MANDUKYA KARIKAS NOTES FROM SWAMI PARAMARTHANANDA’S RECORDED LECTURES Author: Professor H. K. Kesavan Copyright (2014) Estate of Professor H. K. Kesavan 1 Mandukya Karikas Gaudapada Acharya Swami Paramarthananda’s 80 one-hour lectures on this important Vedantic text have been recorded and made available at Sastraprakasika Trust, Chennai, with email address: [email protected]. Their phone number is 2847 5009 or 2847 0311. The Swamiji is undoubtedly an eminent guru of the Advaita tradition and the quality of the lectures is superb. This text represents the notes I have made after listening to the lectures and they are meant for my own benefit. H.K.Kesavan 2 DRIG-DRISHYA-VIVEKA Agama Prakaranam Swamiji’s introduction This introduction is for Mandukya Upanishad assuming the background of Swamiji’s commentaries on six other Upanishads. Vedas, also called sruti, are our original scriptures. They contain a body of knowledge dwelling on the means and ends of human life. Sruti means that which was heard by the rishis; they are not born of human intellect but attributed to a supra human origin. They are not written down and instead passed on orally; it is called karna parampara in Sanskrit. The four Vedas can be broadly classified under Veda purva and Veda antha, meaning the early and later portions. Veda purva has three goals: a) self improvement of body, mind etc.; b) improvement of possessions; and c) improvement of the circumstances in which we live. In order to accomplish these goals, three types of disciplines are specified: 1) physical disciplines—kayika sadhanani; 2) verbal disciplines— vachika sadhanani; and 3) mental disciplines. But these disciplines have some intrinsic deficiencies which are natural to them. First, they are always mixed with pain; secondly, they never give total satisfaction—the illustrative example is that of a gambler who, even when he wins, proceeds to gamble further, not satisfied with his earnings. Thirdly, the disciplines have a tendency to cause dependency. In other words, the deficiencies lead to more and more enslavement causing weakness in the individual. However, with all the inadequacies caused by the inherent deficiencies, the majority of people are satisfied with the pursuit of these means and ends. It is only a minority of people who look for goals unencumbered by such deficiencies. Vedanta is the pathway for such people. 3 Vedanta declares Brahman is the goal that is completely free from all deficiencies. Strange as it may seem, it informs the seeker not to go after that goal by bringing home the supreme truth that the defect-free Brahman is none other than oneself. You are that Brahman is the declarative statement. As a result, the seeker confronts a serious problem; he had all along looked upon himself as full of imperfections, a jiva riddled with defects. But Vedanta advises that the very opposite is true. Consequently, there is a conflict between the validity of truth based on experience and that based on the scriptures—between anubhava pramana and sastra pramana. Self-inquiry is necessary for separating the fact from misconception. There are six pramanas, out of which five of them are applicable for deciphering truths of the external world. None of these, in particular, is meant for Self-inquiry since all five are bahirmukha pramanas. It is only the sixth pramana, namely, Vedanta that is applicable for the study of one’s own nature. It serves like a mirror—Vedanta darpana. We will, of course, need eyes also in addition to the mirror. How do we employ Vedanta pramana? The method of operation should be made explicit. It involves a 3-fold exercise: a) Sravanam; b) Mananam; and c) Nidhidhyasanam. Sastric study turns vision towards oneself in order to extract the central teaching. There are six indicators for the progress of this teaching which are not enumerated here. Sravanam is the systematic and consistent study of the scriptures for a length of time under the guidance of a competent teacher. Mananam is meant to remove all doubts with regard to the teaching since doubtful knowledge is useless. Internalization of knowledge can be accomplished in several ways: reading, writing, repeated listening, meditation etc. The arrival and departure of the three sadhyas that were mentioned earlier are of no consequence. Their presence should not be a burden and their absence should not give a feeling of emptiness. Scriptures also point out that Brahman cannot be revealed by words. Words can reveal an object provided the object fulfills certain conditions. Five conditions are mentioned. 1. Rudihi: This refers to an object that is available for perception— prathyaksha vishayam. One example is the Sun that can be seen by everyone. 2. Jatihi: This refers to a species. If one has seen a tree, he can understand another tree without actually perceiving it. For instance, one can visualize a parijatha tree in the heaven. 