Chapter 2 Section 5. Introduction The section is called Madhu Brahman because the word Madhu which means honey or helpful occurs repeatedly in it. The madhu vidya of ChAndogya Upaniṣad is Surya upAsanA. In Br Up it refers to Atma vidya or Brahma vidya. There are different techniques by which the Upanishads teach the knowledge of the Self. One method is creator and creation. Brahman is the creator. and world is the creation. This has been talked about earlier. Madhu Brahman uses the method of inter-dependence among worldly objects. They are mutually dependent and are mithyA. Therefore, there must be some entity outside the world which lends existence to the worldly objects. This entity is Brahman or the Self. The Upanishad also says that Brahman only appears as the world like gold appearing as ornaments. The ornaments are names and forms. Similarly, the world of multiplicity are names and forms. Brahman is all pervading and is present in a jIva as also in all other worldly objects. If a person understands this, he knows all and becomes immortal.
2.5.1 to 2.5.14 In a series of mantrAs, the Upanishad cites different examples of inter-connectedness between a jIva and different objects and further that jIva and other objects get existence from all-pervading Brahman. The different objects are earth, fire, water, air, sun, quarters (directions), moon, lightening, cloud, ether (space), righteousness, truth, human species, the cosmic body. 2.5.15 The Self is like a real king who rules over everything. All beings, gods, all worlds, all organs are like spokes fixed on the nave like Self.
2.5.16 and 2.5.17 The Upanishad glorifies madhu vidyA through a story. Dadhyan is an Atharva Veda rishi who knows madhu vidyA. AswinkumAras who are two celestial doctors want to know madhu vidyA from him who is ready to teach but there is a problem because Indra has instructed him not to impart madhu vidyA freely otherwise his head would fall. AshwinkumAras have a solution. As they are doctors, they would remove the head of Dadhyan and replace it with a horse head. Dadhyan keeps his promise and teaches madhu vidyA through the horse head. After the teaching is over, the man head and horse head are put in their original places. Though this event is intended to be secret, a Vedic rishi who has witnessed it tells AswinkumAras that he would divulge this event everywhere like clouds pour rains. The moral of the story is that Vedantic teaching is so valuable that Dadhyan and AswinkumAras take great to risk respectively to teach and receive it. 2.5.18 and 2.5.19 Before creation, Brahman alone is there with mAyA power. Brahman is consciousness principle and mAyA is material principle. Brahman, being alone, it projects mAyA in stages. The manifested mAyA is the world which is inert. The inert world cannot transact. Therefore, Brahman enters the world and make it conscious. As a result, the world has living creatures, such as, two legged human beings, and four legged animals. Brahman alone appears as the world. It is like a waking man who enters the dream and has all dream experiences. Brahman is like all pervading space, and a mind-body complex is a pot enclosing a portion of space. The pot with the enclosed space is like a jIva. The pot-space is jIvAtmA. A jIva is a mixture of inert mind-body and jIvAtamA. It is a conscious entity which is engaged in worldly transactions. The most important aspect is that the pot-space is essentially same as a hall-space or a palace-space or the whole space. If the pot, hall or palace are removed, there is one space. The conclusion is that there is one AtmA. If it enclosed in a body-mind system, it is jIvAtamA and when it is not enclosed it is ParAmAtmA. If jIvA and pArA are dropped, there is AtmA. Hence the great sayings: I am Brahman and You are That. This is the gist of madhu-vidya taught by Dadhyan to AswinkumAras. The mantra 2.5.18 is similar to mantra 1.4.7. The world is full of dualities, e.g., please and pain, life and death, and good and bad. Why is such a creation at all there? Or why has ParAmAtmA created such a world? The Upanishad gives a reason to satisfy intellectual curiosity. Brahman is alone in the beginning. It is pure consciousness and cannot say I am. Even if He says I am, there is none to listen to. Therefore, to make himself known he has created the world. A teacher is not a teacher unless there is at least one student. A lone knowledgeable person cannot claim or declare teacher-hood. Brahman divides Himself into ten, hundreds or thousands. While dividing, He is unchanged. In other words, Brahman appears as the world. This is vivartavAd from empirical angle. There is no creation or ajAtivAd from Brahman ‘perspective’. To say perspective is also a compromise. Section 5 is concluded. Section 6 is about lineage of teachers. There is no Vedantic teaching. It is skipped.
Contd Part 9