The Mundaka Upanishad : Post-3. Swami Krishnananda.

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Monday, February 21, 2022. 19:00.

Chapter-1. Section-1. Mantram-2.

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Post-3.

"artharvaṇe yām pravadeta brahmātharvā tām purovācāṅgire brahma-vidyām, 

sa bhāradvājāya satyavāhāya prāha bhāradvājo'ṇgirase parāvarām (1.1.2.)

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Brahma, the Creator, who was the first born among all evolutes in the process of the manifestation of God Almighty, the Creator of this world and the Protector of all beings, taught Brahma Vidya—the science of Brahman, which is the origin, the support and the foundation of every other learning, every other vidya or science or art—to his eldest son Atharvan, a great sage. Atharvan taught this knowledge that he received from Brahma to another sage, called Angi. This great sage Angi, who received it from Atharvan, who received it from Brahma, gave this knowledge to Bharadvaja, another great sage. This is the line of the descent of this knowledge. Bharadvaja, also known as Satyavaha, taught this wisdom, the wisdom of Paravara, the high and the low, once again to Angiras. This knowledge includes everything that is here and also everything that is not here. The highest Reality as it is in itself, and also the reality manifest in the form of creation, is Paravara. This Brahma Vidya is a knowledge and a study of this great Reality which appears as para and avara, the high and the low at the same time.

An assembly of all the sages is reported to have frequently been held in a place called Naimisharanya. These sessions took place many times, and the teachings of the epics and the Puranas, and the great scriptures, were given by great teachers such as Sutapuranica, who is the speaker in the Mahabharata as well as in the Puranas.

One of the sages who were assembled there listening to these discourses was Saunaka. We will find that in the Puranas the questioner is always Saunaka. Saunaka was a great sage who performed large sacrifices, and his sacrificial ground was very big. Therefore, he was called Saunaka Mahashala. Shala is the sacrificial ground, and mahashala means a large ground, even kilometres long. At least hundreds and hundreds of yajnas and sacrifices did Saunaka Mahashala perform, and usually these discourses were conducted in the very place where the yajnas were held. On one side of the pandal, or tent, or the yajnashala, the actual havan, yajna, sacrifice would be performed by the appointed priests, and on the other side there would be a discourse going on. Even the recitation of the Mahabharata by Vaisampayana was done on the sacrificial ground.

Janamejaya performed a Sarpa Yaga, a yajna which he undertook to vindicate the death of his father Parikshit, who died on account of a snakebite. Janamejaya's anger over the snakebite was such that, when he heard that his father died in that way, he determined to end the species of snakes completely, and conducted a yajna called Sarpa Yaga, which did not succeed in the end on account of some interference. At that time Vyasa was present, and he told his disciple Vaisampayana to tell the whole story of the Mahabharata to Janamejaya, who was eager to know exactly what happened to his forefathers, the Pandavas, whose progeny was Parikshit, his father. Similarly, the Puranas were recited by Suta, a learned sage in the Naimisha forest, which is near Neemsar, somewhere around Sitapur.

Saunaka, the great sage, the Mahashala, the performer of large sacrifices, stood up in the assembly and queried the great sage Angiras, who received this Brahma Vidya through a descending line of teaching commencing from Brahma, the Creator himself. Humbly, respectfully, in a traditional manner, this great sage Saunaka Mahashala approached Angiras, the great Master, who was in the audience. He put a question. What is the question Saunaka Mahashala put to the sage Angiras?

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Next-Mantram-3.

To be continued ....

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