In God Makes the Rivers to Flow; An Anthology of the World’s Sacred Poetry & Prose, Eknath Easwaran has included a selection from the Isha Upanishad and entitled it “The Inner Ruler.”  I have written a series of poem-like reflections based on this selection.  This is the sixth one in the series.

All That Is

The Self is everywhere.  Bright is the Self,
Indivisible, untouched by sin, wise,
Immanent and transcendent.  He it is
Who holds the cosmos together.
—from “The Inner Ruler” in the Isha Upanishad

Can you imagine a light brighter than the sun?  Can you imagine that Light radiant in the darkness?

It appears that the space between stars is empty, black.  But all space and everything beyond it is filled by the Self.

It appears that there is space between your hands, space between your walls.  But that space is the Self, as are your hands, as are your walls.

It seems like other people are independent from you.  And while they are as free as you, they are one with you as well.  They are the Self seeing you.  You are the Self seeing them.

And you would think from your experience that there is sin in this world.  But sin is just the evidence of our free will, an illusion that appears to separate us from the Self.  The Self does not sin, and the sin does not affect the Self.

The Self knows all things.  It knows our suffering and it knows the path to our freedom from suffering.  It guides us toward our dreams.  It guides us toward Joy and Love.

The Self exists in every material thing and in all the dimensions beyond the material.  It is unlimited by anything it inhabits.

The Self is not bound by anything, but it binds all Reality together.

The Self is All That Is.