वायुरनिलममृतमथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम् ।
ओं । क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर ॥ १७ ॥
अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान्विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् ।
युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नम उक्तिं विधेम ॥ १८ ॥
vāyuranilamamṛtamathedaṃ bhasmāntaṃ śarīram |
oṃ | krato smara kṛtaṃ smara krato smara kṛtaṃ smara || 17 ||
agne naya supathā rāye asmānviśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān |
yuyodhyasmajjuhurāṇameno bhūyiṣṭhāṃ te nama uktiṃ vidhema || 18 ||
Now may my breath return to the all-pervading, immortal Prana! May this body be burnt to ashes! Om. O mind, remember, remember all that I have done.
O Fire, lead us by the good path for the enjoyment of the fruit of our action. You know, O god, all our deeds. Destroy our sin of deceit. We offer, by words, our salutations to you.
Commentary:
(Commentary for Verses 17 & 18)
These two mantras are a prayer for death.
These mantras make the Isha Upanishad a complete manual for life. The Upanishad began by telling us how to live so that we can get the full benefit of life; then the Upanishad explained the goal of life, attainment of Atman; then the Upanishad delineated the method to realise this goal – Prayer. Now, after living a fulfilling life, beneficial to oneself and to society, the man is dying. How to approach death? The Upanishad will guide us through this critical moment.
The Hindu conception of life revolves around Prana, life-energy. Modern man is keenly aware of energy in the world – electromagnetic, motive, thermal, gravitational, atomic, nuclear, etc., thanks to the vigorous and penetrative dissemination of modern science. But, modern man is utterly ignorant of what causes life or what constitutes life. The Hindu conception is that all energy lies on a spectrum; at one end of the spectrum, energy appears dead and lifeless; at the other end of the spectrum, it takes a unique characteristic of intelligence. This form of energy is called Prana. Language is the connecting link between man and energy in all its forms. Mathematics, the language of logic helps us connect with energy in its so-called lifeless forms. Prayer, the language of the heart, helps us connect with energy in its intelligent form. Every aspect of our life, every activity we perform, is a function of Prana. Prana undergoes three distinct transformations in every man in a 24-hour cycle. They are called Waking, Dream, and Deep Sleep. A 4th distinct transformation of Prana that every person is capable of experiencing during his life-time is called Samadhi. And the 5th distinct transformation that Prana in every person has to compulsorily undergo is called Death.
Everyone has to die. Even a person who has realised the Atman has to die. It seems paradoxical. One of the much-vaunted characteristics of realising Atman is that one becomes immortal. How then can this person die?
If a person has not realised Atman when alive, he will feel that death is dissolution of his personality and hence a loss. If a person has realised Atman while alive, he will not feel that death is a dissolution of his individuality, because he would have already experienced such a dissolution of his human individuality during the state of Samadhi. So, subjectively, this latter’s experience of death will be completely different from that of the former. Look at the following personal memoir of Swami Turiyananda, which explains this state of death in amazing detail.
Swami Turiyananda was in a diabetic coma for a long time, and the sevaks were also waiting for the last moment. Suddenly he opened his eyes and said to Swami Shankarananda, who was sitting by his side, “Amulya, I can’t go now.” After that he slowly got up. A few years later in Kashi Sevashrama, he described the feelings he had in his heart about the incident in this way – “First I started seeing many saints and deities. Then suddenly I saw Prana emerging. Immediately another force within was engaged in trying to hold my soul. There was a tug of war with this energy. Then I see, Prana was ready to go out after winning the battle. At that time, Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda) came and said, ‘Hari Bhai, where are you going? Now is not the time.’ At that moment the strength of the defeated energy inside increased and it subdued the Prana in one go and placed it in its place inside me. Only then I opened my eyes and told Amulya that I would not leave the body that time.” [53]
Note how Turiyananda says, “Immediately another force within was engaged in trying to hold my soul.” So, there is Prana inside us which animates us – our body, mind, and senses. Then there is another force within, which is akin to Prana, but distinct. This ‘another force’ is called the Jivatma or the individual soul. It is the actual locus of experience. Death is the dissociation of Prana from the Jivatma.
Now may my breath return to the all-pervading, immortal Prana! When the moment of death arrives, this is the prayer that has to be uttered. This prayer proceeds from a worldview of Prana, Jivatma and Atman as described above. The next prayer is: May this body be burnt to ashes! Then, a prayer to recollect everything that I have done in my life till this final moment: Om O mind, remember, remember all that I have done. We saw how Swami Turiyananda described this phase of death. Studies of Near-Death-Experiences (NDEs) by Dr Raymond Moody and Dr Elizabeth-Kubler Ross have documented innumerable instances of the dying person recalling all the myriad experiences of his own life in a matter of seconds.
The Taittiriya Upanishad has the following revealing mantras in this context: He who knows this, after dying to this world, attains the self which consists of food, attains the self which consist of the vital breath, attains the self which consists of the mind, attains the self which consists of intellect, attains the self which consists of bliss. He who knows the Bliss of Brahman, whence words together with the mind turn away, unable to reach It – he is not afraid of anything whatsoever.” He does not distress himself with the thought: Why did I not do what is good? Why did I do what is evil? Whosoever knows this regards both these as Atman; indeed, he cherishes both these as Atman. [54] Here, the Rishis says that when a person who has realised Atman dies, he will not trouble himself with the invariable questions ‘Why did I not do what is good? Why did I do what is evil?’ Even such a person will have a quick review of his life, but he will not ask himself these two questions. These two questions will torment a dying man if he has not realised the Atman while living. Again, recall how Turiyananda saw so many wonderful things right before his NDE.
The last mantra is a prayer to God for taking our soul by the Bright Path to the world which we deserve based on our Karma. This mantra does not actually belong here. Mantra #17 can refer to both to a realised soul as well as an ordinary person. But the mantra #18 can refer only to an ordinary person, who hasn’t yet realised the Atman while alive. The reason for including this mantra could be that this Isha Upanishad belongs to the Vajasaneyi Samhita. The Samhita portion of the Vedas deals with rituals meant for the unrealised soul. All other Upanishads belong to the Brahmana portion, appearing at the very end of the Vedas (hence the term Vedanta). Since Isha Upanishad appears bang in the middle of the ritualistic portion, it retains this mantra that refers to the elaborate afterlife conception of the Hindus.
There are innumerable theories of what happens to a person after death. In fact, every religion has its own unique and elaborate eschatology. Most of them have to do with Heavens and Hells. In the beginning, in Hinduism also, they developed elaborate theories of what path the soul takes post-mortem, and what determines the state of existence of the soul post-mortem. Then, the rational thinkers, armed with their immaculate purity of mind, saw through the hypocrisy of all such theories and went on to discover the Atman within, even while alive. This discovery changed everything in Hinduism. Death happens to a realised soul too. But the subjective experience is utterly different from that of an ordinary person. The reader may kindly refer to the deliberation on this topic in our Study of the Katha Upanishad.[55]