I will expand on Isavasya Upanishad. Usually when I come to Varanasi I speak on Kathopanishad. This time I decided I will continue on Isavasya Upanishad because last time we couldn’t spend much time on Kathopanishad. I was expanding on 14^th verse of Isavasya Upanishad. 

sambḥutiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca..

Actually I am uttering only one word. One word easily you all can recite. Listen and repeat. You don’t have to feel intimidated, ‘Oh Sanskrit. I don’t know.’ I am not giving you long words. Please understand, these sounds are very powerful, they can sit inside your inner space, go on purifying on. They are like powerful inner purifiers. So listen and recite.

sambḥutiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca yastad vedobhayaṁ saha |

vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā sambhūtyāmṛtam aśnute || 14 || 

Just recite. It’s the 14^th verse of Isavasya Upanishad. I will give you the translation.

One who cognizes the pure essence of these both—the imperishable consciousness, the cause of manifestation and the destructible, the perishable, manifested entities, simultaneously—such a person completes with the fear of death and transcends death by worshiping or by knowledge of the perishable entities; and reaches the imperishable consciousness; celebrates the nectar of immortality and bliss, the eternal space of oneness.

Now listen. It’s the literal translation I have read out. The key word in this whole Upanishad, you need to understand. What Upanishad is trying to convey it to you. Listen.

Listen intensely what Upanishads are trying to convey through this to you. The first thing, the key word — what you are worshiping in your life. Please understand, here worshiping does not just mean in front of whom you bow down, in front of what you bow down. What you think as goal of your life. What you remember again and again.

Please understand., you may be bowing down in front of Shiva deity for money, then you are worshiping money. Whether it is right or wrong, don’t bother now, first let us diagnose, understand – what you are worshiping in your life. You may bow down in front of any God, Goddess, Guru, but what you think as the essence of your life, what you think as the lakshya (goal) of your life, that is what you are worshiping.

I tell you, if you do not have any goal, just living, then be informed you are worshiping confusion and darkness. No, there are many people, I am telling you. They think let us drag on the life, one day something will happen, everything will become alright. No. You are worshiping darkness and confusion.

If you are not standing up for yourself, you are only worshiping darkness and confusion.

The key concept in this Upanishad is – what are you worshiping.

Listen. When Upanishad say,

sambḥutiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca yastad vedobhayaṁ saha |

vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā sambhūtyāmṛtam aśnute || 14 ||

…what you think as your goal, what you think as the essence of your life, what you think towards which you are moving in your life – you are worshiping that. Remember, listen, understand. You are worshiping that.

Today I wanted Vaakyartha Sadas on this subject – all the Gurukuls Vaakyartha Sadas groups all over the worlds, take up this subject —

what are you worshiping in your life? What you think as goal of your life?

For some people it may be money. For some people it may be pleasures. For some people it may be name and fame. For some people all of this part, part, little-little. For some people, just confusion. I tell you, there are people who worship confusion. How you bring any problem, I will find solution. There are some people you bring any solution, they will find a problem for it. No, I have some people.

Even in my own Sangha, I have some people. You bring any solution, they will find problem out of it. I call them confusion worshipers. Worshiping confusion. Worshiping the status-quo, worshiping the inaction. Worshiping the non-transforming stuck-up space. Understand, stuck up just stuck without moving in the life in any direction is hell. That is hell. Stuck without moving in any direction. Confusion worshiping.

