Mundakopanishad : ( 12/12/2012. )

03/02/2019 Chapter 1: Section 2.1 Tad etat satyam  mantreṣu karmani kavayo yany - apasyams tani tretayam bahudha santatani, tanya - caratha niyatam, satyakama esa vaḥ panthaḥ sukrtasya loke (1.2.1.). This is a different subject altogether. A mantram in the earlier Sloka-s told us that there are two types of knowledge, the lower and the higher. Rg-vedo yajur-vedaḥ sāma-vedo’tharva-vedaḥ śikṣā kalpo vyākaraṇaṁ (1.1.5) : The Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda are all lower knowledge. Higher knowledge is that great spiritual insight by which we come into direct contact with the Imperishable. This was told to us in earlier Sloka-s. Now some details are given as to what lower knowledge is. The mantras of the Veda are utilised in the performance of sacrifices, or yajnas. This is the secondary character of the Veda mantras. Veda mantras can be used as prayers to the Almighty God or as prayers to the divinities inhabiting heaven. That is one form of the utilisation o...

12/01/2019 Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 :  Discussion-14 (Mundakopanishad : Chapter-1 : Section-1 :Mantram-9) Tasmad etad brahma nama-rupam annah ca jayate.  From this Great Being, Brahman, the Absolute, emanates the secondary Brahman. In the language of scholastic philosophers, it is prakriti.  Mama yonir mahad brahma (B.G. 14.3) is mentioned in the Bhagavadgita.  Here Brahma does not mean Supreme Brahman but prakriti, the matrix of things. Then name and form manifest themselves—nama-rupam. The inward characteristic of an object is called nama, and its outward characteristic is called rupa. The indication—the determining factor of a particular shape that an individual has to take—is called linga sharira in our case, and the subtle body is called the sukshma sharira.  Here, nama does not simply mean a name such as Rama, Krishna and Govinda; it is the indicative linga, or the specific character, of the would-be individual in the form o...

23/11/2018 Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 :  Discussion-13. (Mundakopanishad : Chapter-1 : Section-1 :Mantram-9) But God does not just dissipate Himself in the knowledge of particulars. There is a general control over the whole of creation, and there He has a cosmic generality of knowledge. The great cosmic order is in His mind. This is the sarvajñah, or the generality of the knowledge of God. But the particularity is every little detail, even to counting the number of hairs of a person or the breaths that he breathes. That also is known to Him. Can we imagine what kind of knowledge God must have?  How many creatures are there in this creation: gods, demons, human beings, subhuman creatures, insects, and so on? How many leaves on the tree? He will count them. Unimaginable power of comprehension! So God knows everything in general as well as in particular. That is the meaning of being sarvajñah and sarva-vid. Yasya jñanamayam tapah. We are told...

23/11/2018 Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 :  Discussion-12. (Mundakopanishad : Chapter-1 : Section-1 :Mantram-7) Thus, how many things are there? Firstly, there is the Supreme Absolute. Secondly, there is anna, or the potential for the future manifestation in the form of tapas. Thirdly, there is Hiranyagarbha, the vibratory cosmic prana. Fourthly, there is thinking, which is the cosmic thought identifiable with Virat. Fifthly, there is law and order. Sixthly, there is the manifestation of the fourteen worlds. Seventhly, there is individuality, the individuals or jivas, who are propelled towards action, karma. Eighthly, there is the fruit of action. So there are eight degrees : - 1.Brahman, 2. prana, 3.manas, 4.satya, 5.loka, 6.karma, 7.manifestation,8.amrita. Look at this wonderful mantram. It is like a sutra, one thirty-two lettered verse giving us the whole scheme of creation from Brahman to dust. Look at the power of the composer of this m...

31/10/2018 Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 :  Discussion-11. (Mundakopanishad : Chapter-1 : Section-1 :Mantram-7) 1. Then there is prana, the vibration. The painter’s mind vibrates in the form of the outline of the picture that he is intending to draw. But we do not bring the question of the painter in the case of Brahman, because Brahman itself is the painter here; Brahman itself visualises, in the form of the vibratory process of its will, the outline of the creation that is to take place. After the outline is drawn, it is filled with ink. Then the creation is complete. Likewise, there is, first of all, a will or an idea wherein the painter—or Brahman, in the case of this mantram—has the idea of what it has to become, and then it stiffens itself into the will by tapas, concentration, as a painter would concentrate on the painting that has to be done, and then there is a vibratory force of prana.  Here the word ‘prana’ indicates the cosmic prana,...

13/10/2018 Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 :  Discussion-10. (Mundakopanishad : Chapter-1 : Section-1 :Mantram-7) Tapasa ciyate brahma tato’nnam abhijayate, annat pra?o mana? satya? loka? karmasu cam?tam (1.1.8). In one verse, the whole of creation is described. Brahman, the Supreme Absolute, distends, swells—becomes large, as it were—by tapas. Tapas means concentration. Brahman’s concentration is the will to create. It becomes extended in the form of the contemplated shape of creation, as it were. When we think something, the mind takes the form of that thing which we think. Now, the Supreme Absolute thinks, wills, concentrates itself on the shape which creation has to take, and that is the swelling, or the extending, or the becoming large of Brahman in tapas. The swelling, or the extension of being in tapas, also means the increase in the potentiality of the one that concentrates. In the case of Brahman, it would mean the contemplation of the form of the world...

21/09/2018 Mundaka Upanishad : Chapter 1: Section 1 :  Discussion-9 (Mundakopanishad : Chapter-1 : Section-1 :Mantram-7) "Yathorna-nabhih srjate grhnate ca, yatha prthivayam-osadhayah sambhavanti, yatha satah purushat kesalomani tatha-ksharat sambhavatiha visvam." From this Eternal Being this world, this universe, has emanated. How does the world come from God? We have seen a spider spitting threads from its own body. Threads come out, and it weaves a web around itself. We have seen trees spontaneously growing from under the earth, and we have seen hair growing on the head. In some such way is the manner of the creation of this world. "Tatha-ksharat sambhavatiha visvam." These analogies have some significance of their own. The spider does not create the web from external material. The upadana is the same as the nimitha, as they say. The instrumental cause is the same as the material cause in the case of the spider weaving a web. In the case of the ...