WHITHER MY LITTLE LIGHT ? – KutOyamagnih

na tatra sooryo bhAti na chandratArakam

nEmA vidyuto bhAnti kutOyamagnih

tamEva bhAntamanubhAti sarvam

tasya bhAsA sarvamidam vibhAti

A beautiful mantra found in the Upanishads. This is often chanted during the ‘Arathi’ or offering of lights before the deity. No translation would be faithful to or encompass the true meaning of these short verses. For indeed, there are layers of meaning. And the mantra is doing just what it is meant to do – helping one or leading one to journey to one’s inner depths to reach the ultimate destination of Self- realization. – MananAt trAyate iti mantra.

A rough translation of the mantra would be:

The sun cannot illumine That; neither can the moon and stars; nor can the bright flashes of lightning. Then whither this little light of mine? Indeed That does shine, following which everything reflects That light. In That light (brilliance) all of this Universe is illumined.

As mentioned earlier, this mantra is chanted while doing the ritual of Arathi with lighted lamp or burning camphor. The ultimate purpose of any ritual is to lead one to Brahman or Atma, which in common parlance is God. (The ritual and mantra are nothing but means to an end – the end being God – realization of Self-realization. Both are one and the same and once you realize that Truth, you are really realized!)

Thus, as the mantra indicates, the sun, moon, stars or even the lightning are incapable of revealing that Supreme Light. Its brilliance is such that it cannot be comprehended by our naked eye. How then can this little fire that we wave before the deity be expected to show us that vision? Yes, we do know the futility of the action… yet, in full knowledge of that ‘ignorance’, we offer the Arathi in It’s honour. We hope and pray for that true light to be revealed and lit in our hearts.

Indeed,That alone is the real light. When That is shining, the sun, the moon, the lightning, the fire and all else are its reflections. And yes, that verily is the light that opens our inner eye to see that the light shining within us is the same as the Supreme Light. Hence the last line of the mantra – In That Light all the universe is illumined. That is to say that when we realize the truth about our Self, everything else becomes crystal clear and bright in the light of that Knowledge.

Having reached that Ultimate Destination of the Abode of the Supreme, which is our Self, there is no more going back to our mundane, earthly selves. This is also the import of the similar metaphor in the verse 15.6 of the Bhagavad Gita, which contains the pure essence of the Upanishads.

na tad bhAsayate suryo
na shashAnko na pAvakah
yad gatva na nivartante
tad dhAma paramam mama

Neither the sun, the moon nor fire can illumine that Eternal state. And for one having attained that state which is My Supreme Abode, there is no going back to the material world