???v?syam idam sarva?

This Upani?ad bears its name from the first word of this mantra. ??? is the instrumental form of that power which governs, controls and regulates, and which is called ??wara, or God. This Supreme Power is not a power alien or external to the human being, but it is that in which everything and everyone lies, moves and is. This is the same power that resides in the depth of ourselves, as is confirmed in the sacred Bhagavad—g?t? (15.15):

sarvasya c?ha? h?di sannivi??o

matta? sm?tir jñ?nam apohana? ca

vedai? ca sarvair aham eva vedyo

ved?nta—k?d veda—vid eva c?ham

"I am situated in everyone's heart, from me come memory, wisdom and forgetfulness. I am the one to be known through all the Vedas. Truly, I am the compiler of Ved?nta and the knower of the Vedas".

This Divine power is what really dwells and lies within this mobile universe...

In other words, to be what we really are is to be in God...

The words we read in the present verse can only be pronounced by a master, by someone who sees. The scriptures denominate such a person "??i" or "seer". This verse is a direct testimony of enlightenment. No one who does not realize what it says here could write or say anything like that... "The universe with all that is mobile in it is inhabited by the Lord"... this phrase is not a part of any sermon, but it is the expression of a soul in which enlightenment has occurred.

Enlightenment is to open the heart to the Whole...

It is to fall in love with the Whole...

Enlightenment is the realization that nothing can exist apart from the Whole, not even the "I", just as the wave cannot exist apart from the ocean...

Wherever you look, you will no longer see movement of persons, animals, trees or objects, but you will see everything and everyone as an expression of the Whole...you will realize that behind this reality of names and forms there is one and only divine nature, which manifests and expresses itself as everything and everyone...

"Where is God found?" — asks the disbeliever...

"Where is He not?" — the sage will answer...

As a matter of fact, apart from God, there is nothing here... only God really is...

The Upani?ad does not raise doubts about the existence of God; its doubts are about our own existence as an entity separate from the one existence, as an ego...

The Upani?ad does not try to prove that God exists. However, it raises doubts about the existence and reality of the "I"...

The yog? will not ask what or who God is... but... who or what am I?...

And when we refer to forms, names and matter, we don't really speak about anything solid, but about a vibration or "movement". Our microcosmic and macrocosmic reality as one, are not more than the spirit in motion. The universe is not firmness but movement...

This mantra is a call for meditation, because to meditate is to discover who really lives here, in this universe, in your body: the one who truly resides in your heart, who dwells in you... as you...

The universe, with all that is mobile in it, is inhabited by the Lord"... for many religions, paradise is the residence of God. According to the experience of the Vedic sage, since God resides in everything and in everyone, paradise, or God's kingdom, is much closer than we believe...

Tena tyaktena bhuñj?th?... means, to enjoy renouncing... Renunciation from attachment, addiction, the desire to possess and accumulate, does not mean the reduction of enjoyment, because in fact, these comprise impurities that obstruct happiness. Holiness consists of a state of real enjoyment. It is our attachment and addiction to pleasure that prevents us from being blissful.

In a reality where only God is, only the Whole is, the part and its interests would be illusion or m?y?. The part's misery and pain would be to resist the Whole. In such a reality, attachment would be a cause for pain, misery and suffering...

If it's about bliss, renunciation is essential...

"Do not covet the richness of others". Greed comes from directing the attention to the other, which will prevent us from directing it to ourselves and discovering our own richness... When we direct our attention to our internal reality, we will realize that there are no others, there is no one else: everything is the Self in motion, the Pure Consciousness in motion, a cosmos in motion, inhabited by God...

Tena also means "by Him", He to which we have referred already in the first line, as the Lord or ??a, tyaktena means "renunciation", so that tena tyaktena bhuñj?th? could also be translated in the spirit of bhakti as... "accept or enjoy that which has been rendered by Him"... All this points to a life completely dedicated to the Lord, and to the acceptance of all we receive as our assigned quota or as remnants (prasadam)...