Isavasya Upanishad – 5

Mantras 15 to 18

Mantras 15 to 18 are prayers. These Mantras are prayers offered by one who is doing karma upasana samuchaya that was glorified in Mantras 9 to 11 and prayers are addressed to Surya devata.  These prayers are uttered in the final moments before death, what Gita calls in chapter 8 as ‘prayanakale’.  This Jiva is one who after death travels to Brahma Loka and attains krama mukthi at the time of next pralaya. His path to Brahma Loka, which is presided over by Hiranyagarbha, is given in Gita chapter 8 as Shukla gathi, and Surya devatha, the presiding deity over light principle, is the guiding devata for Shukla gathi along with Agni devata.  Shukla gathi passes through solar disc.  In Mantra 15, the samuchaya kartha requests the path be clear for him to travel to Brahma Loka. Mantra 15 is:

Hiranmayena paatrena satyasyapihitam mukham I

Tat twam pooshan apaavrinu satyadharmaaya drishtaye.II (Mantra 18)  

The face of the Truth is covered by a golden disc.  O Sun! remove it so that I may behold the Truth I am striving for.

Here also some words need interpretation before we can see the meaning. ‘Sathyam’, stands for Hiranyagarbha who presides over Brahma Loka and ‘mukham’ means gateway. So he prays that the path to Brahma Loka be free for him, one who has practised dharma and truth all his life.  The same Mantra can also be viewed as a regular prayer of a mumukshu by interpreting ‘Sathyam’ as Brahman and ‘hiranmayena pathrena’ as material attractions and possessions. Then it will mean” Take away the distraction of material attractions from me, one who is committed to Brahmajnanam, and let me have the mind to pursue the path to Moksha” 

The upaska has done Ahamgriha upasana, in which the upasana deity is invoked on upasaka’s body. So in Mantra 16, when Surya devata in response to his prayers tones down its heat gathering up its rays to enable him to see His benign form, he sees only himself as the Purusha in the Surya mandala.  This is only a bhavana, a mental visualization of samashti vyeshti Ikyam, arising out of the Ahamgriha upasana and not Ikya Jnanam.  In the case of mumukshu, this Mantra 16 can be interpreted to mean   “Please take away the veil of Maya and shower me with Your Grace to obtain JnanaNishta.”  So though the Mantras 15 &16 are the entreaties of the karma upasana samuchaya kartha in the final moments of life, it can be chanted by others also without reservations as they can be interpreted to suit others as well.

In Mantra 17, which is the first of the two prayers addressed to Agni devata, the samuchaya kartha reveals that he is not afraid of death, by saying ‘now let this body be reduced to ashes’; he only prays that his prana, vyeshti prana,  merge with Hiranyagarbha, samashti prana.  He states ‘kratho smara, krathagam smara’ twice, The first phrase is addressed to Agni devata asking him to remember all the vaidhika karmas done by him, as all the karmas are done in its presence only. The second phrase is addressed to his mind asking it to remember the upasana devata and not to be distracted by other things at the time of death.  Only by keeping the mind fixed on upasana devata without any distractions at the time of death, the upaska reaps the full benefit of the upasana.

In the second Mantra in the prayer to Agni devata which is also the last Mantra of the Upanishad i.e. Mantra 18, the samuchaya upaska prays for all such samuchaya karthas, taking a broad outlook eschewing the narrowness of praying for himself only. Mantra 18 is:

Agne naya supathaa raaye asmaan viswaani deva vayunaani vidwan I

Yuyodhi asmat juhuranam enoh bhooyishtam te nama-uktim vidhema. II(Mantra 18)

Oh Agni, lead us by the good path for the enjoyment of the fruit of our action. Oh God, You know all our deeds. Destroy our sin of deceit. We offer to You this, our best prayer.

We can interpret the prayer as: “O Agni devata, lead us along Shukla Gathi so that we can reap the fruits of our karma upasana samuchaya, i.e. krama Mukthi.  Please wipe off our crooked sins that will stand in the way.  We offer you our verbal salutations again and again.”  Since he is in the death bed he can only offer verbal prostrations. As one heavy with sins tends to gravitate back to earth, he prays for the cancellation of sins.  With this prayer the upanishad ends. Let us see a short summary of the Upanishad as almost all the Mantras needed interpretation.

