The Mundakoupanishad : Post-23. Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Saturday, February 18, 2023. 06:15.

Chapter 2: Section 1 : 

Mantram-5. (Sequence of Creation from the imperishable.)

POST-23.

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Mantram-5. (Sequence of Creation from the imperishable.)

Tasmad - agnih samidho yasya suryah 

somat parjanya osadhayah prthivyam, 

puman retah sincati yositayam 

vahvih prajah purusat samprasutah (2.1.5). 

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Translation :

"From Him are produced the sky (which is the first fire) whose fuel is the Sun; from the Moon, the rain clouds (the second fire); from the clouds, the herbs that grow 0n the Earth (the third fire), from these (herbs eaten), the man (the fourth fire) who sheds his seeds into the woman (the fifth fire) In this manner many living beings are born from the Purusha ( Supreme, Paramatma), the all-pervading Being. "

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Bhashyam (Vyakyanam) :

The creation process is described here in terms of the Panchagni Vidya, which is described in more detail in the Chhandogya Upanishad. This is a very interesting concept that we have in the Upanishads—the Panchagni Vidya, the fivefold descent through which any event in the world can be imagined to take place. Events do not take place merely on Earth; they take place in heaven first. A vibration takes place in the highest heaven, and here this heavenly vibration is called Agni, or the supreme fire of the original cosmic activity.

The Sun may be regarded as a representative of heaven. The heat and light of the Sun are responsible for everything that happens on all the planets, including Earth. Any event that takes place in the world is caused by the Sun. You must have heard that sunspots sometimes occur and create catastrophes in the world, and their positions cause a sudden rise or fall in the cost of materials. It depends upon the manner in which the sunspot affects the Earth.

There are also indications of the Moon acting in the same way. If we observe the Moon two or three days after the new moon, amavasya, we will find a crescent visible on the horizon. This crescent is sometimes slanting, and not straight like a cup. Either it is slanting to the left side or it is slanting to the right side, but very rarely is it straight. The belief is, astronomically, that if it is slanting to the left, prices of commodities will fall in the direction where it is slanting, and where it is rising up—north or south, as the case may be—the prices of commodities will rise.

Can we imagine this mystery, how the Sun and the Moon can control us? Someone has written a beautiful book called Super Nature. Moonlight does not penetrate deep into the waters of the ocean, but there are little molluscs living deep in the ocean that arrange their activities according to the movement of the moonlight, though the moonlight does not reach them. They must be great mystical astronomers indeed! The effect that is produced by the Sun and the Moon, and even by the interstellar cosmic rays that impinge upon the Earth and affect us in multifarious ways, is a wonder.

This heavenly vibration, therefore, is the cause of everything that is taking place here. The vibrations created by the solar orb produce such an impact upon the atmosphere that the heat of the Sun sucks the water of the oceans and converts it into vapour which forms clouds, and by the action of wind blowing in various directions according to the circumstances of nature, rain falls. Somat parjanya: Rain falls.

osadhayah prthivyam : When rain falls, plants grow. There is harvest in the fields, and vegetables and all edibles in the world become available to us. But how does rain fall? A great activity is taking place in the sky, over which we have no control. We cannot create rain, and we will all perish if there is no rain. These vegetables and foodstuffs are eaten by man and are finally converted into the bloodstream, and then into the essences which are responsible for the production of children while living a married life.

puman retah sincati yositayam vahvih prajah purusat samprasutah : In this manner, the heavenly Purusha is causing, by his own vibration of will, the creation of every little thing in this world. Even the little crawling insects are created by the Supreme Purusha. Creation takes place in a variety of ways, which is only one illustration of the manner of the relation of cause and effect, highlighting how we, in our crude form of understanding, imagine how something could have come from something else. Why should anything come from something else? If something is not there which is causeless, and if the ultimate cause also has a cause, there would be a logical regression and the argument will break. A meaningful argument should have an end. Endless arguments are no arguments. And so, the argument in respect of the effect coming from a cause should lead to a cause which itself has no further cause.

This causeless cause must also be an intelligent cause. Therefore, this ultimate cause is, firstly, without any cause behind it; there is no other cause for it. Secondly, it is intelligent because it is purposive and knows what to create. And thirdly, it is all-pervading because if it is located in one place only, it will be a perishable object. Thus, the Supreme Purusha is indivisible consciousness, all-pervading, and causative of everything in this world.

This is one answer of the Guru in reply to the disciple's question of how things have come at all. Generally, when disciples go to Gurus, this is the first question they put. Why was this world created, and who created it? They have many other questions, no doubt, but the first question that generally arises in the mind of a student is how this world has come. And here is a tentative answer, according to the understanding of the disciple for the time being.

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To be continued

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