The Grass That Exposes Borrowed Power
तस्मिंस्त्वयि किं वीर्यमित्यपीदं सर्वमाददीय यदिदं पृथिव्यामिति ॥
tasmiṁstvayi kiṁ vīryamityapīdaṁ sarvamādadīya yadidaṁ pṛthivyāmiti ||
In you, what power is there? If it is in you, then take up all this—everything that is here on the earth.
Swamiji, when this question comes inside me — “what power is really in me?” — I feel a little shaken. Am I supposed to feel powerless?
Listen. I am not teaching you powerlessness. I am only cutting the false ownership. The power flowing through you is real. The consciousness in you is real. The Source is real. Only the ego which says, “It is independently mine, I produced it, I own it,” is unreal. When that false owner disappears, you do not become weak. You become powerful without arrogance, humble without weakness, responsible without false claiming.
Bhagavan, in my work I often feel proud after success. I don’t want to become arrogant, but I also don’t want to deny my strength. How do I live this in an ordinary day?
Every time victory happens, remember the Source. Do not build your identity on the victory. Let action happen with responsibility, but offer the “I” and “mine” inside you. This is namo — offering ahamkār and mamakār. You don’t need artificial humility. Real humility comes when you know, “The movement was by that power. The intelligence was by that power. The victory was by that power.” Then your work becomes worship, and power becomes gratitude.
Swamiji, I struggle with this. If I decide to behave with myself as Paramashiva, won’t my ego use that and become even more inflated?
Understand the difference. Ego saying, “I am ultimate,” is arrogance. Consciousness recognizing itself as the Source is completion. The verse destroys both extremes — pride and powerlessness. Pride says, “I independently own all power.” Powerlessness says, “I have no source inside.” Truth is: the Source is the undercurrent. When you are integrated with that Source, you radiate; you don’t boast. Boasting is separation. Gratitude is Oneness.
Bhagavan, when life tests me and I fail, my first reaction is to defend myself or escape. How do I come back instead of collapsing?
When the test comes, come back to integrity. Again and again, return to integrity to Him — that is Oneness. Do not defend the ego, do not escape, do not fall into depression. See the limitation of the false identity and become a seeker. Ask inside, “Where am I claiming power without remembering the Source?” Carry Completion. Completion changes the structure of your inner-space. Then the test becomes revelation.
Listen. This verse is a direct slap on the face of arrogance. It is not a slap given out of anger; it is the compassion of Existence. When the verse asks, “In you, what power is there?” it is not asking for an intellectual answer. It is not asking you to define power. It is asking you to stand naked in front of Truth and see whether what you call “my strength,” “my capacity,” “my achievement,” “my victory,” “my life” is really yours.
Understand this sacred secret: ego always speaks in wholesale language. It says, “I can do everything. I can manage everything. I am the source. I am the center.” But when Existence places one simple test, the whole false structure shakes. The question “tasmiṁstvayi kiṁ vīryam” — “What power is there in you?” — is the Upanishadic surgery. It cuts exactly where your false identity is hiding.
The verse does not condemn power. I am not against power. I tell you, I celebrate powerfulness. But bhakti should be the expression of the gratitude and powerfulness of everything you have been given, not from the attitude that you are separate from the Source. The problem is not that you have power; the problem is when you think you are separate from the Source of that power.
When I say, “What power is there in you?” I am not saying you are powerless in the ordinary depressed way. No. I am exposing the false ownership. The power flowing through you is real. The consciousness in you is real. The Source is real. But the ego that says, “It is mine, independently mine, I own it, I produced it” — that fellow is unreal.
Let this scene enter your inner space.
Story
After the devas won a great victory, they began celebrating as if the whole universe was surviving because of their muscle. Agni was glowing with pride, Vayu was moving with pride, Indra was standing with the pride of leadership. At that moment, Brahman appeared before them as a mysterious Yaksha. The devas could not understand who it was. They sent Agni first. Agni said, ‘I can burn anything on earth.’ The Yaksha placed a tiny blade of grass before him and said, ‘Burn this.’ Agni tried with all his power, but the blade did not burn. He returned silently. Then Vayu went. Vayu said, ‘I can blow away anything on earth.’ The Yaksha placed the same blade of grass and said, ‘Move this.’ Vayu rushed, roared, whirled, but the grass did not move. He too returned. Then Indra himself came. The moment Indra approached, the Yaksha disappeared. In that very space, Indra saw Uma Haimavati, shining with extraordinary beauty and radiance. Indra did not argue, did not boast, did not try to prove anything. He asked her, ‘Mother, who was that Yaksha?’ Uma revealed to him that it was Brahman, by whose power alone the devas had won. Indra became the first among the devas to receive that revelation because, at the right moment, he dropped the arrogance of power and became a seeker before Devi.