The upanishad opened with a summary of Jnana yoga.  Jnana Yoga involves a shift in vision. This shift can be seen in three stages. The first stage is of world only vision.  With growing spiritual maturity, the vision shits to one of world and god. On realisation it becomes God only vision, which is called Iswara Drishti, the topic of first Mantra.  The second Mantra gave a synopsis of Karma Yoga.  This also can be seen in three stages; Material action only, material action and religious action, and religious action only.  In that third stage, referred to in the Mantra, whatever action is done it is done as an act of worship, dedicated to God. When thoughts, words and actions are dedicated to God, one is careful to perform dharmic actions only i.e. speak, think and act  good only.  In third Mantra, there is a warning that if one does not realise as in Mantra 1 or take steps to realise as in Mantra 2, one commits as if spiritual suicide. Mantras 4 & 5 speak of Athma lakshanam, Mantras 6 & 7 benefits of Athma Jnanam and 8 Nirguna, Saguna Brahma lakshanam. The first triad of Mantras 9, 10 and 11 glorifies karma upasana samuchaya over kevala karma and kevala upasana. The second triad of Mantras 12, 13 and 14 glorifies the samuchaya of two upasanas namely Hiranyagarbha upasana and Prakrithi upasana over individual upasanas. The last four Mantras i.e. 15, 16, 17, and 18 are prayers offered by karma upasana samuchaya kartha to Surya devata and Agni devata, the guardians of shukla gathi, the path to Brahma Loka for attaining krama mukthi. These prayers seek to keep the passage to Brahma Loka clear and smooth, free of obstacles due to any residual sin for the samuchaya kartha. This, in brief, is the summary of Isavasya Upanishad. 

Acknowledgement

While concluding the series of blogs on Isavasyopanishad I wish to record my deep debt of gratitude to the speeches and writings on Isavasyopanishad, of:

1)    Swami Paramarthananda

2)    Swami Gurubhakthananda

------------------------------------------

Isavasya Upanishad – 4

Mantras 9 to 14

In earlier blog, ‘Isavasya Upanishad 2’, we saw that Mantras 9 to 18 are a commentary on Mantra 2, that talks about Pravritti marga or Karma marga.  Here karmas are sastra vihita karmani, religious karmas as prescribed in sastras.  These karmas can be kayika, physical, vachika, verbal, or manasa, mental, either individually or in combination. Of these the kayika karmas like puja, yajna and vachika karmas like chanting, nama japa are called karmas, while manasa karma like dhyanam is called upasana. Mere karma alone is called kevala karma and mere upasana alone is called kevala upasana, while the combination of both karma and upasana is called karma upasana samuchaya. In the three Mantras 9, 10 &11, upanishad wants to glorify karma upasana samuchaya over kevala karma and kevala upasana.  This it does through nahi nindha stuthi  i.e by praising the combination and criticising the other two. But it does not mean the other two are devalued as they have their own value by themselves.  In these three Mantras, Upanishad employs the term ‘vidya’ for upasana and ‘avidya’, for karma.  Further it classifies higher worlds like Swarga and above as darker worlds because though they are materially brighter, the material pleasures act as a deterrent for developing the urge for spiritual advancement.  The higher the world, the more refined the sensual pleasures and more darker it is classified.  Now let us see Mantra 9:

Andham tamah pravisanti ye avidyam upasate I

Tatoh bhooya iva te tamoh ye u vidyaayaam rathah. II (Mantra 9)

“They who worship avidya alone fall into blinding darkness and they who worship vidya alone fall as though into an even greater darkness”. 

In the light of the explanation seen earlier this Mantra is to be interpreted as follows: Those who do kevala karma like agnihotra and other ritualistic karmas go to higher loka where there is no motivation for getting spiritual enlightenment and they are subject to continuation of the cycle of birth and death and the life of struggle and samsara at the exhaustion of their punya phala. As regards those who do kevala upasana the condition is no better; only they go to still higher loka where they  exhaust their punya enjoying more refined sensual pleasures, but lesser will be the inclination for getting spiritual enlightenment.  This Mantra is the part of nahi ninda stuthi where the kevala karma and kevala upasana are crticised only for the glorification of the combination, karma upasana samuchaya, to come later in Mantra 11.  In Mantra 10, it is stated that benefits that result from kevala karma and kevala upasana are different, revealing each of them has a purpose though different.  It is also said in this Mantra that this is what has been heard from the wise men who taught them i.e. their gurus.  This shows it is the traditional knowledge handed down through guru-sishya lineage.

