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10. Mundaka Upanishad and Brahma Vidya

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10. Mundaka Upanishad and Brahma Vidya Summer Showers in Brindavan 1991 10. Mundaka Upanishad and Brahma Vidya To attain the state of the Supreme Lord of all (Puru- every limb of the body with the essence of the sixteen shottama), we must entertain pure feelings and engage times (kalaas). How does rasa flow? It melts the sixteen in pure actions. Appreciate one truth, and you have kalaas, makes them flow toward the Atma, and reveals understood everything. What is this truth? This is what the Divinity immanent everywhere. Therefore, Angirasa Saunaka asked Sage Angirasa1, “Swami! What is the is none other than the embodiment of wisdom (pra- concept that, knowing it, I will know everything? What jnana) within us. is the sight that, having seen I, I will have seen every- Prajnana is the power or witness that pervades the thing? What magnificient experience is equal to experi- body, senses, mind, inner instrument, life force, our ac- encing everything? What is so divine, ever new?” tions —everything. Therefore, the Vedas declare, Pra- Angirasa replied, “Knowledge of the Atma (Brahma jnaanam Brahma. Four fundamental affirmations are Vidya) alone is true. All other education is illusory.” associated with the four Vedas: Art, music, literature, sculpture, botany, zoology, 1. That You Are: Tat Tvam Asi physics, chemistry —all pertain to the ephemeral world. 2. Awareness is Brahman: Prajnaanam Brahma Do these sciences grant us true knowledge (vijnana)? 3. I am Atma, I am Brahman: Ayam Atma Brahma No, no. Enquire calmly. These subjects are meant only 4. I am Brahman: Aham Brahmaasmi for earning a living. True education must cater to true These statements are pregnant with infinite power. knowledge, spiritual wisdom. Only knowledge of the People need not look outward or consult scriptures. All Atma qualifies as true education by this criterion. knowledge is within. Having forgotten the totality of What is knowledge of the Atma (Brahma Vidya)? knowledge, people seek it outside and encounter frus- Worldly education deals with what is visible to the eye, tration. They have lost it in one place and search for it audible to the ears, felt by the mind, and accessible to somewhere else! Search for the missing article wherever the senses. Knowledge of the Atma cannot be seen by you lost it. Search within. Then you come face to face the eyes, heard by the ears, comprehended by the mind, with your brilliant prajna. or felt by the heart. It reminds one of the Atma and takes one to its threshold. When can we claim to have under- Akshara = perishable + imperishable stood such knowledge of the Atma? Only when we be- All is contained within this word: akshara. The uni- come one in whom the 16 times (kalaas) have blos- on of the temporary and permanent is akshara. Akshara somed fully (shodasa-kalaa-pari-poorna). = A + kshara. ‘A’ stands for anantam, aprameya, For this reason, God is described in the Vedas as: apramaana (infinite, beyond measure, beyond proof). Sathyam jnanam anantam Brahma. Sathyam means This is the Atma —true, permanent. Kshara means tem- changeless, beyond past, present, and future. Jnanam is porary, false, illusory, perishable. Kshara is perishable, the wisdom of non-duality (advaita). Anantam is un- A is imperishable. The merger of the two is Akshara. limited, infinite. Brahma is vastness. Akshara is not a single word but two words. The fleet- ing world and the durable Atma are an inseparable pair. Angirasa One cannot leave the other. Who is Angirasa? We read our epics and consider God and devotee characters like Angirasa to be sages, highly evolved personages. Our scriptures are not mere stories (kathas) Similarly, the devotee and God are a pair. The devo- but the essence of infinite wisdom designed to dispel tee creates God, and God creates the devotee! We think our sorrow (vyathas). This essence, or rasa2, is God has created all beings. No, no. The devotee, by dint Angirasa. of spiritual effort, creates the God of their choice! This is the process of materialising God to appear in physical Anga means limb. Angirasa is one who is a shodasa- form (sakshatkara). The feelings of the devotee gain kalaa-paripoorna and, therefore, guards and fosters name and form as sakshatkara. Sakshat (physical) + akaram (form) is sakshatkara. Therefore, it is the devo- 1 In the Mundaka Upanishad. 2 Rasa means sweet juice or essence. 