Mundakopanishad : Chapter-3. Section-1. Mantram-1. Post - 1- Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday,  March 25, 2021. 11:25. AM.
Mundakopanishad
Chapter 3:
Section 1,
Post - 1.
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Now we go to Section 1 of Chapter 3. The same verse that occurred earlier, of the illustration of two birds perching on a single tree, is before us.

Mantram-1.Another method of pointing to Brahmam.-Two birds staying on the same tree :

"Dvau suparna sayuja sakhaya 

samanam vrksham parisasvajate 

tayoranyah: pippalam svadv atty- 

anasnannanyo abhicakas iti" (3.1.1 ): 

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Tatvam (Essence) of Mantram :

Two inseparable companions of fine plumage perch on the self-same tree. One of the two feeds on the delicious fruit. The other not tasting of it looks on.

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Sri Swami Adi Shankaracharya’s Commentary:

The Para vidya has been explained, by which the immortal ‘purusa’ or the Truth could be known, by whose knowledge the cause of Samsara, such as the knot of the heart, etc., can be totally destroyed. Yoga which is the means to the realization of the Brahman has also been explained by an illustration “taking the bow and the rest.” Now the subsequent portion is intended to inculcate the auxiliary helps to that yoga, as truth, etc. Chiefly, the truth is here determined by another mode, as it is extremely difficult to realize it. Here, though already done, a mantra (brief) as an aphorism is introduced for the purpose of ascertaining the absolute entity. Suparnau, two of good motion or two birds; (the “word Suparna” being used to denote birds generally); Sayujau inseparable, constant, companions; Sakhayau, bearing the same name or having the same cause of manifestation. Being thus, they are perched on the same tree (‘same,’ because the place where they could be perceived is identical). ‘Tree’ here means ‘body;’ because of the similitude in their liability to be cut or destroyed. Parishasvajate, embraced; just as birds go to the same tree for tasting the fruits. This tree as is well known has its root high up (i.e., in Brahman) and its branches (prana, etc..) downwards; it is transitory and has its source in Avyakta (maya). It is named Kshetra and in it bang the fruits of the karma of all living things. It is here that the Atman, conditioned in the subtle body to which ignorance, desire, karma and their unmanifested tendencies cling, and Isvara are perched like birds. Of these two so perched, one, i.e., kshetrajna occupying the subtle body eats, i.e., tastes from ignorance the fruits of karma marked as happiness and misery, palatable in many and diversified modes; the other, i.e., tbe lord, eternal, pure, intelligent and free in his nature, omniscient and conditioned by maya does not eat; for, lie is the director of both the eater and the thing eaten, by the fact of Ids mere existence as the eternal witness (of all); not tasting, he merely looks on; for, his mere witnessing is direction, as in the case of a kin

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Swami Krishnananda on this mantram :

There are two birds in this tree of life. This tree of life may be either this body of the individual, or it may be the entire creation itself. Ishvara and jiva are present in the world of creation, as well as in the human body. They are friends. God and the individual are like Nara and Narayana of ancient mythology. They are inseparable brothers, one perpetually connected with the other. They are compared to birds living on a single tree, which is this vast creation, and they enjoy their existence on the tree. The only difference is, one of these birds is busy enjoying the delicious fruit of this tree, and the other bird is not interested in eating anything. It is merely looking on, unconcerned and unattached.

This unattached bird is God, Ishvara, seated in our own hearts and everywhere in this world. The bird that is eating the sweet fruit of this tree is the individual soul, the mind-body complex. So there are two phases of experience going on in one’s own body: a consciousness that is totally detached, and a consciousness that is very much involved. The detached consciousness in us is called kutastha chaitanya. It stands uncontaminated even in the state of deep sleep, and enables us to regain our consciousness of identity of personality when we awake the next morning and feel that we are there.

This consciousness of our being the same person that we were yesterday is not the action of the mind, not of the sense organs, not of the body. The body cannot know anything because it is unconscious, and the mind and the senses were not functioning in sleep. So who told us that we existed yesterday? There is some minimal awareness, consciousness qua being, as it is called, which is our essence that existed in deep sleep, and which is responsible for our memory of the fact of our having existed yesterday also. That is the uncontaminated, detached consciousness in us. It is not connected with body, mind and sense organs. That is the Ishvara tattva that is in us. The jiva tattva is our own selves. The very consciousness that is contaminated by the body, mind and sense organs becomes the jiva. Consciousness connected with the sense organs, mind and body is the jiva—the individual, so-called. The detached consciousness, unconnected with these, is Ishvara himself because the general consciousness we experience in the state of deep sleep, unconnected with the senses, body and mind, is universal in its nature. Because consciousness cannot be located only in one place, cannot be divided into parts, cannot have fractions, it is therefore universal.

Hence, the Universal Being is inside us. In the deep sleep state we land ourselves on it, as it were, and feel the bliss of it so intensely that we do not like to wake up in the morning. So intense is the joy of sleep that we want to go to sleep again and again. But when we wake up, we are once again the jiva, the fruit-eating bird in this world-tree of samsara, and are not even conscious that there is another bird sitting there, always uncontaminated. Are we aware that we have a universal background in us? No, never. We always think we are this body, that body, this individual, that individual, performing this work and that work. Does anyone believe that there is a universal ocean at the back of our consciousness? We are floating on the sea of Absolute Being. Do we know that? Has anybody had time to think like this? No. Because we are eating the sweet fruit of life, we are very busy indeed. Let the Universal be there; what does it matter to us? So this bird that is eating the sweet fruit does not even know that another bird is sitting there, as it is so much engrossed in the indulgence of the bliss, joy, pleasure of eating the sweet fruit. These are the two birds.

To be continued ...

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