Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 : 14.

12/01/2019
Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 :  Discussion-14
(Mundakopanishad : Chapter-1 : Section-1 :Mantram-9)

Tasmad etad brahma nama-rupam annah ca jayate. 

From this Great Being, Brahman, the Absolute, emanates the secondary Brahman. In the language of scholastic philosophers, it is prakriti. 

Mama yonir mahad brahma (B.G. 14.3) is mentioned in the Bhagavadgita. 

Here Brahma does not mean Supreme Brahman but prakriti, the matrix of things. Then name and form manifest themselves—nama-rupam. The inward characteristic of an object is called nama, and its outward characteristic is called rupa. The indication—the determining factor of a particular shape that an individual has to take—is called linga sharira in our case, and the subtle body is called the sukshma sharira. 

Here, nama does not simply mean a name such as Rama, Krishna and Govinda; it is the indicative linga, or the specific character, of the would-be individual in the form of a body. Rupa is the actual physical form. Thus, the subtle and the physical shapes emanate as nama and rupa from this original Brahma, Mulaprakriti.

Annah ca jayate: The field of action is created. Here, anna means actual matter is the field of particular individual action for the jivas to reap their fruits according to their deeds. This is also a great verse. In one verse so many things are there.

These nine verses constitute one section of the Upanishad. Very concentrated is the teaching. The verses are only nine, but so much has been said in these nine verses that we may say that these nine verses themselves are a kind of Upanishad. You can commit the whole thing to memory and meditate on the implication, the suggestive meanings of these verses, and it will form a complete meditation for you.

Now we go to the Second Section.

NEXT Section-2.

To be continued ...