46 Summer Showers in Brindavan 1991 tee who creates God! And the devotee is created by God promised God that he would conduct a special worship as well. for Him at the temple if his task was completed success- fully. His chosen deity was Lord Krishna. He offered Devotees today are blind to their power and con- flowers one by one as he repeated the 1008 names of stantly ask, “Where is God, where is God?” What Krishna — “Kesavaaya Namah, Narayanaaya Namah, ignorance, what foolishness! Why search for God when Madhavaaya Namah, Govindaaya Namah, Madhusu- He is everywhere? Your delusion tells you it is neces- danaaya Namah,” and so on. The names are different sary to search for God. Truly, it is the other way around but all offerings are to one God. This is — Ekam sat — God is in search of a real devotee! Why? Even a vipraah bahudaa vadanti. There is only one, but you single genuine devotee is not to be found! Such power call it by different names. Foods are different, hunger is of enquiry is rare today. The saint Tyagaraja3 sang: one. Flowers are different, worship is one. Births are In the ant, in Brahma, different, the being is one. Focus on the unity under- In Siva, Kesava, and other Gods, lying the diversity. Present as Love, You, who lives up to Your manifold names, Rama, Three kinds of knowledge Save me! The concepts taught by Sage Angirasa to Saunaka What does an ant do? When you mix two grains of were also clarified to Sukesa by Sage Pippalada. Sukesa sugar in a pile of sand, it discards the sand and hauls the asked, “Swami, there are three kinds of knowledge in grains of sugar. When an ant is able to discriminate so this world: jnana, sujnana, and vijnana. What is their acutely, why are people so blunt in their intellect? God inner significance and how are they related? Kindly is smaller than the smallest, vaster than the vastest (Ano- shed light on this topic”. raneeyaan mahato maheeyaan). Understand this unity. Pippalada smiled, “Foolish fellow! There are no The common meaning given to the word akshara is glaring differences between the three kinds of knowl- indestructible. No, no. Decay and destruction are also edge. One form pertains to the body (jnana), another an aspect of akshara. Theism (astikatwam) and atheism emerges from the mind (sujnaana), and the third deals (nastikatwam) are related in a similar manner. How? with the heart (vijnana).” Nastika (athiest) = Na + astika (theist). Na means no; One small example. Here are a handkerchief, a mic- asti, yes. The denial of ‘yes’ is atheism. Nasti = Na + rophone, a plate, a tumbler, and a table. They are visible asti. Without asti, how can the word nasti exist? Mean- and tangible objects. This is related to the physical ing, the concept of ‘yes’ or acceptance of God is present world, to the body (is jnana). within denial, within atheism! Next, the mind. “I wish to embark on this task. Is The bud of a flower does not exude fragrance. Only this work beneficial to me, to others?” — when you when it blossoms into a flower does it emit a smell. The ponder in this manner and seek to help others, this is fully blossomed flower is theism, the bud is atheism. sujnaana. When you seek to do good to others even in Both are one. One is dormant, the other is awake. The actions done for your personal benefit, such deeds are flower of the heart has not yet blossomed in atheists. It sujnaana. is bound to bloom, sooner or later. However, not neces- sarily in this birth. If they die with narrow hearts, that is Having experienced both jnana and sujnaana, when their misfortune. you do that which lends satisfaction to your conscience, when you ask, “What actions will make God happy?” All is One — all actions that seek to please God are vijnana. There is no need to search for vijnana in some secret enclave. Thus, there are no two substances in this world — Please God, and the world will be pleased with you, all is One. Only One exists, but seers express it in many automatically. ways (Ekam sat vipraah bahudaa vadanti). When you know the divine sweetness (rasa) called prajna, you Once, a devotee prayed to the divine Mother, “Mo- come to know everything. When you behold it, you ther! You haven’t granted me Your Vision. Why am I have seen everything. distant from You? Why do You not look at me? If I do not mean anything to You, without Your kind glance on You are, in reality, offering everything to that pra- me, I will not be worth anything to anybody. jna. There is a direct proof to illustrate this truth. A man If I fail to become Your Own, O Mother, I will be derided by the world as well, Mother! 3 Great devotee of Lord Rama who composed many songs in Telugu. Also one of the pioneers and pillars of Sri Krishna and Gandhari south Indian classical music. 47 Summer Showers in Brindavan 1991 Sri Krishna explained this point to Queen Gandhari Unity of gross and subtle beautifully. After the death of her hundred sons, the Therefore, one who invokes God’s kind glances up- Kauravas, Sri Krishna went to Gandhari to assuage her on himself can easily conquer the world.
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