This is the difference between ‘Isha’ (pronounced as “Eesha”; the Lord God)
and a ‘non-Isha’ (the Jiva, the living being)^3 *. (2)
[Note—^1 The main part of the liquid is ‘wine’, and the water of Ganges is only an
addition to it to make wine dilute. No saint or holy men would drink wine in the
mistaken belief that since the holy water of river Ganges has been added to it, wine
has become drinkable for them. Since ‘wine’ is an intoxicating liquid that is
prohibited for holy people, mere addition of water of the Ganges would not change
the former’s basic character as being a prohibited drink.
(^2) But suppose we pour bottles full of wine in river Ganges; will it mean that the
water of Ganges becomes undrinkable? No, it is not so. The river Ganges and its
water would contine to be respected and regarded as holy irrespective of addition of
how much wine is poured into the water of the river. Ganges won’t lose its holy and
sanctified character.
This can be easily explained with the help of an example. Suppose water is added
to pure milk, would this change the basic nature, nomenclature, character or virtue of
the white liquid known as ‘milk’? Milk would still be known as ‘milk’ no matter
how much quantity of water is added to it.
On the other hand, suppose a huge canister full of pure milk is poured into a river,
will anyone in his senses call the water of the river as ‘milk’? No, the answer is that
no matter how much milk is added to a river, the latter would always be said to
contain ‘water’ and ‘not milk’.
(^3) ‘Isha’ is the supreme God and Lord of everything that exists. This entire
universe with all its diversity has its origin in him. He lives inside and outside this
creation. He has all the exemplary good virtues in creation. He is eternal, immortal,
uncorrupt, without attributes, subtle, sublime, pure Consciousness; he remains even,
uniform and steady in the midst of the ever-changing nature of universe; he is all-
pervading and all-encompassing; he is omniscient and omnipresent. In other words,
‘Isha’ is beyond measurement by any yardstick by which we measure the rest of the
entities of creation; he is beyond comprehension and grasp of the limited abilities of
the mind and intellect just like the sky that cannot be measured.
The ‘non-Isha’ or the Jiva, the living being, on the other hand, cannot become
equivalent to ‘Isha’ though it is true that the Jiva is a ‘fraction of Isha’. A ‘fraction’
obviously cannot be the ‘whole’!
The metaphysical reason behind saying that Jiva is a fraction of Isha is that the
true identity of their ‘self’ is the pure conscious Atma, the essential element known as
the ‘Soul’. This Atma is nothing but pure Consciousness. In the case of ‘Isha’, this
Consciousness exists in its purest form and exalted state of transcendental existence.
It has no physical limitations or barriers; it is subtle and sublime instead of being
gross and mundane; it is eternal and imperishable instead of being mortal and subject
to death and birth. Isha has no gross physical body as opposed to a Jiva that lives in a
gross physical body.
So, since the ‘Consciousness’ is the true and factual identity of the ‘self’ in both
the cases of an Isha and a non-Isha or Jiva, they appear to be the same in theory. But
the similarity ends there—because Isha has a greater density of wholesome pure
Consciousness as opposed to a Jiva or non-Isha which has only a ‘fraction’ of this
Consciousness. So the distinction is crystal clear.
It is like the case of ‘water in a glass of milk’ and ‘milk in the water of a river’.
In the former case, the liquid will still be called ‘milk’, whereas in the latter case no
one calls the ‘water of a river’ as being milk.
In this example, the milk is like the Jiva, and the water is like the Conscsiousness.
The Jiva gets its identity and life because of the Consciousness present in it just like
the milk getting its identity as a liquid which is life-sustaining because of its basic
water content. Without water milk would be a solid chunk just like a Jiva whose body
would be life-less without the presence of Consciousness in it. But water in milk is