First find out – what are you worshipping in life. Second – how much is consciousness and how much is materialistic, perishable. Look in, find out how much is imperishable and how much is perishable. What is imperishable which you are worshipping in you, what is the perishable which you are worshipping in you. For example, some part of you may feel – “I think I should have name and fame, recognition, money, all pleasures in the life”. And some part of you, “yes, but all this is not going to be the end. I need to be achieving something eternal, which does not move, which cannot be taken away.” Just see how much of you wants perishable, how much of you wants imperishable.

sambḥutiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca yastad vedobhayaṁ saha |

vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā sambhūtyāmṛtam aśnute || 14 ||

Somebody asked Buddha, “Buddha, how you see your Sangha growing in the future?” He says very beautifully, “if my Sannyasis are able to inspire the truth of imperishable on the Grihastas, what I want will happen. The other way, if the Grihastas are able to inspire the Sannyasis about the perishable, it will happen as they want”. Understand, very simple word. Even in our Sangha, I can just shout out names, straight away I can shout out names. Instead of Sannyasis impressing, inspiring the people about the imperishable, Grihastas have inspired the Sannyasis about perishable. Of course, ultimately one truth is how much of perishable is inside you, how much of imperishable is inside you, that decides whether you are going to be a Sannyasi or a Grihasta. That’s the truth. It is your strength and the amount of imperishable you worship, the akshara, undying component of you which is the strength.

I tell you, imperishable is the bone structure of the cosmic law.

When your inner infrastructure is dependent on the imperishable truths, you will never collapse. If your inner infrastructure is dependent on perishable, you will never stand up, you are just few kg (kilogram) flesh without bone, may be a beans bag; beans bag wearing jeans, that’s all. Nothing more. It is your decision to worship the imperishable, it is your decision to stand on the imperishable. If your inner thinking structure is build on imperishable, you are a man with bone. You are a person who has grown up.

Death is the question which can never be answered. Life is the answer which can never be questioned. Understand, listen.

Death is the question which can never be answered. Life is the answer which can never be questioned. Because the truth of death is established on imperishable. If you build your life by your living on imperishable the death does not happen to you as you understand. And life, if you build it on perishable it never happens to you as you want. Let the life be built on imperishable, akshara. Indestructible. All your strategies about life, whether it is short-term or long-term, do it with the clarity – I am the imperishable soul, consciousness. When you want to take up a job, take it up from this – Is this job or career which I am taking up, will it help me to open up my imperishable strength or let me learn how this can open up my imperishable strength and do it from that context.

Understand, any job on the planet earth can be done from this context. You may be a doctor, engineer, even lawyer. Even lawyer can function from the context of imperishable. Discovering the context of imperishable for your career, for your job, all your major decisions of life is what I call living enlightenment. Anything you do in your life from morning till night and even after night, anything you do in your life, whether it is a short-term goal or a long-term goal, a short-term strategy or a long-term strategy, if it is done from the context of imperishable, you are living enlightenment. Learning that, learning that is what I call Completion. Aligning to that is what I call authenticity. Remembering that is what I call responsibility.

Understand, ultimately everyday when you apply the bhasma (sacred ash), remember – everything seen, perceived by you is perishable.  Every goal you have is perishable. Just to remind you – your forehead is full of perishable you are asked to apply the bhasma. Inside is full of perishable. When you understand, inside full of perishable, you will know how to catch the imperishable.

I tell you, don’t be afraid at all, ‘if I start working with imperishable, suddenly will I lose attachment with my family, will I lose attachment with my job, will I lose attachment with my goals of money, name and fame, what I want. Understand, when you put your strategy on imperishable, the only one will be lost from you – that is suffering, nothing else will be lost. Nothing else will be lost. Purifying your logic with the truth of imperishable. Greasing your inner happenings with the truth of imperishable will remove all the sufferings and frictions. If you grease your inner happenings with the truth of imperishable, all, all, all sufferings, frictions inside will melt away, will disappear, will be destroyed.

sambḥutiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca yastad vedobhayaṁ saha |

vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā sambhūtyāmṛtam aśnute || 14 ||

Don’t go on be running, stop at some points, stop some time, look, are you moving 100% out of imperishable or are you moving 100% out of perishable? What is it that is driving you? What is it that you are worshipping? What is it that you are looking for? What is it that is making you go mad? What is it that is driving you?

sambḥutiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca yastad vedobhayaṁ saha |

vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā sambhūtyāmṛtam aśnute || 14 ||

I can see the courage and confidence in the voice of the Upanishadic Rishi who uttered the statement. The guy must have built not just his bones, even the muscles on the imperishable. Even his muscles must be singing the song of imperishable. If you are going to get married, see how I can express my imperishableness? If you are going to take up a job, see how I can express my imperishableness? Even if you are going to take up enriching, listen, all the volunteers listen, whoever is suffering with tiredness and boredom, you are suffering because you built your inner infrastructure on perishable. No!

