The topic in the third adhyaya of Swetaswatara Upanishad is the description of Atman as the personal God. He spreads the net and rules all the worlds by those powers. Verses 31 to 36 describe the “Atman, Soul, Self” as the personal God, as the one and and only Lord that resides within the origin of all Gods, calling it Isha or Rudra.” He is the ruler of the world and there's no second to Him! At the end of time He withdraws into himself! With His thousand heads, faces, arms and feet he brings together both the heaven and earth. The Supreme Brahman manifests in the bodies of all creatures. Realizing him, one becomes Immortal. The Purusha fills the universe, He is the Supreme; He is everything; He is smaller than the atom and bigger than the biggest! “anor aniyan mahato mahiyan.” He is formless and beyond suffering. He resides in the receptacle of the hearts of all. He is the Omnipresent Siva!
It is he that impells the minds of all to reach the purest state! He is the Ruler and the immortal
Light. It is amazing that He is of the measure of a thumb! The Kathopanishad describes the Self in a similar manner “ angushtamatrah purushontaratma sada jananam hridaye sannivishtaha”- like the Person of the size of thumb, the inner Self abides always in the hearts of men. This Virat Purusha encompasses the entire universe with his hands and feet, eyes, heads and ears. It is beyond the senses but reflects the qualities of all the senses! All creatures have to take refuge in IT
The Upanishad compares the human body to a city with nine gates! The human body has nine openings which are very strategic and without which it cannot exist! They are the two yes, two ears, the two nostrils, the mouth, the anus and the urinary passage! The Atma or Spirit moves all over the body and takes charge of moving and unmoving objects-- ‘ the sthavara and the jangama’. He has no hands but grasps, no feet but walks, no eyes but sees well! He has no ears but hears even the smallest sound! Kenopanishad clearly defines what makes us see, think, hear, eat and carry on activities in our life! “ Srothrasya srothram manaso mano, ya vachoha vacham sa u pranasya pranaha chakshusas chakshu ratimuchya dhirah pretyasmal lokadamruta bhavanthi” “It is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of the speech, the breath of the breath and the eye of the eye! Hence the wise, giving up these and departing from this world, become Immorta!l”
He Knows whatever there is to be known! But there none who knows Him! He is thus called as Primal, the Supreme person! Kenopanishad defines the Supreme Brahman beautifully! “ That which is not seen by the eye, but that by which the eyes are made to see-- know that as Brahman and not what people worship here. That which is not heard by the ear , but that by which the ears are made to hear--- know that as Brahman, and not what people worship here.” The Self, hidden in the heart of creatures is subtler than the subtle and greater than the great! It is only through the grace of the Lord that one can see Him who is without any action and get himself released from all sorrow!
About the nature of the Brahman described in the Swetaswatara Upanishad, the Kena Upanishad says: “ The eye does not go there, speech does not go, not the mind. We do not understand how we can instruct one about it. It is indeed other than the known, and also above the unknown. Thus have we heard from the ancients who explained it to us.” The Kathopanishad describes the Self--” The knowing Self is never born, nor does it die. It sprang from nothing and nothing sprang from it. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain. Thus the Swetaswatara Upanishad gives prominence to the the unseen and unheard Self in the body!
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