Don’t nurture a sense of ownership

The Isha Upanishad, also known as Ishavasya Upanishad/Sree Ishopanishad/Manthropanishad is one of the shortest upanishads but holds its own in importance due to its pithy verses related to the essence of living, the concept of true knowledge, relationship between atman and paramatman , and is the main referral at Vedanta subschools and forms a powerful influence on many sub schools of Hinduism.

The very first verse begins with the words Ishavasya idam sarvam… meaning that the whole universe is pervaded by the Lord. The living beings are advised to live as tenants in the house of the lord, taking good care of the premises but always ready to move on when the owner chooses. The sense of ownership should never set in, although one may be paying tax on large tracts of estate.

It is always God, the creator, who owns the universe.

There is an interesting story in the epic Mahabharata that brings home this point. Towards the end of the Kurukshetra war, Ashwathama, being a loyal friend of slain king Duryodhan, wipes out the five children of Draupadi and also shoots the deadly brahmastra on the womb of deceased warrior Abhimanyu’s wife, Uttara, in order to eliminate the last seed of the Pandavas. Uttara beseeches Lord Krishna to protect her baby and the Lord obliges by keeping vigil inside her womb.

But soon after the baby is delivered it gets killed by the fatal weapon of Ashwathama. As the mother cries out to Krishna, he returns for the rescue.

A huge crowd gathers and one amongst them is Krishna’s childhood friend. Krishna declares that if he were not a liar, thief or a libertine, the baby would come back to life.

As the baby cries out and people break into cheers, the friend confronts Krishna saying that they both, as playmates, had visited the gopis’ houses, stolen butter and later denied it, and so how could Krishna have spoken otherwise?

The lord then replies that his friend certainly ate stolen butter but he did not, as the whole universe was his and he had merely entered one of his houses and eaten butter. So how could he have become a thief? As a vindication of this, the baby has come back to life, he says.