Mundakopanishad : Chapter-3. Section-1. Mantram- 5. - Swami Krishnananda.

 


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Monday,  May 17, 2021. 08:01. AM.
Mundakopanishad
Chapter 3, 
Section 1,
Mantram-5 Supreme knower of Brahmam.
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(3.1.5) : 
"Satyena labhyas - tapasa hy esa atma 
samyag-jñanena brahmacaryena nityam, 
antah-sarire jyotir-mayo hi subhro 
yam pasyanti yatayah ksina-dosah." 
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The Atman is attained through truth, penance, correct knowledge, and brahmacharya (self-control), observed continuously without break. The Atman is beheld within in the form of light and purity by the austere ones who are freed from all kinds of sins.

Truth is adherence to fact, whether absolute or relative. It is proceeding along the way of the unity of existence. Relatively, it takes the form of acting in conformity with facts that are experienced through the process of individual knowledge. Absolutely, it is living in the light of the fact that Existence is absolute and indivisible. Falsehood is the opposite of truth, and is the result of clinging to the falsehood of individuality. Truth is the way of disintegrating the individual personality through presentation of the good and not the pleasant. Truth is that which is universally good; but falsehood, when it is deliberately resorted to for the fulfilment of a definite purpose, appears pleasant only to an individual or certain individuals. Falsehood, therefore, fattens the individuality, whereas truth breaks open the individuality and enables one to realise the Atman.

Tapas, or penance, in its true sense, consists in the withdrawal of the senses and the concentration of the mind. Austerity, or penance, is only a means to the end, and not the end itself. It is a means inasmuch as it disciplines the individual functions and directs them to meditation, which leads to wisdom and realisation. By tapas, what is meant is not merely bodily mortification, because bondage does not consist in the body, but in the mind that animates the body. The cause of bondage is the mind alone, and therefore the discipline of the mind is tapas.

Proper knowledge is equal vision, or perception of the one Atman in all. This is a function deeper than that of speaking truth or practising tapas. It is a function of the spirit which realises itself in every form of existence.

Brahmacharya is the method of the abstraction of sense-energy from the externals, and the conservation of the same for the sake of steadying the mind and giving it the energy necessary for the practice of concentration and meditation. Though the popular meaning of brahmacharya is continence, it really means leading a life befitting the nature of Brahman. It is, in other words, charya, or moving or acting or conducting oneself in accordance with the law of Brahman, which is the unity of existence. Such control is not merely the abandonment of objects, but is the absence of the taste for objects. Bondage is not caused by the existence of objects, but by the connection of the mind with those objects. In short, self-control is absence of sense-experience, giving rise to mental equilibrium, light, consciousness and joy.

Mantram -5 to be continued ...

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