Category Archives: manaha

Bhagavad Gita Verse 16, Chapter 17

06 Monday May 2013

Posted by in 17.16, aatmavinigraha, bhaavasamshuddhihi, chapter 17 verse 16, maanasam, manaha, maunam, prasaadaha, saumyatvam, tapaha, ucchyate

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manahaprasaadaha saumyatvam maunamaatmavinigraha |
bhaavasamshuddhirityetattapo maanasamucchyate || 16 ||
 
Mental cheerfulness, kindness, silence, self control, purity of intent, this is called penance of the mind.
 
manaha : of mind
prasaadaha : cheerfulness
saumyatvam : kindness
maunam : silence
aatmavinigraha : self control
bhaavasamshuddhihi : purity of intent
iti : in this manner
etat : this
tapaha : penance
maanasam : of the mind
ucchyate : is called
 
So far, we came across the qualities needed for penance of the body and speech. Shri Krishna now lists the qualities that indicate penance of mind, maanasika tapas. He begins with prasaadaha, a cheerful, joyful attitude towards situations in life. It comes from maintaining our balance and composure in troublesome as well as in happy situations. Saumyatvam refers to developing a gentleness and gracefulness when dealing with people. It requires us to remain free from negative attitudes towards people that manifest as jealousy, violence, cruelty and so on.
 
The next quality is maunam. Literally, maunam mean silence, but here it means silence that comes out of contemplation. Now, we cannot stop negative thoughts from arising in our mind, but we can always control how much time and attention we give to such thoughts. Whenever such negative thoughts arise, we have to be able to switch to a positive thought immediately. Doing so requires high levels of self control or aatma vinigrahaha, also known as shamaha. If we do not learn how to do this, the mind will hold onto a negative thought and get swept away in a mental whirlpool of negativity.
 
When we constantly maintain all the above mentioned qualities, our mind will automatically begin to harbour good intentions, even against so-called evil people and tough situations. The key to do this comes back to our outlook towards the world. We need to do one of two things. If we have faith in Ishvara, we need to surrender to him and reduce our dependence on the perishable material world. Alternatively, we treat the entire world as mithyaa, as an illusion, and negate everything in it. As long as we give absolute reality to the world, mental penance is next to impossible.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 11, Chapter 17

01 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in 17.11, aphalakaankshibhihi, chapter 17 verse 11, ijyate, manaha, saattvikaha, saha, samaadhaaya, vidhidrishtaha, yaajnaha, yaha, yashtavyam

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aphalakaankshibhiryaajnau vidhidrishto ya ijyate |
yashtavyameveti manaha samaadhaaya sa saattvikaha || 11 ||
 
That which is performed by one without expectation of result, according to scripture, with a mental resolve of duty alone, such sacrifice is saattvic.
 
aphalakaankshibhihi : one without expectation of result
yaajnaha : sacrifice
vidhidrishtaha : according to scripture
yaha : that which
ijyate : performed
yashtavyam : duty
eva : alone
iti : in this manner
manaha : mind
samaadhaaya : resolve
saha : that
saattvikaha : is saattvic
 
So far, Shri Krishna revealed that the type of food we can reveal texture of our faith. He now lists the types of yajnya, the types of sacrificial rituals for worship, so that we can analyze the texture of our faith through them. Yajnyas are extremely elaborate rituals, but can be reduced to three basic components – the offering, the flame and the result. The person conducting the ritual uses items such as oil or butter as an offering to the deity. The deity is represented by the flame that consumes the offering. A yajnya is typically performed with a specific goal or result in mind, such as a longer life, marriage, children, prosperity and so on.
 
How does this matter to us in today’s day and age? Symbolically, yajnya refers to all of our interactions with any entity or object in this world, and comprises of the very same components. First, the offering is the effort we put in to perform an action. This action could be something we perform at our job, for example. Second, the flame represents the recipient of our action. Lastly, the recipient responds to our action in the form of a result, which could e something tangible such as money, or intangible, such as goodwill towards us.
 
