The Mundakoupanishad : Post-14. Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday, September 21, 2022. 06:00
Chapter-1, Section-2, Mantram-7.
POST-14.

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Mantram-7. Criticism of rituals-devoid of knowledge (upasana)

Plavā hy ete adṛḍhā yajña-rūpā aṣṭādaśoktam avaram yeṣu karmā etac chreyo ye'bhinandanti mūḍhāḥ jarā-mṛtyuṁ te punar evāpiyanti (1.2.7). 

Unreliable boats are these on which you try to cross the ocean of samsara in the form of yajna, or sacrifice. These boats in the form of yajnas, or sacrifices, are like bubbles. They will burst one day, and you cannot entirely rely on them forever because these forces, called apurva in the language of the Mimamsa Shastra, which are responsible for lifting you up to the region of Indra, or to even higher regions, lose their potency one day. It is like sitting in a rocket going up by using fuel, and the fuel will be exhausted in the middle, and you know what will happen. Such is the case with these performers of yajna who rely on the force generated by the performance of yajnas. They are reliable up to the extent of the momentum they carry, and are reliable indeed for some distance; but in the middle they will leave you in the lurch, and you will fall. All those who go to Indraloka rejoice, but then they will fall headlong, as many fell.

You see, when a person has some substance and stuff, and he is considered as a worthwhile individual, he is received with an affection and an impunity which one can mistake for an eternal attitude of the person who so manifests this affection. But once the worthwhileness of the person is not to be seen any more—he becomes a pauper, suppose—the way in which he will be repelled will be more forceful than the force which was at the back of the affection that was shown earlier. Hatred is more forceful than love. A person will simply crush you in one second when hatred manifests itself, because you are not wanted, and the way in which this unwantedness will be shown and thrown on your face will be such that you will not like to live in the world one day more. So do not rely on these friends such as yajnas, etc. They will throw you down.

Aṣṭādaśoktam avaram yeṣu karma: 

Poor indeed are these so-called yajnas which are performed by eighteen ingredients of persons. Sixteen priests, and the yajnamana and his wife, constitute eighteen in number in large sacrifices like the Ashvamedha, Rajasuya, etc.

Etacchreyo ye'bhinandanti mūḍhāḥ: 

Fools who cannot exercise their understanding properly, mūḍhāḥ, as they are called, who imagine that this is real blessedness, who think they will go to Indraloka and be happy there, what happens to them? Jarā-mṛtyuṁ te punar evāpiyanti: They come back to this Earth. Once again they are born, and they will die as creatures that are plenty in this world. That is, you will be reduced to the same condition in which you were before commencing the yajna. Therefore, relying on them will be the height of unintelligence of a person. Ignorance is at the back of the imagination that blessedness will be in Indraloka, or any kind of loka whatsoever. You do not want to go to any loka at all. What you experienced in this world is only magnified in these lokas, which are conditioned by space and time in the same manner as this world of physical experience is conditioned by space and time, etc.

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Mantras 8 to 10 : Description of the sad state of knowledge-less (devoid of Upasana) rituals -

Next; Mantram-8 : 
Avidyāyām antare vartamānāḥ svayaṁ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitam manyamānāḥ, janghanyamānāḥ pariyanti mūḍhāḥ, andhenaiva nīyamānā yathāndhāḥ (1.2.8). 

To be continued ....

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