Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 : Mantram-s 1,2

24/02/2018

Mundaka Upanishad

Chapter 1: Section 1 : Mantram-s 1,2.

1.
Om Brahma devanam prathamah sambabhuva

visvasya karta bhuvanasya gopta,

sa brahma-vidyam sarva-vidya-pratistham

 arthavaya jyestha-putraya praha.

2.
Artharvane yam pravadeta brahma-tharva

tam purova-cangire brahma-vidyam,

sa bharadvajaya satyavahaya

praha bharadvajo’ngirase paravaram.

Sum of mantram-1.

Brahma, the Creator, who was the first born among all evolutes in the process of the manifestation of God Almighty, the Creator of this world and the Protector of all beings, taught Brahma Vidya—the science of Brahman, which is the origin, the support and the foundation of every other learning, every other vidya or science or art—to his eldest son Atharvan, a great sage.

Sum of mantram-2.

Atharvan taught this knowledge that he received from Brahma to another sage, called Angi. This great sage Angi, who received it from Atharvan, who received it from Brahma, gave this knowledge to Bharadvaja, another great sage. This is the line of the descent of this knowledge. Bharadvaja, also known as Satyavaha, taught this wisdom, the wisdom of Paravara, the high and the low, once again to Angiras.


This knowledge includes everything that is here and also everything that is not here. The highest Reality as it is in itself, and also the reality manifest in the form of creation, is Paravara. This Brahma Vidya is a knowledge and a study of this great Reality which appears as para and avara, the high and the low at the same time.

An assembly of all the sages is reported to have frequently been held in a place called Naimisharanya. These sessions took place many times, and the teachings of the epics and the Puranas, and the great scriptures, were given by great teachers such as Sutapuranica, who is the speaker in the Mahabharata as well as in the Puranas.

One of the sages who were assembled there listening to these discourses was Saunaka. We will find that in the Puranas the questioner is always Saunaka. Saunaka was a great sage who performed large sacrifices, and his sacrificial ground was very big.

Therefore, he was called Saunaka Mahashala. Shala is the sacrificial ground, and mahashala means a large ground, even kilometres long. At least hundreds and hundreds of yajnas and sacrifices did Saunaka Mahashala perform, and usually these discourses were conducted in the very place where the yajnas were held.

On one side of the pandal, or tent, or the yajnashala, the actual havan, yajna, sacrifice would be performed by the appointed priests, and on the other side there would be a discourse going on. Even the recitation of the Mahabharata by Vaisampayana was done on the sacrificial ground.

To be continued ..