Eternal truths

The Svetasvatara Upanishad is one of the important Upanishads which talks about the  highest reality or Supreme power as the cause, both material and efficient from which the world has evolved and which protects and controls this world. This highest reality is  spoken of as Brahman.

As the truths enshrined in this Upanishad were first elucidated by  Sage Svetasvatara, this Upanishad derives its name accordingly. It is in the form of a discourse by Sage Svetasvatara.

“Those who try to enquire into the factors at play behind this creation ask what is the cause of all this creation and what is the power that controls this. What is it that controls our pleasures and pains?

 We talk of time, nature, necessity, chance, the elements etc as the causes.
It may be so. But finally, it is the Lord who supports all this which is a combination of the mutable and the immutable, of the manifest and the unmanifest.

Those who follow the path of contemplation and meditation will understand that the ‘self’ which resides in the heart of man is the divine power which presides over all the causes associated with time.

It is this knowledge of the self, which is infinite and of cosmic form that releases man from all fetters.

Just as a mirror, which is lustrous by nature and faithfully reflects the image of the object shines clearly when it cleaned of the  dust covering it, so does  man see the real ‘self’ when he gets rid of the impurities clinging to his soul.

It is now that the real nature of the Lord is seen, when the lamp that is the ‘self’ which eternally burns within him is clearly seen.

The goal of man should be to attain to this divinity. It is then that he transcends materialism and all sorrows.

After creating all the worlds, he the protector merges them all together at the end of time.

‘He’ is the source, the creator of all the other gods and divinities. May he endow all with propitious intellect.

‘He’ the one who is formless takes on different forms and colours, all with a specific, but unrevealed purpose and who finally dissolves everything unto himself at the end.
The past, present, future, all are a projection of his powers of illusion.

It is ‘He’ who pervades everything. The eye does not see him. He can only be known through the heart and those who know him thus become immortal.

‘He’ is gross, yet subtle who associates himself with the soul in various forms, thus giving rise to the variety of forms on earth.

This wheel of creation is constantly being churned by his will.

‘He’ is the one God hidden in all beings, pervading all, the inner self of all, the perceiver of all deeds, the presider and knower”.