3. Property: An object is revealed through its property. 4. Kriya: An object that is revealed through its function. Example: even without seeing the person who drives a car, one can call the driver. 4 5. Sambandha: An object revealed through relationship—father, mother etc. Brahman does not have any of the above five properties. In which case, the question arises how Brahman can be revealed at all through the words of the scriptures. The answer to this puzzle is that Brahman can be revealed through words by employing some indirect and ingenious methods. This is why a teacher is required. Some of the important techniques used are enumerated below. 1. Upanishads can reveal Brahman by using apparent or unreal attributes— mithya attributes. Example: Revealing the sky by the blue colour of the sky which is not its real attribute. Another example is the reference to the rising or setting sun; here, rising and setting are unreal attributes. The witness attribute of Brahman is also in the same category. 2. Incidental attribute used to reveal an object. Such an attribute is not an intrinsic attribute. For example, consider the classic example of identifying a house in a colony of similar houses. One can identify it by pointing out a crow sitting on the roof-top of the house. Another example is that of the human body which is used to reveal permanent consciousness although body is not an intrinsic part of consciousness. 3. Absence of attributes is used as a method of revelation. Example: Consider several glasses containing different types of liquids but one is empty. We refer to an empty glass. Here, emptiness connotes absence of things; emptiness is a negative attribute. 4. Indirect reference to Brahman: Even in ordinary conversations, we do employ this technique though not deliberately. If a mother having two sons says that her elder son is intelligent, she would also have said something about her younger son’s intelligence without uttering a word about him. This is communication without communication. It is non-verbal communication. The Neti method of Upanishads belongs to this category. Upanishadic words successfully reveal Brahman. Next, we move on to another interesting question. It is generally believed that knowledge is complete when it is associated with direct experience. One can talk about the beauty of Gangotri and Badrinath in the Himalayas but this knowledge is incomplete unless one directly experiences it. Words are capable of giving jnanam but not experience. The question naturally arises: Vedanta is in the form of words and can at best give knowledge only and it would be incomplete without conversion into experience. Varieties of sadhanas are talked about for converting Brahma jnanam into Brahma anubhavam. Meditation ranks high as a sadhana for this purpose. It is believed that while sravanam is meant for acquiring jnanam, meditation is meant for experience. But this conclusion is fallacious. 5 Vedanta does not give anubhava. It does not want to give anubhava. We do not require any new experience at all. The problem is not lack of experience; the problem, on the other hand, is the lack of knowledge. All our Self experiences belong to two types: a) dvaita anubhava and b) advaita anubhava. According to Vedanta, we have actually gone through both types of experiences. The waking and dream state experiences are dvaita experiences where there is the subject-object duality. We experience localization, divisions, space and time, finite I etc. But if we consider the experience of the sleep state, there is no duality of subject and object in it. In fact, it is advaita anubhava. There is no feeling of limited I, no feeling of space and time etc. One cannot talk about varieties of advaita anubhava. Since a) and b) are inclusive of all types of experiences, Vedanta does not want to give a new experience. The problem is, in dvaita experience, we talk of limited I and in advaita experience, we talk of limitless I. Which one is our real nature is the question. One must be real and another unreal. Before studying Vedanta, we had concluded that limited I is our real nature. Vedanta sets right this conclusion by pointing out that limitless I is our real nature. Mandukya Upanishad analyzes the three states of experience and arrives at the proper knowledge. This knowledge is enough for liberation. Upanishadic inquiry concentrates only on the aspect of knowledge. That is why Upanishads are also called jnana khanda. The earlier portions of the Vedas are called karma khanda. Jnana khanda’s focus is exclusively on one’s nature— one’s svarupam. That is why it is also called atma vidya. Atma which is limitless is also called Brahma and therefore Upanishads are also known as Brahma vidya. The word Upanishad consists of three syllables: upa, ni, and shad.