Whether short-term goal or long-term goal – whether you plan to become an enricher for your whole life or whether are you enriching just for this December IA, build yourself on imperishable truths and concepts. Whether you are planning to become an enricher your whole life or whether you are planning to enrich only this Nithyanandoham 1008, listen, let your decision to be enriching, words about enriching, the whole happening be rooted, established, founded on the truths of imperishable. Let it be on the great principle of authenticity – shraddha-vivecha. Let it be established on the powerful principle of shraddha, imperishable.

I tell you, confusion is the worst perishable. Understand, even if you are running behind the pleasure, at some point you will have little pleasure and you will have little disappointment. But if you are running behind confusion, it is suicide. Suicide not just physically, it is physical, mental, spiritual suicide. Stuck in confusion. I tell you, if you are stuck in confusion without breaking, if you are worshiping confusion, you are worshiping the ghost fantasies. Either your lusty fantasies have become more powerful than your ability to work with the reality or your fear fantasies have become more powerful than your ability to work with the reality. Sometimes your lust and greed fantasies become so extreme, you think, ‘even if I work and achieve I will be able to achieve only 10 crore in a year, but I wanted 10,000 crore, you are stuck, dead.’ That is the lusty greed fantasy, paralyzing your reality. And same way, the fear fantasies paralyzing your reality, ‘I don’t know what will I do? Even if I do, this, this, this, it will become end of the day only failure and collapse. Then what?’ The fear fantasies paralyzing your reality.

Whether fear fantasies or lust, greed fantasies paralyzing your reality and collapsing you, not letting you function, is what I called worshiping confusion, getting stuck, getting stuck. Whenever you are stuck, look in and raise yourself, break free from lust fantasies or fear fantasies with which you are stuck.

Even living with Guru, if you don’t break your worship of confusion and evolve, I tell you, for lives you will be stuck in this confusion and hell. You may just commit suicide; take birth, just to plan to commit suicide. Then take birth, just plan to commit suicide. Its like you will grow-up just to build the pattern strong enough just to give you the strength of committing suicide and by 30 you will have enough reasons to commit suicide, then again grow up to 30 just to build reasons why you should commit suicide and die. Then again, build reasons why you should commit suicide. Your life is just trying to reason why you should not live, that’s what I call building on fear fantasies. Same way the lusty fantasies, when it becomes too much, when it becomes unrealistic, when it becomes impractical, it paralyses you. It just does not let you move. You are stuck in confusion. Back to basics.

Analyze, what are you thinking? What is moving you? What are you worshiping? What is in the center of your heart? Paint it, don’t try to paint Shiva. Find out why you are worshiping Shiva, that only you are really worshiping. I call it gambling bhakti.

People come and tell me, ‘Swamiji, if you do this for me, I know you are Incarnation.’ As if I am waiting, I have to prove me to them. Gambling devotion. So they gamble, if you do this, this. If you do this, this. ‘Swamiji, if you give me 10 crores in lottery, I will accept you are enlightened.’ But if I give 100 crores, you will accept I am incarnation. If I give 1000 crores, you will accept, I am a God. So, I have to establish my God-hood by giving you 1000 crores in lottery. 

Understand, when the devotion, feeling connection happens, you being showered with what you want is different. When there is a gambling game is going on, your so-called devotion is different.

When you build your mind on the perishable, your mind will be logical. If you build your mind on imperishable, your life will be magical.

That’s all is the essence of today’s satsang.

Whether you want to build a magical life or logical life, you decide.

The subject for today’s Vakyartha Sadas, how much is imperishable in you, how much is perishable in you.