The Essence of Narayana Upanishad (N. Sudhindran)

It was a bright Sunday morning on the third of July, 2005 at Sai Kulwant Hall, Prasanthi Nilayam. Bhagawan was seated on the stage and was listening to the students chanting Vedic hymns. When Narayana Upanishad was being chanted, Bhagawan commanded me to translate that mantra into English. So, as the Vedam group chanted the Upanishad line by line, I translated it into English. At the end of the mantra, Bhagawan waved His hand and materialised an exquisite golden necklace.

He said that the necklace contained the power of the sacred mantra “Om Namo Narayanaya.” He then said, “All scriptures such as the Vedas, Upanishads, and others illuminate the path that man has to take to attain the final destination — Divinity. The mantra ‘Om Namo Narayanaya’ contains the essence and power of all the scriptures. This mantra embodies the fatherly and motherly aspects of Divinity. Without either of them, there can be no creation. If one were to contemplate deeply, one would realise that there is no difference between the two aspects — Purusha (God) and Prakruthi (Nature), for, they are indeed one and the same. “

I realised that after my theoretical (and rather prosaic) explanation of the Narayana Upanishad, Bhagawan had decided to conduct a ‘practical class’ on the same topic! Swami revealed new, beautiful insights into the meaning of the very same verses of the Narayana Upanishad that we had chanted many times.

He then gave the necklace to me to hold it up for everyone to see and made me repeat on the microphone what He had elucidated about it, for the benefit of everyone assembled in Sai Kulwant Hall that day. I had the good fortune of keeping the necklace until the Bhajans that morning, and at the end of it, I reverentially handed it back to Bhagawan.

What a blessing to have been taught the Narayana Upanishad by Lord Sriman Narayana Himself!