The inaugural session of Swamiji’s talks on Ishavasya Upanishad was on 4th November 2019. The classes were held on Monday evenings, 7 to 8.30 pm at the Seminar Hall, Mithibai College, Vile Parle West. Webinar facility was made available to those who had registered. The talks could be viewed online, from any location all over the world. The commentary written by Pujya Gurudev was used as the text; Upanishadic concepts are given in an extremely comprehensive manner.
Introducing the text, Swamiji explained that the word Upanishad means to sit near the feet of the guru, to learn the highest knowledge. Found in Shukla Yajur Veda Samhita, the theme is ‘how to realise the identity of the all-pervading Truth; to know the Self within and Brahman without, to ‘see’ the Truth in the outer world of plurality, through the disturbing phenomenal world’ (quote unquote Pujya Gurudev). The Shanti Mantra at the beginning of the Upanishad is purnamadah purnamidam, which is chanted at all Chinmaya Mission classes and events. Swamiji took us on an inspiring journey of learning, of discovery, delving deep into the Upanishad and explaining difficult Vedantic concepts that every individual could understand.
The course ended with the chanting of all eighteen verses of the Upanishad, followed by Pujya Gurudev’s aarti. With the grace of the guru parampara and the untiring efforts of Swamiji, around 150 participants learnt the extremely subtle concepts of this Upanishad.