Mundakopanishad : Chapter-1. Section-2. Mantram-12. Post -2. Swami Krishnananda

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15/03/2020.
Mundakopanishad
Chapter-1.
Section-2.
Mantram 12 : Mantram 12 : "A seeker seeing meaninglessness, of the worldly and heavenly pleasures advised to approach a teacher and seek Supreme Knowledge."
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Mantram-12.
"Parikshya lokan karma-citan brahmano
nirvedam-dyan-nasty-akrtah krtena,
tad-vijnan-artham sa guru-mevabhi-gacchet
samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nishtham." (1.2.12).
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1.

#Nasty akrtah krtena : 

*That which is not the product of any kind of action cannot be reached by actions, which are products. Actions are emanations of personality, and are not self-existent. Actions cannot hang in the air. They have to emanate, or rise, from some personality. 

**Therefore, they are in the form of an effect. An effect is that which is produced by a cause; it is a product. That which is a product cannot become the cause of the attainment of that which is not a product. The Purusha Supreme is not created by anybody. It is a non-created eternal. Temporal things cannot take us to the eternal. Time has no connection with eternity. 

***The three-dimensional world is a shadow, as it were, cast by an eternity which is supposed to be multi-dimensional, or infinite-dimensional. Let a person get disgusted with this world and want nothing from it, realising that this world cannot actually fulfil its promises. Its promises are empty.

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2.

Knowing the futility of life in this world, one should humbly approach a great Master for the sake of the knowledge of that which shall make the soul immortal one day or the other. 

What kind of teacher, what kind of Master? One who has two qualities. 

Srotriyam brahma-nishham : 

He must be immensely learned, and also spiritually established. If a person is spiritually established but does not feel competent to expound the scriptures, he will not be able to speak to you. But if a person is learned but not established in Brahman, then his speeches will be empty. 

So the two qualifications are mentioned here: internally established in God, Brahman-consciousness, and outwardly capable of expounding the meaning of the scriptures in a highly learned manner which carries conviction in the mind of a student.

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3.

#Humbly you should approach. 

#Samit-panih is the word used here. 

##In ancient days, disciples used to live with the Gurus in forests, in retreats, etc., far from cities and available means of transport and the minimum needs of life, so that even firewood was a difficult thing for them to obtain. So firewood was carried by disciples, especially for the yajnas, or sacrifices. 

*Every householder has to perform an agnihotra sacrifice. Most of the great Masters those days were householders, and so they had to carry on the agnihotra sacrifices every day, for which firewood is necessary. 

**Hence, the first thing that the disciple would offer to the Guru was firewood, and every day he would go to the forest to collect it, which, in those days, was a very important duty of disciples. 

***It is in this context that it is mentioned to approach the Guru humbly, with holy firewood in one’s hand, or it may simply be an offering that is the need of the Guru. In those days firewood was a necessity, but in other cases it may be something else. 

### So, whatever is a requirement of the Guru is that which has to be offered by a disciple. With such offering, humbly let a seeker of Brahman approach that Master who is learned in sacred lore and established in Brahman — 

#"Srotriyam brahma-nishtham."

To be continued ...

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