As we saw earlier, three people can perform the same action with three different attitudes of sattva, rajas and tamas. Here, Shri Krishna describes the attitude of a saatvic person. Such a person performs his action driven by a sense of duty to a higher ideal, without any selfish desire. The higher ideal could be service of one’s country, for instance. There is no expectation of any result from the recipient of the action. Furthermore, the action is performed in line with a set of selfless laws, such as the law of a country, humanitarian laws, or laws that have come from scripture.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 9, Chapter 15

14 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by in 15.9, adhishthaaya, ayam, chakshuhu, chapter 15 verse 9, ghraanam, manaha, rasanam, shrotram, sparshanam, upasevate, vishayaan

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shrotram chakshuhu sparshanam cha rasanam ghraanameva cha |
adhishthaaya manashchaayam vishayaanupasevate || 9 ||
 
The ear, eye and touch, taste and smell, taking support of these and the mind, it enjoys the sense objects.
 
shrotram : ear
chakshuhu : eye
sparshanam : touch
cha : and
rasanam : taste
ghraanam : smell
eva : only
cha : and
adhishthaaya : taking support
manaha : mind
cha : and
ayam : this
vishayaan : sense objects
upasevate : enjoys
 
Shri Krishna continues explaining how the jeeva, the individual soul, takes up a human body to carry out its transactions with Prakriti. We can use the wonderful Vedantic text “Drig Drishya Viveka”, or “Discrimination of the seer and the seen”, to examine this process in a little more detail. It explains, with almost mathematical precision, how the eternal essence begins to think of itself as a finite human entity. There are two main players in this process. One is the eternal essence, which is of the nature of infinite awareness and existence, explained in great detail in the second chapter. Let us call it “Om” here. The second player is avidya or ignorance, which exists in the realm of the illusory Maaya.
 
When Om and ignorance come into contact with each other, a fragment of Om is reflected in ignorance, just like a fragment of the sun as though appears in the water of a pot. As we saw earlier, this fragment is called the jeeva. Ignorance creates an apparent limitation, also known an upaadhi, which imposes a sense of incompleteness or finitude upon the jeeva. The jeeva seeks the help of the upaadhi to remove its sense of completeness. The upaadhi can exist in one of many modifications or states. Let us examine these modifications. The sense organs are modifications of this upaadhi that can contact different aspects of Prakriti. The mind is a modification of this upaadhi that can take input from the sense organs, compare that input with its memory, and present a complete picture of what was contacted. The ego is another modification that thinks of itself as the “I”, just like a low level manager thinks of himself as the owner of the factory in the absence of the real owner.
 
Now let us examine the content of this shloka. After the end of its journey in one body, the jeeva travels with the mind and senses, the upaadhi in other words, in search of another physical body. When the ego aspect of the upaadhi associates itself with a tiny physical body inside a womb, based on the desires its wants to exhaust, it develops the notion “I am this body”. It now begins to use the body to transact with the world. The human nose, for instance, is an inert object. But due to the association of the ego with the body, we think that the physical human nose is doing the smelling. The ego then uses the mind to generate the notion “I know that this smell is that of a rose”. This finally leads the ego to generate the notion “This smell it pleasant, it makes me happy”.
 
In this way, the jeeva gives up its power of reality, knowledge and happiness to the ego. The ego becomes the doer and the experiencer of the world. It has to constantly transact with the world in order to chase sense objects for happiness. It forgets the fact that it was happy to begin with. It gives reality to the domain of Prakriti, the three gunas, the visible and so called tangible world. But we should not forget that behind all this is the illusory mix up of Om and ignorance, the mix up of awareness and inertness. The Raamacharitamanas describes this mix up as “jada chetan ki granthi” or the knot between awareness and inertness.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 8, Chapter 12

17 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in 12.8, aadhatsva, ataha, buddhim, chapter 12 verse 8, eva, manaha, mayi, na, nivasishyasi, niveshaya, oordhvam, sanshayaha

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mayyeva mana aadhatsva mayi buddhim niveshaya |
nivasishyasi mayyeva ata oordhvam na sanshayaha || 8 ||
 
Fix your mind only in me, place your intellect in me, thereafter you will dwell in me only, no doubt.
 
mayi : in me
eva : only
manaha : mind
aadhatsva : fix
mayi : in me
buddhim : intellect
niveshaya : place
nivasishyasi : you will dwell
mayi : in me
eva : only
ataha : this
oordhvam : after
na : no
sanshayaha : doubt
 
In this series of four shlokas, Shri Krishna prescribed four paths or yogas to attaining Ishvara, each one more easier than the previous one. This shloka describes the path of jnyaana yoga or the yoga of knowledge. Shri Krishna says that the seeker should fix both his intellect and mind in Ishvara constantly, without any interruption. When this happens, that attainment of Ishvara is guaranteed. There is no room for “sanshaya” or doubt of attaining Ishvara when one practices jnyaana yoga. But doing so is not easy.
 