This is the whole teaching: when power becomes pride, Existence will not argue with it; Existence will simply give a small test. If the power is rooted in Brahman, it stands. If it is only ego’s noise, it returns silently.
The words “apīdaṁ sarvam ādadīya yad idaṁ pṛthivyām” — “If it is in you, then take up all this, everything that is here on the earth” — are not casual words. This is the challenge to the false claim. If you say, “I have the power,” then let the power prove itself without borrowed strength, without hidden support, without the unseen grace that you refuse to acknowledge.
Understand, the arrogance of the individual is always based on forgetfulness. You forget the Source and claim the flow. You forget the ground and claim the standing. You forget the life-energy and claim the movement. You forget Consciousness and claim intelligence. This forgetfulness is what the verse is piercing.
I have told you: the identity you carry in waking, dream, deep sleep, turiya and turiyātīta — in all states, each identity looks independent. But the moment you realize the undercurrent of all these identities, you are pure Consciousness, the Source. That undercurrent is the truth. The surface identity boasting, “I did, I know, I can,” is the incompletion.
That is why this verse is not merely about one deva being questioned. It is about every moment you assume doership without gratitude. Every time you say “my victory” without remembering the Source, the Yaksha has already appeared in your life. Every time you say “my intelligence,” “my money,” “my body,” “my leadership,” “my energy,” Existence asks, “In you, what power is there?”
Listen carefully. I have explained the word namo: it means offering “I” and “mine,” ahamkār and mamakār. It is easy to offer “mine.” You can give wealth, cheque, things. But offering “I” is the real surrender. This verse is demanding that offering. It is asking the prideful center: “If you are really the owner, show it. If not, offer the false ownership.”
Do not misunderstand surrender. I am not talking about ignorant surrender. Ignorant surrender is trying to throw away responsibility. Innocent surrender means you know, you are aware, you have no insecurity about the path, and still you offer the false “I” and “mine” because you have seen the Source. In this verse, the devas are being moved from arrogant ownership to the possibility of innocent surrender.
A little laughter will make the ego digest the blow.
Joke
Agni told, ‘I can burn everything!’ Brahman gave one grass. Finished! Even the cosmic fire became like a damp matchbox. Understand, ego always claims wholesale dealership of the universe, but when Existence gives one small test piece, it cannot even handle retail!
That is exactly how ego functions. It declares universal ownership, but when the real test comes, the inner bankruptcy is exposed. The test is compassion; it saves you from living in false accounts.
I tell you, anything outsourced, even if it is nectar, is dangerous because you become dependent. Anything inside, even if it is poison, is good because it awakens your internal responsibility. Now apply this to the verse deeply. The ego is outsourcing its identity to achievement, position, victory, capacity. It is depending on external validation and calling that “my power.” Brahman asks, “What is really in you?”
But do not take this as a teaching of weakness. I have said: our body can be taught. The pattern of asking external help for every situation and problem should be broken. Attend everything internal. Life means no outsourcing. The Upanishadic question pushes you inside — not into depression, but into the discovery of the real Source within.
The false ego says, “I alone.” The powerless mind says, “I cannot.” Both are wrong. The truth is: the Source is the power, and when you are integrated with the Source, you are powerful without arrogance. You are humble without weakness. You are responsible without claiming false ownership.
This is the subtle point: “In you, what power is there?” is not a denial of the divine presence in you. It is a denial of the disconnected ego. The moment you decide — You-Me, Me-You — there is no question of asking and getting. Simply I am there in you, you are there in Me. Neither you can take you away from Me, nor I can take Myself away from you. That is real power.
When you are separate in your imagination, you boast. When you are one in your experience, you radiate. Boasting is the symptom of separation. Gratitude is the fragrance of Oneness. Bhakti is not begging from separation; bhakti is overflowing from the realization that the Source has made you realize the Source is not away from you.
The verse is also a test of integrity. I have said, even when He tests you, again and again come back to integrity to Him — that is Oneness. The question of the Yaksha is a test. The challenge is a test. The inability to perform is a test. The silence after failure is also a test. If you come back to integrity, the test becomes revelation.
I cannot talk to you; I can only talk to your integrity. Because you will never listen to Me, only your integrity will listen to Me. So let your integrity listen to this verse. Where are you claiming power without remembering the Source? Where are you declaring capacity without completion? Where are you celebrating victory without gratitude?
Carry Completion; you will attract people who inspire you to be more complete. Completion changes the structure of your inner-space. The ego’s claim, “I can take up everything,” comes from incompletion. The complete being does not need to shout. Completion itself is strength. Completion itself is vīrya.
