Mundakopanishad : Chapter-2. Section-2. Mantram-9 & 10.Post - 23. Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Wednesday,  March 10, 2021. 02:47. PM.
Mundakopanishad
Chapter 2:
Section 2,
Post - 24.
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Capter-II.
Sectuion -2.
Mantram- 9. (Self effulgent Brahmam) & Mantram-10. (All Illuminating Brahmam.)
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Here the word ‘karma’ is used in the plural. A controversy has arisen by commentators interpreting the word ‘karma’ as plural. How many karmas are there? Plural implies more than two. In Sanskrit grammar, plural is not dual, it is more than dual. In the English language, more than one is plural. But in Sanskrit, more than one is dual, and more than dual is plural. Here karm??i is plural, which means more than two. Does it mean that more than two karmas are destroyed, or are only two karmas destroyed? There are three kinds of karma—sanchita, agami and prarabdha. Usually it is said that prarabdha cannot be destroyed, and only sanchita and agami are destroyed, which are the store of karma and also the effects of karma that are performed in the present birth. They are destroyed, but the karma that has given birth to this body cannot be destroyed as long as the body lasts. This is the usual view of philosophers.

Then why is the word ‘karma’ used in the plural? Some commentators say that prarabdha is also destroyed. By saying that, they imply that though the jivanmukta purusha actually appears to be living in a body, moving about, speaking, eating, and doing things like anybody else, he is above this body. To others, the body may look like a moving vehicle; but for his own self, his consciousness has spread throughout all bodies. The jivanmukta does not see himself in one body only. The consciousness of “I am going”, etc., has been transcended by him. The jivanmukta purusha’s consciousness is in everybody’s body, and there-fore whether or not the prarabdha karma is working is immaterial for him because it is virtually destroyed. So, all the three are destroyed. This is another meaning that is given to this word ‘karm??i’. However, it matters little for us because we have all the three karmas with us. Tasmin d???e par?vare: Having reached that Supreme Being, your karmas are destroyed.

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Chapter-2, Section-2, Mantram-9. (Self effulgent Brahmam)

"Hiranmaye pare kose virajam brahma niskaram, 

tac - chubhram jyotisam jyotih - tad yadatma-vido viduh." (2.2.9): 

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Light of lights is this Brahman. The Sun and the Moon do not shine there. Within the golden sheath of the intellect of the human being, this Pure Consciousness scintillates like a spark which is without smoke and without any kind of limitation or location, the purest of purities, the Light of lights. That is beheld by those people who have known the Atman as identical with the light that they behold in other bodies also. The whole world will look like a mass of radiance to the jivanmukta purusha. If we gaze at the Sun for some time, we will see dark spots as if the Sun is everywhere, because of the effect produced by the force of its light on the eye. Likewise is the jivanmukta purusha’s perception of the Atman. It does not mean that he sees the Atman only within himself, and he sees people moving about outside. It is not like that. He sees himself present and moving in all bodies. It is a cosmic experience, incapable of articulation in ordinary words of language, and the less said about it the better.

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Chapter-2, Section, 2.Mantram-10. (All Illuminating Brahmam.)

"Na tatra suryo bhati, na candra-tarakam, 

nema vidyuto bhanti, kuto’yam agnih,

tam eva bh?ntam anubh?ti sarvam, 

tasya bhasa sarvam, idam vibhati" (2.2.10): 

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In that realm of eternal light, there is no radiance of the Sun. This brilliance of the Sun which is so intolerable to our eyes is like a shadow cast by that eternal light. Just as candle flames do not shine before the light of the Sun, so also the Moon, the stars, fire, and all the luminaries of the world do not shed their light in that eternal radiance. There is no Sun or Moon, no stars, no lightning, no fire or any kind of illumination that we can think of. All these illuminations are external, but this great eternal light is internal, and that is the difference. The internal light is brighter than the external light. Actually, the light of the Sun and the light of anything that illumines objects in this world is a frequency of radiation, and they look like a light that illumines objects only when the frequency of the emanation from the object that sheds the light is equivalent in ratio to the frequency of the structure of our perceptive organs. There are higher frequencies and lower frequencies of radiation, and we do not see them. More intense forms of light cannot be seen with the eyes, and very low frequencies also cannot be seen. We cannot see heaven because it is in a higher frequency, and we cannot see hell because it is in a lower frequency. We are in the middle. Anyway, the objective lights of the Sun, the Moon, and so on, do not play any role in that realm of eternal daylight.

To be continued ....

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