Fullness
Prof. Michael Nagler, in his commentaries to Easwaran’s ‘The Upanishads,’ quotes American poet Anne Sexton:
“Then the well spoke to me
It said: Abundance is scooped from Abundance
Yet Abundance remains!”
Nagler speculated that she ‘may have been thinking of this haunting invocation’ to the Isha Upanishad:
“All this is full. All that is full.
From fullness, fullness comes
When fullness is taken from fullness,
Fullness still remains.”
I remember reading about a scientific experiment which involved emptying a chamber of the hydrogen it had contained. Yet, the level of hydrogen in the chamber had not been diminished.
Renunciation
The first verse of the Isha reads as follows:
“The Lord is enshrined in the hearts of all.
The Lord is the supreme Reality.
Rejoice in him through renunciation.
Covet nothing. All belongs to the Lord.”
Gandhi’s reply to a journalist who wanted to know the secret of his life in 3 words: “Renounce and enjoy!”
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 