The Upanishadic challenge — “take up all this that is here on the earth” — is also the mirror for your inner exaggeration. Your mind creates huge self-images: “I am this, I am that, I am indispensable.” Existence asks only one thing: “All right, demonstrate from truth.” Not from noise. Not from self-advertisement. From truth.
Another silent teaching belongs here.
Story
Once, the four great sages — Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara — though eternally pure and deeply learned, still felt a subtle incompletion. They had studied, contemplated, practiced, but the final click had not happened. They went in search of the ultimate teacher. Under a banyan tree they saw Shiva as Dakshinamurti, a young radiant Master sitting in total stillness. The disciples were ancient sages; the Guru appeared as a youth. No lecture happened, no debate happened, no big philosophy conference happened. Dakshinamurti simply sat in silence, chinmudra shining from his hand, his very presence radiating the truth. The doubts of the four sages dissolved. Their seeking flowered into direct realization. The scene became immortal in the tradition: the Guru was silent, the disciples’ questions were answered, and knowledge descended not as information but as living experience.
Knowledge is not always information. Sometimes the highest teaching descends as presence, as silence, as the collapse of false questioning. In this verse too, the real answer is not verbal boasting; the real answer is the disappearance of arrogance and the flowering of direct knowing.
Understand, the Guru principle, the Divine principle, the Brahman principle — it does not have to win an argument with your ego. It simply reveals the limitation of the ego. When the limitation is seen, if you are mature, you do not become depressed; you become a seeker. That shift is the blessing.
Many people fail exactly at this point. When their power is questioned, they defend. When their capacity is tested, they fight. When their ego is exposed, they escape. But the right response is: “Let me know the Source. Let me return to integrity. Let me offer I and mine.” Then the test becomes initiation.
A little more humor is needed, because even spirituality becomes ego’s decoration.
Joke
Indra at least asked Uma, ‘Who was that Yaksha?’ That is why he got the answer. Many fellows today, even if Devi appears, they will first ask, ‘Mother, do you have Wi‑Fi password?’ Then they complain enlightenment is not happening!
See, the answer comes when the right question comes. If your question is from distraction, you miss even the presence of Devi. If your question is from integrity, revelation becomes possible.
This verse is asking you to stop running behind attention and start living in truth. Getting attention is different from getting love. Getting recognition for power is different from being established in the Source of power. Ego wants attention for borrowed power. Bhakti celebrates the Source from which all powerfulness flowers.
When you say, “I am powerful,” be very clear from where that declaration comes. If it comes from self-doubt, self-denial, self-hatred covered by loudness, it will fail in front of one small test. If it comes from the realization of the pure Consciousness as the Source, it is not arrogance; it is living truth.
Blessed are those who are able to convince themselves that they are ultimate; means they cross the last delusion of self-doubt, self-denial, self-hatred. But understand the right context: not the ego convincing itself it is ultimate, but Consciousness recognizing itself as the Source. That is why I say, decide to behave with yourself as Paramashiva. Not as arrogance — as completion.
The verse destroys two extremes: pride and powerlessness. Pride says, “I independently own all power.” Powerlessness says, “I have no source inside; I need everything from outside.” The Upanishadic truth is neither. The truth is: the Source is the undercurrent. Align, remember, surrender the false “I,” and radiate.
Do not outsource your spiritual clarity. Do not wait for the world to certify your strength. Do not build your identity on victories. Do not collapse when a blade of test appears. Go inside. Complete. Offer ahamkār and mamakār. Let the false owner disappear. Let the real Source shine.
I tell you, this one verse can become a powerful process if you allow it. Sit with the words: “In you, what power is there?” Let every false claim be questioned. Let every borrowed identity melt. Then sit with the next words: “If it is in you, take up all this.” Let your inner space see clearly what is ego’s claim and what is Source’s radiance.
The moment you see that the power is not separate from Brahman, humility becomes natural. You do not have to practice artificial humility. Artificial humility is another decoration of ego. Real humility is born when you know: “The victory was by that power alone. The movement was by that power alone. The radiance was by that power alone.”
Then life becomes worship. Action becomes completion. Power becomes gratitude. Bhakti becomes overflowing. Surrender becomes innocent. The question of the Yaksha becomes the doorway to revelation.
So I declare this as the essence of this verse: let the false claim of power be burnt; let the real Source of power be recognized. Let the ego that wants to take up the whole earth be exposed by truth. Let the being that is one with the Source radiate without pride, without fear, without self-denial.
This is Kena Upanishad Verse 22 — not a philosophy to be admired, but a mirror to be faced. Stand before it with integrity. Let it ask you: “What power is there in you?” If you answer from ego, you fail. If you answer by surrendering “I” and “mine,” you are led to the Source.