, dissecting. Emotion always operates in the space of greed, and it tries to go on adding, adding, adding. Emotion tries to be inclusive, so that it can feel fulfilled with the greed. And logic tries to be divisive, so that it can be conclusive. When both ripen and merge, the being blossoms, which is beyond logic and emotion, which I call as your “individual soul”, “bio-memory”. Your basic root cognition from which you operate, only there the inclusiveness and conclusiveness can be in the space of Completion, and it can go completely well with each other.

Listen! The people who lost conclusiveness for the sake of inclusiveness lost the strength. They became Theology Light. All these Theology Light traditions – ‘Oh, okay. Be as you want. Okay. Let us celebrate’ – all the Theology Light groups, most of the cults, function on inclusiveness, but they very badly lose the strength of conclusiveness. And the people who miss the inclusiveness and hold on to some conclusiveness, they become fanatics, terrorists; they are more dangerous than cults. The only and only tradition, Vedic Tradition, which is ultimately inclusive and ultimately conclusive, completely inclusive and completely conclusive, because it is the core. The core cannot choose between inclusiveness and conclusiveness.

Just see this word – “Eeshaavaasyamidham Sarvam” (ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं). The ultimate inclusiveness and the ultimate conclusiveness! In this one line – “Whatsoever exists is enveloped by this Consciousness” – the ultimate inclusiveness! You cannot include anything further in this. And, “Idham Vaasyam” (इदम् वास्यम्)! “Vaasyam” (वास्यम्)!

“Yathkincha” (यत्किञ्च) – “Whatsoever”. “जगत्” (Jagath) means “Changeful”. Please listen, how much ever you may think it is changing, as long as your thinking is happening you will perceive the universe as happening. When you settle down in Samadhi, you will perceive the whole universe in the space of Samadhi, understand? As long as you are thinking, you will perceive the other part of you as universe which is happening. When the thinking settles down in you and you become peaceful and you enter into Samadhi, you will perceive that the other part of you also is in the space of Samadhi, God.

The “Jeeva” decides to perceive his other part as “Jagath” or “Eeshwara”. When you perceive as “Jagath”, “dwandhwa” exists, the “dual” (“dwandhwa” means “dual”). When you perceive as “Eeshwara”, only “Advaitha” exists. That is why “Eeshwara” becomes “Eesha”. Even if you translate the word “Eesha” into “Lord”, there is a kind of a gap. The Upanishadic rishis are not telling – “ईश्वरवास्यमिदं” (Eeshwaravaasyamidham). No! Because, that word “Eeshwara” (ईश्वरा) can create a kind of a subtle barrier. They say “ईशा” (Eesha) where you don’t feel intimidated, understand?

A mind which is still active, for that mind if you describe God as an embodiment of independent, intelligent free-willed being, you will feel always intimidated. You will say, ‘If something else also exists, then should I relate with that through fear, by begging, praying, or greed, by offering, surrendering, or should I start praying? What kind of relationship should I start developing with it?’ Because, the mind always tries to retain its existence by the methodology of relating. When the method to relate is disconnected, it disappears. It is by the methodology of relating it retains its existence. So, when mind is there, if the Masters utter a word “Eeshwara”, immediately – ‘Oh, He is there! He is intelligent! And He is independent! He has a free will! So he may judge me! He may not accept me! So, how should I relate with him? Should I start praying to him? How should I please him? Should I start talking to him? Should I start escaping from him, denying him? Or what should be the thing? Or should I start conquering him?’

Understand, he is not “Eeshwara” as you perceive, who moves like you. He is “Eesha”, who can be perceived only when there is no movement in you. Any perception you have about Him, when there is a movement, He is only “Jagath”, not “Eeshwara”.

Only these three, these three you need to know in life.

Everything else will be clear if you know just these three:

“Jeeva” – the individual soul which perceives;

“Jagath” – the universe, which is constantly changing. “Which changes” is “Jagath”; and

“Eeshwara” – God.

Listen! Please listen! As long as there is a movement in you in the form of thought and feeling, which tries to include and conclude – “thought” tries to conclude, “feeling” tries to include – as long as these movements are happening in you, what you perceive inside you and outside you is “Jagath”, “changing”. When this thought and emotion which try to include and conclude merge, and that “Shanthi” – silence – prevails, you will understand that whatever you perceived as “Jagath” also is nothing but “Eesha”!

I can say, the whole Sanatana Hindu Dharma starts and end in this first line. The logic which goes on trying to conclude, and the emotion which goes on trying to include, these both, when they are moving, when they have not completed with each other, when there is an incompletion….. Only when there is an incompletion there will be movement. When there is Completion, no movement; pure silence.

When there is a movement, listen, when there is a movement, you will perceive yourself inside you, outside you. Whatever you feel as “Mamakaara”, as “Ahamkaara”, “Anyakaara”, “Sva-Anyakaara”, all these will be changing – Jagath. Listen! Even when something is changing, it is “Eesha”. Even when you think, when you perceive it is changing, it is “Eesha”. When you reach the silence of you, when inside there is no movement, there is no incompletion, there is only Completion, you will perceive you, inside, outside, as “Eesha”, understand? When there is a change in you in the form of thinking or feeling, what you perceive and what you perceive inside and outside is called “Jagath” – “Universe” – which is changing. And when you are in the space of Completion, peacefulness, then what you perceive as you and everything else is “God”!