Chapter 6 JnAna and Moksha
6-7 Mundaka Upanishad
6-7-4 Mundaka 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 The Upanishad explains how Brahman can be known though it is formless. It is subtler than the subtlest. It shines through all experiences. It is cognized in the hearts of all beings as revealing Itself through such functions as seeing, hearing, thinking, knowing. It is therefore very near for wise. It is the support of all living and non-living things, all the worlds and the dwellers of the worlds like all the spokes fixed on the navel of the chariot wheel. It pervades all that is subtle and gross, yet not polluted by and is beyond them. It is the highest goal and the most desirable. By knowing It one is contented as if all desires are fulfilled.
6-7-5 Mundaka 2.2.3 Meditation on Brahman Taking hold of the bow, fix the sharpened arrow on it, drawing the string, shoot the arrow on the target. Drawing the string means drawing the sense organs from sense objects. Arrow represents jvAtmA. Target is the Imperishable. Vedanta says that there is no physical distance or time separation between jvAtamA and ParamAtmA. The distance is of ignorance only. I am the mixture of body-mind system and consciousness. BMS is continuously changing. Consciousness does not change. I am conscious of BMS. In young age, I am young. In old age, I am old. The tone of saying ‘I am’ changes but the utterance ‘I am’ does not change throughout the life irrespective of age. Therefore, according to Vedanta, the non-variable “I am” must refer to the non-changing consciousness.
Instead of saying, “I am body with consciousness”, Vedanta asks a seeker to start a new orientation: “I am the permanent consciousness with an incidental body”. Body comes, body is, body will go. But I do not come, I will not go. The change of orientation is necessary to transcend fear of mortality, the other name of samsAra. As consciousness, I am immortal which means identity of jiva and Brahman comparable to the process of archery. The arrow hits the target. Sometimes, it hits the target and falls down. If the arrow has to hit and stay, it must fulfil certain conditions. It must be straight and sharp. Similarly, the jiva must be straight, i.e., of upright character and his mind should be sharp. The corresponding disciplines are karma yoga for uprightness and upAsanA yoga for a sharp mind.
6-7-6 Mundaka 2.2.4
Om is the bow and jivAtmA is the arrow, Brahman is the target. Om is the perfect name of Brahman. Just as the bow is the cause of arrow hitting the target, jivAtamA purified by repetition of Om gets fixed in the Imperishable without obstacles. Jiva is Brahman in conditioned state that has entered the body as consciousness witnessing varying intellect, like the sun into water, etc. Just as the success of arrow is in hitting the target and be there (not falling), one should disidentify with BMS and become one with the Imperishable
6-7-7 Mundaka 2.2.5 Know that Self alone which is one without a second, on which are strung heaven, the earth, and inter-space, the mind and the vital forces together with all the other organs. It is the bridge leading to immortality. Give up all other talks
The Upanishad advises us to move towards spirituality and know that non-dual Self. On Self are strung, earth, heaven and interspace, the mind, the vital forces, and sense organs. Give up karmAs and their fruits propelled by lower knowledge. This is the bridge leading to immortality because with this a person crosses the ocean of samsAra.
BSB 1.3.1 and 1.3.2 clarify a possible doubt, namely, whether mention of subsistence of heaven etc. indicate that something different from Brahman exists as the repository. Since heaven, earth etc are mentioned as transfixed, the entity on which they are transfixed must be Brahman.
6-7-8 Mundaka 2.2.6
The Upanishad helps us shift our attention from the changing body-mind complex to the non-variable consciousness. Turn your attention to the physical body. You have been looking at the world all the time. And, from the body, you come to the heart. The heart is considered to be the hub or the centre of the individual. The Upanishad conveys this with the example of a wheel.
The wheel has got a rim, which alone moves on the road and takes you across. Bigger the wheel, faster the journey. The wheel is strong because it has several spokes, and the rim is connected to the hub in the middle. If the hub is not there, the spokes will not be there. Without that, the rim cannot hold at all. Therefore, the wheel is connected with the hub through the spokes. The hub is in the centre. Similarly, the body is like a wheel, specially, the peripheries of the body. And spokes are compared to various nAdis through which the prAna energy travel. The nAdis are connected to the heart. The body is a wheel, nAdis are the spokes, heart is the hub. The heart is where the mind resides. During the waking state, the mind pervades all over the body and during sleep, the mind is withdrawn from all over the body and resolves in heart.
First go to the body, then from body to the nAdi, nAdi to heart, from the heart to the mind. In the mind the knowledge of the invariable consciousness takes place. Train the mind to meditate on OmkAra.
6-7-9 Mundaka 2.2.7 to 2.2.11
Brahman is all-pervasive and Its glory is fully manifested in the world. However, the Upanishad drives home the point that Brahman is not away from jivA as It resides in the heart which is the locus of mind. Consciousness is the nature of Brahman, and it pervades the body, makes it sentient and alive. A person who knows this truth enjoys immortality and bliss.
The bliss sheath is the innermost sheath of a jiva. Other four sheaths are of food, vital forces, mind and the intellect. Bliss-sheath is closest to the witnessing consciousness and is described here as a golden sheath. An aspirant of knowledge needs to gradually withdraw identification from the food sheath to vital forces sheath to mind sheath to intellect sheath and finally bliss-sheath. In the last stage, when identification with bliss-sheath is withdrawn, consciousness alone is left and the aspirant claims himself as the witnessing consciousness which is the Self. This claiming is Self-knowledge.
Although the sun illumines everything, it is known in the presence of consciousness as though it illuminates the sun. Similarly, the moon and the stars. Nothing can illumine consciousness. It is self-luminous. Consciousness is present everywhere, in all directions, front, back, right, left, above and below. It is all-pervasive. The world is in consciousness. It exists with the support of consciousness. But the world does not taint it. When the Self is realized, knots of the heart are untied, all doubts are resolved, and one’s actions are dissipated. I am an individual in the form of BMS is a misconception in the mind, it is the knot of ahamkAra. Ahamkara gives rise to mamakAra in various shades like my husband, my wife and so on. These are knots in the heart. When a person has Self-knowledge, falsity of ahamkara and mamakAra is seen through and knots in the heart are cut asunder. Ahankara and mamakAra are for transactional purposes only. They are mthyA and cannot affect the real I, Self.
6-7-10 Mundaka 3.1.1 and 3.1.2
The Upanishad compares the perspectives of a Self-realized person with that of an ignorant person. Both look similar outwardly like two birds sitting on two branches of a tree. The tree represents body. The bird sitting on lower branch represents an ignorant person who identifies himself with BMS. As a result, he enjoys the happiness and sorrow of the worldly life like the bird eating sweet and sour fruits. The bird on the higher branch represents a Self-realized person who identifies himself with consciousness which is neither a doer of action nor an enjoyer of result of action. He is the witnessing consciousness which is infinite and bliss. The lower bird sees the serenity of the upper bird and wonders. It jumps at times and sits on a higher branch to come near the higher bird but after some time comes back to the lower branch. It represents a person who gets disillusioned by the pleasure and pain of worldly life and searches permanent happiness. But he is again drawn to the worldly life due to lack of discrimination.
Contd Part 28