The Mundakoupanishad : Post-18. Swami Krishnananda.

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Monday, November 28, 2022. 08:30.

Chapter-1, Section-2, Mantram-12.

POST-18.

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Mantram-12 : ( A seeker seeing meaningless-ness of the worldly and heavenly pleasures advised to approach a teacher and seek Supreme knowledge. )

"Parīkṣya lokān karma-citān brāhmaṇo 

nirvedam-āyān-nāsty-akṛtah kṛtena, 

tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum-evābhi-gacchet 

samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyam brahma-niṣṭham (1.2.12)." 

Having given us an idea of the prospects of the performer of yajnas, or sacrifices, and having told us that karmas, actions, sacrifices are unreliable boats in one's effort to cross the ocean of life, and hinting that only those who are austere and who live in seclusion, living a simple life and having a lofty goal before them as their final destination, reach Brahmaloka, the abode of blessedness, through the rays of the Sun, now the Upanishad tells us that the way to Brahman, the path of spirituality, the sadhana marga, is through a Guru or a spiritual preceptor.

Having seen this world properly, having investigated the futility of expressing permanent happiness through works which are perishable in nature because every work has a beginning and an end—that which has an origin will also have a cessation one day or the other—therefore, it us understood that works which are essentially of an impermanent nature will not be an adequate means to carry the soul to that which is absolutely permanent. 

Parīkṣya lokān: 

Properly investigating into the transient character of all things in the world which are attained by the performance of yajnas, sacrifices, etc., a Brahmana, a learned one, should become fed up with this world. Having enjoyed everything in the world, he will finally not like to have anything from this world. The end of this world enjoyment is retirement from any kind of contact with it. Satiety of desires is unknown. The more we pamper our longings, the more do they become vigorous and the more will they go on asking for things endlessly, which the world cannot grant.

One should finally feel satiated with all things that the world can give. As when we have had a full meal and cannot eat anything further, so should be the satiety we feel in this world. Renunciation of the world is possible only by such a person who has seen the world thoroughly, through and through, who has not left any part of the world uninvestigated, and who has everything that this world can give. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to say that only those who were kings in the previous birth can become Sannyasins. If you are really dispassionate, a true Sannyasin wanting nothing in this world, you must have been an emperor in the previous birth, because one who has not tasted the world cannot reject the world. Hence, everything has to be seen properly, and going deep into the structure of the possibilities of pleasures that the world can give—or whatever the world can give, pleasures or otherwise—one should finally detach oneself from all things that the world appears to promise. Why?

Nāsty akṛtah kṛtena: 

That which is not the product of any kind of action cannot be reached by actions, which are products. Actions are emanations of personality, and are not self-existent. Actions cannot hang in the air. They have to emanate, or rise, from some personality. Therefore, they are in the form of an effect. An effect is that which is produced by a cause; it is a product. That which is a product cannot become the cause of the attainment of that which is not a product. The Purusha Supreme is not created by anybody. It is a non-created eternal. Temporal things cannot take us to the eternal. Time has no connection with eternity. The three-dimensional world is a shadow, as it were, cast by an eternity which is supposed to be multi-dimensional, or infinite-dimensional. Let a person get disgusted with this world and want nothing from it, realising that this world cannot actually fulfil its promises. Its promises are empty.

Knowing the futility of life in this world, one should humbly approach a great Master for the sake of the knowledge of that which shall make the soul immortal one day or the other. What kind of teacher, what kind of Master? One who has two qualities. 

Śrotriyam brahma-niṣṭham: 

He must be immensely learned, and also spiritually established. If a person is spiritually established but does not feel competent to expound the scriptures, he will not be able to speak to you. But if a person is learned but not established in Brahman, then his speeches will be empty. So the two qualifications are mentioned here: internally established in God, Brahman-consciousness, and outwardly capable of expounding the meaning of the scriptures in a highly learned manner which carries conviction in the mind of a student.

Humbly you should approach :  'Samit-pāṇiḥ'

is the word used here. 

In ancient days, disciples used to live with the Gurus in forests, in retreats, etc., far from cities and available means of transport and the minimum needs of life, so that even firewood was a difficult thing for them to obtain. So firewood was carried by disciples, especially for the yajnas, or sacrifices. Every householder has to perform an agnihotra sacrifice. Most of the great Masters those days were householders, and so they had to carry on the agnihotra sacrifices every day, for which firewood is necessary. Hence, the first thing that the disciple would offer to the Guru was firewood, and every day he would go to the forest to collect it, which, in those days, was a very important duty of disciples. It is in this context that it is mentioned to approach the Guru humbly, with holy firewood in one's hand, or it may simply be an offering that is the need of the Guru. In those days firewood was a necessity, but in other cases it may be something else. So, whatever is a requirement of the Guru is that which has to be offered by a disciple. With such offering, humbly let a seeker of Brahman approach that Master who is learned in sacred lore and established in Brahman—śrotriyam brahma-niṣṭham.

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Next-

Mantram-13 : ( Instructions to teachers on initiating fit students )

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