As a new year approaches, many of us start making new year resolutions such as losing weight, giving up a bad habit, cleaning the house and so on. It is our buddhi or intellect that sets firm long-term goals, targets and resolutions. Ultimately all types of plans and resolutions stem from our desires to achieve something in this world. Now, Jnyaana yoga requires us to have just one resolution and nothing else: to merge with Ishvara. But as we have seen in the second chapter, our stock of desires influences our intellect to make innumerable resolutions. This multitude of resolutions makes jnyaana yoga difficult.
 
Furthermore, our condition is such that it is not just the intellect that has many resolutions. The mana, our faculty of mind, is fickle to begin with due to the distractions of the senses. Jnyaana yoga requires the fixing of both the intellect and the mind onto Ishvara. It is in rare instances that we can achieve intellectual and mental harmony, such as studying for an exam, where we know that the stakes are high. But even that happens for a few minutes or a few hours at most.
 
So clearly, jnyaaya yoga, the foremost type of yoga, is difficult for most of us, atleast at our current stage of spiritual evolution. Is there something easier? Shri Krishna answers next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 2, Chapter 12

11 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by in 12.2, aaveshya, chapter 12 verse 2, maam, manaha, mataahaa, mayi, me, nityayuktaa, parayaa, shraddhayaa, te, upaasate, upetaahaa, ye, yuktatamaahaa

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Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:
mayyaveshya mano ye maam nityayuktaa upaasate |
shraddhayaa parayopetaaste me yuktatamaa mataahaa || 2 ||
 
Shree Bhagavaan said:
Those who, fixing their mind in me, are constantly engaged in my worship, endowed with supreme faith, those are superior in yoga, in my opinion.
 
mayi : in me
aaveshya : fixing
manaha : mind
ye : those who
maam : my
nityayuktaa : constantly engaged
upaasate : worship
shraddhayaa : with faith
parayaa : supreme
upetaahaa : endowed
te : those
me : my
yuktatamaahaa : superior in yoga
mataahaa: opinion
 
Previously, Arjuna had asked Shri Krishna to select which type of devotees were better between those who worship Ishvara as the formless unmanifest, and those who worship him as an entity endowed with form. Shri Krishna begins by describing those devotees who worship Ishvara endowed with form. He says that such devotees are the most superior yogis because they are constantly engaged in worship of Ishvara, full of supreme faith.
 
Three qualities of a superior yoga are highlighted here. Firstly, we as devotees should be able to fix our mind on Ishvara, using all the instruction given in chapter six and other places as well. In the initial stages of meditation, keeping our mind on Ishvara even for ten minutes is quite an achievement. Secondly, we have to be “nitya yuktaa”, the ability to remain constantly engaged in worship, without letting the mind divert itself to other pursuits. Thirdly, we need to be endowed with supreme and unwavering faith.
 
Even though these qualities may seem easy to attain on the surface, they are not so. Shri Krishna chooses words that indicate that he is looking for the highest kind of concentration and faith. For example, he uses the word “aaveshya” to describe concentration, but what it really means is using our thoughts to enter, to penetrate into the object of concentration. This kind of concentration requires a highly purified mind, free from selfish likes and dislikes and from attachment to material concerns. Our degree of faith further reinforces the ability to remain focused on our object of concentration.
 