Mantra 11,that glorifies samuchaya is:

Vidyam cha avidyam cha yastatvedobhayam saha I

Avidyaya mrityum teertva vidyaya amritam ashnute. II (Mantra 11)

 “He who worships both vidya and avidya together overcomes death through avidya and obtains immortality through vidya” 

Here not only ‘vidya’ and ‘avidya’  but also ‘mrityu’ and ‘amritam’ also are to be interpreted to arrive at the meaning of the Mantra. ‘Mrityu’ is to be interpreted as ‘Svabhika karma’, instinctive action, i.e action which is not governed by dharma but influenced by their likes and dislikes only.  ‘Amritam’ is to be interpreted as krama mukthi and not as videha mukthi.  Krama mukthi, is liberation gained from Brahma Loka at the time of pralaya after getting enlightenment in Brama Loka, while videha mukthi is liberation attained at the time of death here itself, without travelling to any other loka. So this Mantra is to be interpreted as: – one who does karma upasana samuchaya attains chiththa suddhi, a purified mind that abides by dharma and ethics, and after death goes to Brahma Loka and attains krama mukthi.  Thus karma upasna samuchaya is glorified over kevala karma and kevala upasana.

In the three Mantras, 12, 13 and 14 a similar approach is made as in 9, 10 and 11, to glorify the combination of two upasanas over the two individual upasanas i.e. upasana dwaya samuchaya over kevala upasana. The two upasanas mentioned here are sambhoothi upasana and asambhoothi upasana. sambhoothi  referring to Hiranyagarbha which is samashti sukshma sareera, collective subtle body which is also referred to as vinaasam in Mantra 14, being subject to change.  asambhoothi  refers to  Prakrithi  which is samashti karana sareera. Mantra 12 is:

Andham tamah pravisanti ye asambhootimupaasate I

tato bhooya iva te tamo ya u sambhootyaam ratah II (Mantra 12)

They enter into blinding darkness who do only the Prakrithi upasana; but into even greater darkness they enter who do Hiranyagarbha upasana alone.

The interpreted meaning of Mantra 12 is: - Those who do Prakrithi upasana alone, go to higher loka but they are subject to continuation of the cycle of birth and death and the life of struggle and samsara at the exhaustion of their punya phala as there is no motivation for getting spiritual enlightenment there.  As regards those who do Hiranyagarbha upasana alone, they go to still higher loka, but still are subject to continuation of the cycle of birth and death and the life of struggle and samsara at the exhaustion of their punya phala as sensual pleasures are more refined here and the motivation for getting spiritual enlightenment is lesser. This is the criticism part of kevala upasana.  The glorification of the combination, upasana dwaya samuchaya, comes in Mantra 14. But before that in Mantra 13, each of these upasanas individually is stated to confer separate but distinct benefit and this statement is also attributed to their gurus as in Mantra 10.  Mantra 14 is: 

Sambhootim cha vinaasham cha yah tat veda ubhayam saha I

Vinaashena mrityum teertvaa Sambhootyaa amritam ashnute. II (Mantra 14)

He who worships both Prakriti and Hiranyagarbha together, overcomes death by the worship of Hiranyagarbha and obtains immortality through worship of Prakriti.

The word ‘amritam’ in this Mantra is interpreted as Prakrithi laya, where the Jiva continues in Brahma Loka until pralaya and in pralaya goes into unmanifest condition to be born again in next creation.  In krama mukthi one attains liberation, while in Prakrithi laya one has to continue the cycle of birth and death until liberation. The word ‘mrityu’ is interpreted as limitations and ‘mrityum teertvaa’ as overcoming limitations through acquisition of animadhi ashta siddhis, eight siddhis like anima.  The ashta siddhis are:

1)    Anima, power to shrink one’s size, 

2)     Mahima, power to enlarge one’s size,

3)    Garima, power to make oneself heavy,

4)    Lahima, power to make oneself light,

5)    Prapthi, power to reach anywhere,

6)    Prakamiya, power to get and enjoy in one’s place objects one wants,

7)    Vashitva, power  to exercise control over all objects, organic and inorganic,

8)    Ishitva, power to create and destroy at will objects.

So the meaning of the Mantra with all the interpretations is: - “One, who does the combination of Hiranyagarbha upasana and Prakrithi upasana, acquires animadhi ashta siddhis through Hiranyagarbha upasana and attains Prakrithi laya through Prakrithi upasana”.  This is the glorification of the combination of upasanas over individual upasanas.

