I GIVE HEAT — The electricity can rightly say that it gives heat in the heater, light in the bulb, cold in the refrigerator, because electricity conditioned through those equipments expresses itself as the above-mentioned — heat, light and cold. Similarly, the Self, the one Existence, identifying with the phenomenon called the Sun becomes the source of all heat for the entire universe.
I WITHHOLD AND SEND FORTH RAIN — Not only do the modern meteorologists understand the influence which the Sun has upon the climatic conditions of the world, but the Rishis of old too had a perfect knowledge of the ways and behaviour of nature, and had well understood that the position, condition and nature of the Sun determines the climate that comes to bless, or curse, the world. The influence of the Sun controls the fields of experience of every living creature on the globe, since it controls the climatic conditions. If the Sun were to send out a few more degrees of heat the entire flora and fauna of the world would change. So too, will be the transformation, complete and total, of the entire look of the world, if the Sun were to withhold even a few calories of the heat that it is radiating now. Immediately, there would be a march from the north pole and the south pole towards the equator, driving men and beings towards the central belt of the globe, causing more intense sorrows of over-population and lack of sufficient food!
I AM IMMORTALITY AND ALSO DEATH — If life, the Consciousness, were not illumining experiences, it would become meaningless and purposeless, and the Self, being the Spark of life, is the essential stuff that gives a realistic experience of existence to the very phenomenon of death. To realise the Self as the Immutable and the Eternal, isto reach the State of Immortality. Change is death, and therefore, the phrase is to be understood as saying that “the Self is the illuminator of change, Itself ever the Changeless.”
I AM EXISTENCE AND NON-EXISTENCE — To perceive and experience ‘Existence’ and ‘Non-existence,’ a positive illuminator of both is necessary, and the illuminating Consciousness must be able to embrace both Sat and Asat in its all-comprehending Knowledge. It is impossible to know and gain an experience of the total Non-existence; wherever we experience Non-existence, we experience it as “the Non-existence that exists.”Apart from this highly subtle philosophical interpretation there is a simpler significance for the phrase. Sat and Asat are terms used in Vedanta to indicate the ’cause’ and ‘effect’: the UNMANIFEST and the MANIFEST. The Self being that Illuminating Factor — without which we can experience neither the unmanifest (THOUGHTS) nor the manifest (OBJECTS) — the Self Eternal is conceived of as the Essence in both the manifest and the unmanifest. Without the mud, no pot is possible; with mud all pots can exist; and therefore, the mud can claim: “I am the pots of all sizes, shapes and colours.”
This stanza can provide a lifetime inspiration to the meditators at their seat of contemplation, while “barrelling their thoughts,” before shooting forth into the voiceless and Nameless.
THOSE WHO DEVOTE THEMSELVES IN THE WORSHIP OF THE ETERNAL WITH DESIRES, WILL COME TO THEIR FULFILMENT… HOW?