So then, what is Shri Krishna’s opinion on those devotees who worship Ishvara as the unmanifest? This comes next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 45, Chapter 11

28 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in 11.45, adrishtapoorvam, asmi, bhayena, chapter 11 verse 45, darshaya, devaroopam, devesha, drishtvaa, hrishitaha, jagannivaasa, manaha, praseeda, pravyathitam, tadeva

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adrishtapoorvam hrishitosmi drishtvaa bhayena cha pravyathitam mano me |
tadeva me darshaya devaroopam praseeda devesha jagannivaasa || 45 ||
 
Seeing you form that was never seen before, I am overjoyed and (yet) fearful, my mind is disturbed. Show me that divine form. Be pleased, O Lord of lords, O abode of the universe.
 
adrishtapoorvam : prior unseen
hrishitaha : overjoyed
asmi : I am
drishtvaa : seeing
bhayena : fearful
cha : and
pravyathitam : disturbed
manaha : mind
me : my
tadeva : that
me : to me
darshaya : show
devaroopam : divine form
praseeda : be pleased
devesha : O Lord of lords
jagannivaasa : O abode of the universe
 
Fear is one of our most primal emotions. At some point or the other in our lives, we have encountered fear of losing our job, losing a loved one, fear of an angry confrontation, stage fright and so on. But we can boil all kinds of fear down to three things. First, the fear of losing something that is “ours”. This is the fear of losing our life, our job, our loved ones and so on. Next is the fear of loss of knowledge, or being duped. Third is the fear of losing joy and happiness, fear of sorrow in other words. We can sum it up in this manner: we are afraid of losing our existence, knowledge and happiness.
 
However, if we recall the teaching of the Gita so far, especially from the second chapter, we know that our true nature is the aatmaa, the eternal essence which is infinite existence, knowledge and happiness. So then, the cause of fear is the ego, the delusion that we are not the eternal essence. There is no scope for fear when we know our true nature as the infinite eternal essence. But if we assume that “I am the body”, then all the problems and fears of the body such as disease, old age, death etc become our problems. The fear of death, which is actually the fear of losing the existence of the body, becomes our fear.
 
So then, why did Arjuna fear Shri Krishna’s cosmic form? For a brief moment, Arjuna’s ego had vanished when he considered himself part and parcel of the cosmic form. When his ego came back, it brought with it all the incorrect associations with the body, mind and so on. Arjuna then saw the cosmic form as something outside of himself, something that could destroy him. He acknowledged his fear to Shri Krishna, begging him to go back to his original form.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 22, Chapter 10

22 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by in 10.22, asmi, bhootaanaam, cha, chapter 10 verse 22, chetanaa, devaanaam, indriyaanaam, manaha, saamavedaha, vaasavaha, vedaanaam

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vedaanaam saamavedosmi devaanaamasmi vaasavaha |
indriyaanaam manaschaasmi bhootaanaamasmi chetanaa || 22 ||
 
Among the Vedaas I am the Saama Veda, among the deities I am Vaasava, among the senses I am the mind and among the beings, I am the intellect.
 
vedaanaam : among the Vedas
saamavedaha : Saama Veda
asmi : I am
devaanaam : among the deities
asmi : I am
vaasavaha : Vaasava
indriyaanaam : among the senses
manaha : mind
cha : and
asmi : I am
bhootaanaam : among the beings
asmi : I am
chetanaa : intellect
 
Shri Krishna, elaborating on Ishvara’s expressions, says that Ishvara is the Saama Veda among all the Vedas. Each Veda has a unique characteristic. The Yajur Veda contains prose, the Rig Veda contains metric hymns, the Saama Veda contains songs and the Atharva Veda contains incantations. Of these, the Saama Veda is Ishvara’s expression, indicating his preference for music.
 
Among all the deities, Ishvara is the king of all deities known as Vaasava, also known as Indra. While our attention usually falls on the excesses of wealth and power that kings demonstrate, this was not the case traditionally. A king is supposed to spend every minute of his life serving his subjects, sacrificing everything. Such a rules of deities is a true expressions of Ishvara.
 
As we have seen earlier, we transact or interact with the world with our body, our senses, our organs of action, our mind and our intellect. The five senses and the five organs of action would be useless if not for the mind, that collects information from the senses and pulls together a complete picture of the world for us. It also instructs our organs to move, based on the inputs it receives. Shri Krishna says that this mind is an expression of Ishvara.
 
If we were to be born as a plant, animal or human, we would undoubtedly prefer to be born as a human. The key difference between a human and a plant or animal is the capacity of intelligence that lets us think logically, display compassion towards others, plan for the future and most importantly, pursue the path of the higher self. This wonderful intelligence in is is also Ishvara’s expression.
 