----------------

Isavasya Upanishad – 3

Mantras 4 to 8 

Mantras 4 & 5, give Athma Swarupa lakshanam.  Since Athma cannot be objectified, a straight description of Athma is not possible.  So the upanishad speaks in paradoxes, which make one pause and think deeply about them.  In Zen Buddhism such types of paradoxes are employed to make one think and meditate on them, to arrive at the meaning intuitively rather than through logic and reason.  Now science also employs such paradoxes in its description of the nature of sub-atomic particles.  Mantra 4 reads as:

Anejadekam manasoh javeeyoh nainat devah apnuvanpoorvamarshat I

tat dhavatoh anyaanatyeti tishthat tasminapoh maatariswa dadhati. II (Mantra 4)

The Self is one and motionless, but is faster than the mind. The senses could not overtake It, since It had run ahead of them.  Remaining stationary, It outruns all other runners.  It being there, Prana sakthi supports all activities.

Athma is one and all pervading.  As it is all pervading, like space, it has nowhere to go and so It is motionless. As It is all pervading, wherever the mind reaches, Athma is already there and so it is ‘as though’ faster than the mind.  Further Athma is not an object or concept.  So mind cannot catch It.   The same with the senses and it looks ‘as though’ It had run ahead of them to reach the sense object.  Though motionless, as it is in all places, being all-pervading, nothing can overtake it.  Maatariswa, Vayu, stands for Prana sakthi.  Prana sakthi, at vyeshti, individual, level is kriya sakthi and at samashti, collective, level is Hiranyagarbha.  Both Hiranyagarbha and Prana function only in the presence of Athma, as Athma only lends sentiency to them, and by themselves they are insentient, being a product of Pancha bhuthas.  

Mantra 5 reads as:

Tat ejati tat na ejati tat doore tadhvantike I

tat antahrasya sarvasya tadhu sarvasyasya baahyatah II (Mantra 5)

The Athma moves and It moves not; It is far and It is near; It is within all this and It is also outside all this.

Athma is pure Consciousness.  Consciousness is not experienced in its pure form.  Consciousness experienced through the mind is called sophadhika Chaitanyam, while Consciousness in the pure form is called nirupadhika Chaitanyam.  As sophadhika Chaitanyam, it appears to move with the body; while nirupadhika Chaitanyam does not move. In a lighthouse the light seems to move while it is only the case around it with holes that moves and not the light.  Though Athma is Brahman, for an Ajnani, Brahman is far away from him, farther than the farthest, while for Jnani only It is very near, nearer than the nearest, being his own Self.  Brahman, that is Athma, is Sat, Chit and Anantha and it is realised inside as Chit and experienced outside as Sat. It is also outside for a searching person, ajnani, and inside for a knowing person, jnani.   Sri Krishna echoes these ideas in Gita (13-15), with the phrases “Bahirantashcha bhootaanaam, acharam charameva cha (Without and within (all) beings, the unmoving and also the moving)” while describing Brahman.  From these two Mantras 4 & 5 we understand that Athma is all-pervading, the one behind the many and the one sustaining the many.

Mantras 6 and 7, give the benefit of Athma jnanam.  Mantras 6 and 7 read as:

Yastu sarvani bhutani athmani eva anupasyati I

sarva bhutheshu cha athmanam tatoh na vijugupsate II (Mantra 6) 

He, who sees all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings, feels no hatred for any being.

Yasmin sarvaani bhutani athmaivabhoot vijaanatah I

tatra koh mohah kah shokah ekatvam anu-pasyatah. II (Mantra 7)

What delusion can there be to one who realizes all beings as his own Self?  What grief can there be to the one who sees oneness only everywhere?

We hate something we do not like.  We get deluded when we mistakenly see one thing as another.  We feel sad when we lose something we like or get something we do not like or we do not get something we like.  When you attain Self-realization, you transcend the pairs of opposites like good and bad, like and dislike, pleasure and sorrow etc. This comes from the attitudinal change which is the result of realization of oneness with all and disidentification with body-mind complex as Self.  Fear, hatred, dislikes all come only when there is another.  In the vision of Oneness, there is no duality, as there is no second being other than Self.  So the mind experiences a sense of unbroken tranquillity in all types of circumstances. Line 2 of Mantra 6 gives the first stage when one sees Athma in everything, Athma bahuthvam.  Here anathma is the container and Athma is the content.  The second stage is stated in the first line when one sees everything in Athma, Athma Ekathvam.  Here Athma is the container and all anathma are the content of this one Athma. The third stage is AthmaBrahmatvam given in Mantra 7, where Athma alone is there as Brahman and anathma in total is negated as mithya,.  This is the stage of Jeevanmuktha and his vision is called sarvathmabhava. This was seen as Iswara Drishti in the first Mantra.

