Chapter 6 JnAna and Moksha
6-7 Mundaka Upanishad
6-7-1 Mundaka 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 The Upanishad reminds the seekers about the divine origin of the Upanishads and their transmission through the lineage of teachers thereby ensuring purity. Brahmaji is the creator and protector of the world. He has imparted the knowledge of Brahman to his eldest son Atharv who in turn has passed it on to Angir. Satyavaha (of the line of Bhardvaja) and Angiras are the subsequent receivers of knowledge and so on from higher ones to lower ones.
6-7-2 Mundaka 1.1.3 to 1.1.9
Saunaka, a householder, approaches Angiras in proper manner and asks about the thing by knowing which everything becomes known. The fact that Saunaka is a householder shows that a householder is entitled to gain knowledge. The Guru replies that according to knowers of Vedas, there are two types of knowledge, higher and lower. The lower knowledge comprises the four Vedas, grammar, science of pronunciation, code of rituals, etymology, astrology. It seems here Vedas represent Karma KAnda. The higher knowledge is about the Imperishable which is formless, attribute free, without any source but source of all, present everywhere, non-decaying and beyond perception.
Brahman is material and efficient cause of creation. Before creation is unfolded, there is nothing manifest. Everything is in dormant and potential form resolved in Brahman. From non-dual Brahman, the universe of multiplicity emerges in stages. The Upanishad illustrates it with the metaphor of the spider creating the spider-silk. The second example is of earth and various plants or vegetation. Varieties of plants are the products. Earth is the cause and, plants and vegetation are effects. Third example is the human body and the hair which grows out of the body. Every time it is cut, it comes out.
Each example highlights one particular aspect. If the spider is disturbed, it, instead of falling down on the ground, it coils up itself to the ceiling and withdraws the silk into itself. The silk disappears and is resolved in the spider. In the second example, from one earth, varieties of plants originate. Similarly, from one cause, varieties of species are born. Normally one species produces an effect belonging to the same species. But, out of one Isvara, all types of species come out. Out of one earth varieties of plants are born. In the third example, in one sentient body, sentient and insentient organs grow. The insentient parts are hair and nail.
From a fully ablaze fire, many sparks fly off that are akin to the fire. Similarly, from the Imperishable originate different kinds of creatures and into It again they merge. Different empty pot spaces originate due to circumscribing pots. Likewise, creatures of different names and forms originate from one Imperishable Brahman. Just as different pot spaces resolve in the all-pervading space when the pots break, similarly, different creatures resolve in the Imperishable Brahman at the time of dissolution of a cycle of creation.
Higher knowledge has three constituents.
1] Brahman is satyam which means Brahman exists and is real.
2] Jagat is mithyA. The world of matter is seemingly existent.
3] Jiva is not different from Brahman. A person can understand, assimilate and be benefitted from parA vidyA if he has necessary qualifications, especially a refined mind. Depending on the extent of refinement of mind, a seeker may be of the low, middle, or higher categories.
The Upanishad discusses creation to show that Brahman is the reality and world is mithyA. The world does not come in time and space. It comes along with time and space. Before the origination of the world, time and space do not exist. Brahman is the cause from which the world has originated. The world is the effect and is a product. In the metaphor of gold and ornament, gold is the cause and ornament is the effect. Gold exists independently but ornament has no separate existence other than of gold. The ornament borrows existence from gold. In Vedantic terminology, gold is real, and ornament is mithyA. An ornament, say, ring is name and form of gold. Name and form are temporary. Gold is permanent and is the substance. In the same way, Brahman is the Reality and world is mithyA.
The world is name and form through which Brahman is manifested. Nothing can come out of nothing. It means that the world exists in a potential form in Brahman. At appropriate time, it manifests. The universe while emerging out of Brahman in an order of succession and not simultaneously. 1.1.8 uses a figurative expression and says that Brahman increases in size by knowledge and food (the potential world) is produced followed by Hiranyagarbha (cosmic Prana and mind), five elements, the worlds and the process continues according to kArmic principle. 1.1.9 reiterates that from Brahman, the omniscient, the world of multiplicity of colour, name and form emerges.
BSB 1.2.21 to 1.2.23 discuss Mu.1.1.5 and 1.1.6 due to a possible doubt. 1.1.5 says that the higher knowledge leads to realization of that Immutable. 1.1.6 says that by the higher knowledge, wise realize that which is everywhere and source of all things but cannot be perceived and grasped as It has no attributes. The doubt is about the entity spoken of here. Is it pradhAna of SAmkhya, or the embodied soul, or God.? The aphorist establishes that the entity spoken about must be God which is described in Mu 1.1.9 as “He who is omniscient in general and all-knowing in detail”. Neither pradhAna which is insentient, nor the embodied soul which is circumscribed in its vision by limiting adjuncts, can possibly be omniscient in general and all-knowing in detail.
6-7-3 Mundaka 2.1.2 to 2.1.10 The stages of creation are described. Hiranyagarbha, the cosmic subtle body constituted of vital forces and the cosmic mind is born first, followed by Virat, the cosmic gross body. From Him emerge the gods in various groups, human beings, beasts, birds, life, rice and barley, as well as austerity, faith, truth, continence, and dutifulness. Assorted items are mentioned. As entire creation cannot be enlisted, assorted significant items are mentioned- all types of celestial beings are born. Human being is the crown of creation. Hunger and thirst through five prAnAs provided for living beings to consume food and water is converted into fuel. Austerities or disciplines are prescribed to maintain health. Human being has desires. Vedas are provided by Isvara which are the manuals. SraddhA in scriptures is provided so that a human being leads a religious life.
There are seven sense-holes in the head, namely, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and one mouth. Corresponding to sense-holes, there are seven fuels (sense objects) which light up the senses, seven flames (sensations) produced by the sense objects, seven oblations (knowledge) generated by the sensations. Sense organs are subtle. Their physical locations are called seven planes or golakAs. During sleep the sense organs withdraw and rest in the cavity of heart. A sense perception is considered an offering of sense object by sense organ to the presiding deity. A seeker worships Brahman by treating sense organs, their objects and act of perception as Brahman.
That Brahman is the cause of everything is depicted. All oceans, mountains, rivers emerge from Him. Food, e.g., corns, juices and flavours- bitter, sour, saline, sweet, pungent- emerge from Him. Foods constituted of five elements are the source of energy for the subtle body. There is nothing else other than Brahman. The universe does not exist separately. And universe is sustained by action and austerity. Action signifies works and its result, and austerity signifies knowledge and its result. All these are produced by Brahman. The idea is that the universe with animate and inanimate objects is nothing but Brahman. He who knows this cuts asunder the knots of ignorance in the cave of the heart.
The Upanishad started with a question. What is that by knowing which everything is known? The answer is given. By knowing Brahman, everything is known because Brahman is the cause of everything. The essential nature of cause and effect is same. An important corollary is that a seeker has to search God in the very same place where the world is. World and God are not two separate entities. There is no world separate from God. The world is the crystallised version of totality of punya and pApa.
Contd Part 27