So therefore, if our mind generates thoughts of compassion or service, if our intellect makes us acts upon these thoughts so that we can serve others, we should remember that it is not the “I” in us that is causing everything to happen. It is all happening through Ishvara and his expressions.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 12, Chapter 8

09 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by in 8.12, aadhaaya, aasthitaha, aatmanaha, cha, chapter 8 verse 12, hridi, manaha, moordhani, nirudhya, praanam, saiyamya, sarvadvaaraani, yogadhaaranaam

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sarvadvaaraani saiyamya mano hridi nirudhya cha |
moordhanyaadhaayaatmanaha praanamaasthito yogadhaaranaam || 12 ||
 
Controlling all the gates, confining the mind within the heart and establishing one’s praanaas in the forehead, situated in yogic concentration.
 
sarvadvaaraani : all gates
saiyamya : controlling
manaha : mind
hridi : in the heart
nirudhya : confining
cha : and
moordhani : forehead
aadhaaya : establish
aatmanaha : one’s
praanam : praanaas
aasthitaha : situating
yogadhaaranaam : in yogic concentration
 
Shri Krishna describes the technique meditating upon the name of Ishvara in this shloka. He outlines a series of steps which are similar to the detailed analysis of meditation found in the sixth chapter. Four steps are presented here: controlling the organs of sense perception, reducing the number of thoughts to one, directing the life force or praana, and continuing to remain in this state of concentration for an extended period of time.
 
The first step is to control the organs of sense perception referred to here as “gates”. In meditation, we are advised to select a spot where there is minimal distraction so that the mind does not rush out into the external world towards a sound, image or smell.
 
The second step is to “confine the mind within the heart”. This means that we have to slowly reduce the number of thoughts to one thought using japa meditation, for instance. No other thought should enter the mind except the object of meditation.
 
The third and fourth steps require the oversight and training of an experienced master. For the sake of completeness, let’s examine them anyway. An advanced yogi has the ability to control his praana or life force so that it could be focused in one part of the body. Here, such a yogi is asked to focus his life force in the forehead. Once this happens, the yogi is asked to maintain this position for an extended period of time. Such intense meditation requires tremendous effort and practice.
 
So then, assuming we are armed with the technique of meditation on Ishvara’s name, what name should we use? This is taken up next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 7, Chapter 8

04 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in 8.7, anusmara, arpita, asamshayam, buddhihi, cha, chapter 8 verse 7, eshyasi, eva, kaaleshu, maam, manaha, mayi, sarveshu, tasmaat, yudhya

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tasmaatsarveshu kaaleshu maamanusmara yudhya cha |
mayyarpitamanobuddhirmaamevaishyasyasamshayam || 7 ||
 
Therefore, remember me at all times and fight. One who offers his mind and intellect to me attains me only, without a doubt.
 
tasmaat : therefore
sarveshu : all
kaaleshu : times
maam : me
anusmara : remember
yudhya : fight
cha : and
mayi : to me
arpita : offer
manaha : mind
buddhihi : intellect
maam : me
eva : only
eshyasi : attains
asamshayam : without a doubt
 
Shri Krishna gives the ultimate teaching to all of mankind in this shloka. Since the thought at the time of death determines our fate after death, and the thought of death is an outcome of our lifelong thinking, Shri Krishna instructs us to remember Ishvara at all times and perform our duties.
 
Let us examine this instruction further. We are not asked to give up our duties, retire to a forest and constantly think of Ishvara there. Shri Krishna wants us to first remember Ishvara, and then perform duty consistent with our svadharma. The result of leading such a life is that we will attain Ishvara certainly. There is no doubt in this matter.
 
With this instruction, meditation takes on a whole new dimension. Typically, we confine meditation to something that we do for fifteen to thirty minutes, sitting in a solitary place as instructed in the sixth chapter. We now realize that those instructions were meant to prepare us for the kind of meditation that Shri Krishna wants us to pursue: 24/7 meditation of Ishvara.
 
How can this be possible? Our mind can only think of one thought at a time. So the way to meditate continuously is to somehow understand that everything we see, do and know is Ishvara.
 
Now we understand why Shri Krishna defined the terms brahma, karma, adhibhuta, adhideva, adhyaatma, adhiyagnya at the beginning of the chapter, because all those are nothing but Ishvara. If, while performing any action, we know that the actor, the action, the instrument, the process and the result – everything is Ishvara – we will never forget Ishvara.
 