Mantra 8 sums up the Brahmalakshanam, in its Nirguna and Saguna aspects:

Sah paryagaat shukram akaayam avranam

asnaaviragm suddham apapa-viddham I

kavih maneeshee paribhooh, swayambhooh

yaathaa-tathyatah arthaan vyadadhaat shaashwateebhyah samaabhyah.II(Mantra 8)

Brahman is all-pervasive, self-effulgent, bodiless, without wound, without muscles, pure, untouched by papa, omniscient, omnipotent, transcendental, self-existent.  He alone has allotted to the eternal creators (prajapathis) their respective duties.

He is self effulgent as in His light only, everything else, including sun, moon, stars and Agni are revealed, while no external source is needed to reveal Him.  Akaayam, bodiless, means He does not have sukshma sareeram.  Avranam, without wound, and asnaaviragm, without muscles, mean He does not have sthula sareeram. Suddham, pure,  means he does not have the karana sareeram which has the impurity of ignorance. In short He is free from sareera triam. As He is the karmaphala dhata, He is beyond karmaphala like papa and punya.  All knowledge emanate from Him and all power flow from Him. He is the causeless cause of all effects.   His is the power that is behind the entire natural phenomenon, the movement of the planets, the regularity of the seasons, the harmony in nature and the rhythm of life.  Of these; all-pervasive, self-effulgent, bodiless, without wound, without muscles,, pure, untouched by papa, transcendental, self-existent  describe Nirguna Brahman and the rest Saguna Brahman or Iswara.

With this the Jnana Yoga portion comes to an end and from next Mantra the commentary on Mantra 2 starts which we shall see in the next blog.

---------------------------------

Isavasya Upanishad – 2

Mantras 1,2 & 3

The upanishad starts with the following Mantra, after the Shanthi Mantra:

 Eesa vasyam-idagam sarvam yat kim cha jagatyam jagat I

Tena tyaktena bhunjeetha ma gridhah kasya svit dhanam. II (Mantra 1)

 Everything in this changing world must be covered by Iswara.  With that feeling of renunciation, enjoy the world.  Do not covet anybody’s wealth.

The opening two words of the first Mantra, Isa vasyam, is used to give the name for the Upanishad as Isavasya Upanishad.  The Upanishad is also referred to as Isa Upanishad using the first word alone.  This Mantra talks of the path of knowledge and inner renunciation. Iswara is Brahman with karanam status for the creation of this Jagat, the constantly changing universe. So the universe is the karyam and karyam is only karanam plus nama, rupa, i.e. name and form.  As karanam pervades the karyam, and nama, rupa have no substance, the real nature of the universe is only Iswara. So the Mantra asks us to look at the Universe as pervaded by Iswara, and this vision is called Iswara Drishti.  This Iswara Drishti is what is meant by ‘covering the world with Iswara’.  So everything revealed by our senses is Iswara and Iswara only with different names and forms.  ”Yad kincha Jagatyam Jagat” in Mantra means everything in the universe without exception.  Sri Krishna echoes this idea only in the first line of Gita (6-30) where he states: “Yo maam pasyati sarvatra sarvam cha mayi pashyati (He who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me)”   As everything is Iswara, there is no ‘my’ or ‘mine’ and this mental renunciation is called inner renunciation.  With karya dhrishti i.e. jagat dhristi, you see the universe and not Iswara. Only with karana dhrishti i.e. Iswara dhrishti, Iswara can be seen as pervading everything in and of the Universe. With this Iswara Dhrishti only you enjoy the world treating whatever you partake of the world as a blessing of Iswara and with a sense of gratitude to Iswara. As everything is of Iswara only, don’t entertain any sense of possession with regard to persons and things. Tena tyakthena means with a sense of detachment.  You function in this world without getting attached to objects or persons.  As a corollary you do not have a desire for other’s possessions as well, whatever that may be.  Dhanam stands for all possessions. This teaching is for persons with vairagyam and Jnanam.  The person may be involved in worldly karmas but then his attitude will be one of detachment and inner renunciation. This is called Jnana marga, which is also called Nivritti marga.

