mANDUkya Upanishad
(Gaudapada kArikA not included)
The muNDaka Upanishad, towards its conclusion, refers to the fifteen constituents of the human body, each of which resolves into its respective source at the time of liberation:
गताः कलाः पञ्चदश प्रतिष्ठा देवाश्च सर्वे प्रतिदेवतासु ।
कर्माणि विज्ञानमयश्च आत्मा परेऽव्यये सर्व एकीभवन्ति ॥ — 3.2.7, muNDaka Upanishad.
Meaning: To their sources repair the fifteen constituents (of the body) and to their respective Gods, go all the gods (of the senses). And the karmas, and the self that simulates the intellect, all become unified with the Supreme Undecaying. [Translation: Swami Gambhirananda.]
However, the prashna Upanishad, which precedes the muNDaka, speaks in its final question of sixteen parts constituting the individual. There thus appears to be a discrepancy between the two Upanishads regarding the total number of constituents. Shankara too does not explicitly explain the reason for this difference.
Shri Y. Srinivasa Rao, Vedanta teacher and Author, suggests that the reference to fifteen parts in the muNDaka Upanishad may instead be understood in connection with the teaching found in the chAndogya Upanishad.
In the chAndogya, Sage Narada approaches Sage Sanatkumara seeking the Knowledge by which everything becomes known. Narada confesses that despite possessing vast learning and scriptural knowledge, he has not attained realization of brahman. With humility, therefore, he approaches Sanatkumara for instruction in the Supreme Knowledge of the Self.
Sanatkumara explains that all the knowledge acquired by Narada belongs merely to the realm of “nAma” — name, verbal expression, or conceptual knowledge. In essence, all that Narada knew was no more than a product of words and intellectual understanding (6.1.4, chAndogya). Such knowledge is far inferior to the direct realization of the Self.
[We may take Narada in this section of the Upanishad as representing the highly educated intellectual of the modern world, as some Advaita teachers suggest.]
Sanatkumara then gradually leads Narada toward Self-knowledge through a golden staircase of fifteen progressively subtler and spiritually superior stages. The steps proceed from nAma at the bottom to prANa at the top and they are:
- Spirit (prANa)
- Hope (AshA)
- Remembrance (smarah)
- Space (AkAsha)
- Fire (tejah)
- Water (Apah)
- Food (annam)
- Strength (balam)
- Learning and Study (vijnAnam)
- Contemplation (dhyAnam)
- Intelligence (cittam)
- Intention (samkalpa)
- Mind (manas)
- Speech (vAk)
- Name (nAma)
All these stages, from “Name” to “Spirit,” belong to the realm of change and fluctuation. The Knowledge of the Self transcends even prANa. It is utterly changeless, infinite, and stable. Sage Sanatkumara refers to It as “bhUma” — the Infinite. This alone is true Self-knowledge.
Accordingly, the fifteen parts referred to in the muNDaka Upanishad may be understood as corresponding to these fifteen stages described in the chAndogya Upanishad. In the case of a Self-realized individual, all these resolve into the Self alone.
This final state is beautifully described in both the prashna and muNDaka Upanishads:
स यथेमा नद्यः स्यन्दमानाः समुद्रायणाः समुद्रं प्राप्यास्तं गच्छन्ति भिद्येते तासां नामरूपे समुद्र इत्येवं प्रोच्यते । एवमेवास्य परिद्रष्टुरिमाः षोडश कलाः पुरुषायणाः पुरुषं प्राप्यास्तं गच्छन्ति भिद्येते चासां नामरूपे पुरुष इत्येवं प्रोच्यते स एषोऽकलोऽमृतो भवति ॥ — 6.5 prashna Upanishad.
Meaning: The illustration is this: Just as these flowing rivers that have the sea as their goal, get absorbed after reaching the sea, and their names and forms are destroyed, and they are called merely the sea, so also these 16 parts (i.e. constituents) of the all-seeing PuruSa, that have PuruSa as their goal, disappear on reaching PuruSa, when their names and forms are destroyed and they are simply called PuruSa. Such a man of realization becomes free from the parts and is immortal. [Translation: Swami Gambhirananda.]
यथा नद्यः स्यन्दमानाः समुद्रेऽस्तं गच्छन्ति नामरूपे विहाय ।
तथा विद्वान्नामरूपाद्विमुक्तः परात्परं पुरुषमुपैति दिव्यम् ॥ — 3.2.8, muNDaka Upanishad.
Meaning: As rivers, flowing down, become indistinguishable on reaching the sea by giving up their names and forms, so also the “illumined individual,” having become free from name and form (i.e. the world) merges with the self-effulgent Supreme brahman. [Translation: Swami Gambhirananda.]
As individuals, we live within a body-mind complex and engage in actions in the world. Upon the dawn of Self-knowledge, the individual personality, the mind, the life-force, actions, and the entire world are understood to dissolve into brahman.
Both the prashna and muNDaka Upanishads accept the apparent existence of the individual, the senses, the mind, the life-force, and the world, while simultaneously declaring that all these have emerged from Atman. They further indicate that the responsibility for resolving this apparent multiplicity back into brahman rests upon us through the attainment of Knowledge of the Self.
The dissolution of multiplicity is Liberation; continued involvement with and in multiplicity is bondage.
Naturally, several questions arise. Why did these many constituents emerge from Atman? Why should they dissolve back into It? What assurance is there that they will not arise again after once dissolving? Such questions are profound and not easily answered. Indeed, the entire edifice of Advaita Vedanta is built to address these concerns.
The next three Upanishads in sequence — mANDUkya, taittirIya, and aitareya — attempt to provide deeper insights into this problem.
Before approaching the teaching of the mANDUkya Upanishad, however, a few foundational points must be clearly understood.
According to Advaita Vedanta, the Supreme Self alone truly exists. Nothing apart from It has absolute Reality. Therefore, neither the body nor these fifteen nor the sixteen constituents are ultimately Real. Even the individual (jIva) who experiences pleasure and pain, along with the world itself, belongs only to the realm of appearance.
If this is so, one may wonder why the unreal world appears so vividly, while the Self, which alone truly exists, is not clearly recognized.
However, the “Self” is none other than the immediate awareness expressed in the undeniable feeling “I am.” This direct awareness of one’s own existence is universal and self-evident. No one can deny it. That very sense of “being” is the Supreme Self.
Why then does the unreal appear? Advaita answers through familiar illustrations. A rope alone exists, yet under dim light, a non-existent snake is perceived in its place. Similarly, we perceive the blue color of the sky or the apparent meeting of earth and sky at the horizon, though neither truly exists. These examples demonstrate that appearance need not correspond to Reality.
Advaita, therefore, concludes that what is truly Real is the unchanging awareness by which all experiences are known, whereas the objects perceived are transient and unreliable. Hence, attention should be directed toward the “seer” rather than the “seen.”
All sensory experiences are dream-like. During a dream, the dream-world appears real; upon waking, it disappears entirely.
Likewise, owing to ignorance, the One Self appears as manifold multiplicity. The ability to recognize Reality as It truly is constitutes True Knowledge.
Worldly learning, rituals, and actions reveal only insentient and ultimately unreal objects. In contrast, the Knowledge of the Self alone reveals the Truth.
(To Continue … Part 23 (mANDU 2))