Even if this kind of thinking is not possible for us in the beginning, we can emulate the mind of a mother who, regardless of what she is doing, always thinks about her child in the background. By practising meditation on our favourite deity we develop an attachment to it, so that we can recall it every time we feel distant from Ishvara.
 
So therefore, by practicing meditation constantly on Ishvara, we should strive to change our thinking such that our final thought will be nothing but Ishvara. This constant meditation upon Ishvara is called upaasanaa.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 4, Chapter 7

29 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in 7.4, aapaha, ahankaaraha, analaha, ashtadhaa, bhinnaa, bhoomihi, buddhihi, cha, chapter 7 verse 4, eva, iti, iyam, kham, manaha, me, prakritihi, vayuhu

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bhoomiraaponalo vayuhu kham mano buddhireva cha |
ahankaara iteeyam me bhinnaa prakritirashtadhaa || 4 ||
 
Earth, water, fire, wind and space, along with mind, ego and intellect, in this manner, this is my eight-fold differentiated nature.
 
bhoomihi : earth
aapaha : water
analaha : fire
vayuhu : wind
kham : space
manaha : mind
buddhihi : intellect
eva : along with
cha : and
ahankaaraha : ego
iti : in this manner
iyam : this
me : my
bhinnaa : differentiated
prakritihi : nature
ashtadhaa : eight-fold
 
Shri Krishna, having promised Arjuna that he will reveal his true essence, begins to do so in this shloka. He says that five primordial elements, as well as mind, ego and intellect, comprise his prakriti or nature.
 
Earth, water, fire, wind and space here do not mean tangible physical elements that we can perceive through our senses. They refer to the qualities of the physical elements. For example, water here refers to the quality of liquids that enable them to flow. Fire refers to the quality of a flame to generate light and heat. When these elements combine with each other, they have the potential to create every object in this universe. In other words, Shri Krishna says that the building blocks of the universe are nothing but his manifestation.
 
What is the implication here? For many of us that have a set image of Ishvara as a certain deity, this is a whole new way of understanding. It means that Ishvara is within our grasp 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All of the objects, situations and people that we interact with are made up of these elements.
 
This means that if we realize that everything comes from Ishvara, then we should not have room for any negative emotions such as jealousy, anger etc. Why? When we know that everything is created and owned by Ishvara, we do not get agitated if our neighbour buys a bigger car or gets a better job. We see everything as ultimately belonging to Ishvara, so it does not matter who temporarily claims it as his or hers.
 
Now, having discussed the five elements, let us take up the other three through an illustration. In the morning, just before we are about to wake up, our mind is in an unmanifest state. We are not aware of anything. As we begin to get up, the first thought that comes to mind is subject awareness, i.e. “I am so-and-so”. Soon after, we begin thinking that “I am so-and-so in this bedroom and it is 7 am now”. The mind goes from unmanifest, to the ego (I am), to awareness of objects.
 
The creation of the universe per the Saamkhya school of philosphy follows these three stages as well. The universe originally lies in an unmanifest state. The first manifestation or transformation in this state is the ego-principle, which is also known as self-assertion or the “I-principle”. It creates the notion of the subject and object, or of the experiencer and experienced. Finally, this ego-principle learns how to manifest itself in terms of objects, which is known as the cosmic mind. These three states – unmanifest, ego-principle and cosmic mind are denoted in the shloka as mind, ego and intellect.
 
The cosmic mind then begins to manifest itself from the most intangible elements to the most tangible ones, step by step. The first element produced is space, which is invisible. Next is air, which we cannot see but can infer from its effects. Next is fire, which we can see but not touch. This is followed by water, which we can see and touch. Finally, earth is produced which is the most tangible element of all. If you reverse the order of elements given in this shloka, it exactly follows the doctrine of creation in Saamkhya.
 
So, if we take all of these 8 factors into account, we realize that all the material aspects of the universe is Ishvara. Ishvara has not created this world like a sculptor creates statues out of clay. He has created the world out of himself. It is like the spider that creates the web out of himself, like the Mundaka Upanishad says.
 
The entire world of experience is Ishvara. But what about the experiencer himself? This is taken up in the next shloka.