If the first Mantra talks about Nivritti marga, the second Mantra talks about Pravritti marga or karma marga.  The second Mantra is:

Kurvan eva iha karmaani, jijeevishet shatagm samaah I  

evam tvayi na anyathaa itah asti, na karma lipyate nare. II (Mantra 2).

By doing one’s ordained karmas, one should desire to live for hundred years.  For a man such as you (who wants to live for hundred years) there is no other way.  By living thus, karma does not cling to you.”

The second Mantra is for others who cannot follow the Jnana marga but who lead a dharma pradhana life and the path prescribed is called karma marga or pravritti marga.  You do whatever duties prescribed for your station in life namely pancha maha yajnas, without swerving from dharma and without seeking worldly benefits i.e. nishkama and desire to live well your allotted span of life.  Here hundred years stands for one’s allotted span of life and Nishkama is seeking chiththa suddhi only, through Iswara’s Grace.  The pancha maha yajnas are: Deva yajna, worship and prayer; Pitru Yajna, karma for forefathers; Brahma Yajna, study, chanting and teaching of scriptures; Manushya Yajna, service to fellow-men, society and family duties; Bhutha Yajna, service to all non-human living beings like animals, plants.   This way the karma phala does not attach to him.  He is addressed as nare to show he has no vairagya or Jnanam and though he is not free from attachments, he leads a dharma pradhana life, interested in moksha purushartha.  This idea Sri Krishna conveys in the first line of Gita (18-45) which runs as: “Swe swe karmanyabhiratah samsiddhim labhate narah (Each man, devoted to his own duty, attains perfection)”.

The first two Mantras contain the essential teaching of the upanishad.  Mantras 3 to 8 are said to be a commentary on Mantra 1 and Mantras 9 to 18 a commentary on Mantra 2.   Of these two Mantras (Mantras 1&2), Mantra 1 is interpreted as addressed to persons in Sanyasa ashrama and Mantra 2 to persons in Grahastha ashrama.  In the first Mantra, the first line and part second line i.e. “Eesa vasyam-idagam sarvam yat kim cha jagatyam jagat I Tena tyaktena bhunjeetha” is to be treated as addressed to Vidwat Sanyasi, Sanyasi  with Jnanam, and  the rest, “ma gridhah kasya svit dhanam”  to Vividhisha Sanyasi, Sanyasi seeking Jnanam.

The next Mantra i.e. Mantra 3, is a criticism of Athma ajnanam through criticism of Athma ajnani.  In this Mantra we cannot take the literal meaning. The Mantra with the literal meaning is as below:

Asuryah nama te lokah andhena tamasa avritaah I

tam te pretya abhi-gachanti e ke cha athma hanah janah II (Mantra 3)

The worlds of asuras are covered by blinding darkness.  Those people that kill their Athma go to these worlds after death. 

Those who are ignorant of Athma as their true self do not have the feeling of Purnathvam, which comes with the knowledge that Athma that is Purna, eternal and not subject to changes like birth, and death, disease and old age is their real Self.  Consequently they imagine that the body-mind complex is their real self, and suffer samsara with its corollaries of insecurity, non-fulfilment, fear of disease, old age and death.  It is as if Athma does not exist for them and they are figuratively described as killers of their Athma.  Atmahana can be translated also as suicide.  Here it is spiritual suicide.  In ordinary suicide one kills one’s own body, which is external to one’s real Self while in spiritual suicide it is as though one kills one’s real Self itself.   Since they do not gain AthmaJnanam in this birth, they do not get liberation and at death go to one of the fourteen worlds and suffer samsara there. Sri Krishna states in Gita (8-16): “Aabrahmabhuvanaallokaah punaraavartino’rjuna (O Arjuna, all the worlds together with the world of Brahma are subject to return)” i.e. all worlds from Brahma Loka downwards are subject to return and one who goes there is not free from the cycle of birth and death.  So all these worlds are called the worlds of asuras.  Asurya can be also interpreted as where sun does not shine and so there will be total darkness as in the interior of a cave.  Here the darkness is darkness of Ajnana, spiritual blindness.  As they cannot attain liberation, even in Brahma Loka where to qualify for krama mukthi they must acquire Brahma Jnanam there, these worlds are called worlds of blinding darkness.  So the meaning for this Mantra 3 is to be interpreted as: - Death is no relief for the ones who do not gain Athmajnanam, as they will be reborn to suffer the pangs of samsara again and again until they acquire AthmaJnanam. 

------------------------------