Description:
Spirituality.
During the past issues, by the gracious blessings of the Almighty and Swamiji, we discussed about the Spirituality described in Vedas, other great epics and sayings of great sages and monks. In this issue we will discuss a little bit about the spirituality explained in the great Upanishad named Mundaka Upanishad.
Man is endowed with the special instrument of discrimination, of judgment, of analysis and synthesis, which among all animals, he alone possesses. He has to develop this and utilize it to the best purpose. Through this instrument, he can realize the Immanent Divinity. Instead, man pesters himself and others with the question: Where does God reside? If He is real, why is He not seen? Hearing such queries, one feels like pitying the poor questioners. For, they are announcing their own foolishness. They are like the dullards who aspire for university degrees without taking pains even to learn the alphabet. They aspire to realize God without putting themselves to the trouble of practicing the Sadhana required. People who have no moral strength and purity talk of God and His existence and decry efforts to see Him. Such people have no right to be heard.
Spiritual Sadhana is based on the holy Sastras. They cannot be mastered in a trice. They cannot be followed through talk. Their message is summed up in the Upanishads; hence, they are revered as authoritative. They are not the products of human intelligence; they are the whisperings of God to man. They are parts of the eternal Vedas. The Vedas shine gloriously through all their parts. The Upanishads are authentic and authoritative, as they share the glory of the Vedas. They are 1180 in number, but, through the centuries, many of them disappeared from human memory and only 108 have now survived. Of these, 13 have attained great popularity, as a result of the depth and value of their contents.
The sage Vyasa classified the Upanishads and allotted them among the four Vedas; The Rig-Veda has 21 branches and each branch has one Upanishad allotted to it. The Yajur Veda has 109 branches and 109 Upanishads. The Atharva Veda has 50 branches and 50 Upanishads were its share. The Sama Veda has a thousand branches and the balance, namely, 1000 Upanishads were its share. Thus, the 1180 Upanishads were assigned by Vyasa to the Four Vedas. Sankaracharya raised the status of ten among the Upanishads by selecting them for writing his commentaries and so they became especially important. Humanity stands to gain or fall by these ten. All who are seeking human welfare and progress through spirituality are now apprehending whether even these ten will be forgotten, for, neglecting them will usher in moral and spiritual disaster. There is no reason, however, for such fears. The Vedas can never be harmed. Pundits and those with faith should resolve to present before humanity these ten Upanishads at least. They are Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Thaithiriya, Aithareya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka. In this issue we well discuss the spirituality explained in Mundaka Upanishad.
The Upanishads have also inspired other works on Geography, Astronomy, Astrology, Economics and Political Theory. The Vedas and the Upanishads are the very foundation for Sanathana Dharma and spirituality. There is one interesting feature to be noted. The Hindu religion has no one Founder as the others have. That invisible unknown founder is God, the source of all wisdom. He is the Prophet of this Sanathana Dharma. He is the Founder; His Grace and His Inspiration manifested through the pure Sages and they became the spokesmen of this Dharma. When the moral purity of men degenerates, God takes form as grace and inspiration in sages and teachers. He has also given through the Upanishads the Sathya-Jnana, the Wisdom concerning the Reality.
This Mundaka Upanishad begins with an Invocation, praying that eye may see auspicious things, the ear may hear auspicious sounds, and that life may be spent in the contemplation of the Lord. The teaching of this Upanishad is referred to as Brahmavidya, either because it describes first the message of Hiranyagarbha, the casual Brahma, or because the message relates the glory of Brahmam. This Upanishad speaks of Brahmavidya as the mystery which only those with shaven heads and those who go through a rite of having Fire on the shaven head can understand. So, it is called Mundaka, or shaven Head. Apart from this, this Upanishad is honored as the crest of all, since it expounds the very essence of Brahma Jnana. It is assigned to the Fourth Veda, the Atharva Veda.
This knowledge has been handed down from teacher to pupil by word of mouth, enriched and confirmed by experience; it is also called Paravidya, the knowledge of the Other when it deals with the attribute less Principle; when it deals with the attribute-full, the Saguna, the materialized principle, it is called A-paravidya, the knowledge of the Immanent, not the Transcendent aspect. These are the two that are found in this Upanishad. They were taught by Sage Saunaka to Sage Angirasa; that is what the text announces. The Vedas and the Vedangas deal with Aparavidya. The Upanishads deal specially with Para-vidya. But, the interesting thing is: the Apara-vidya leads on to the Para, the knowledge of Brahmam, which is the goal.
The spider evolves out of itself the magnificent manifestation of the web; so too, this moving, changing world is manifested from the causative Brahmam. The changing world is the product of creator-creation complex. It is true and factual and useful, so long as one is unaware of the Reality. The utmost that one can gain by activity, that is to say, holy or sacred activity is Heaven or Swarga, which has a longer lease of life, but, which has an end in spite of it. So, the seeker loses all yearning for Heaven; he/she approaches an elderly teacher full of compassion, who instructs him/her in the discipline for realizing the Brahmam.
All beings are Brahmam and no other. They all do emanate from Brahmam. As sparks emanate from fire, as hair grows on the skin but is different from it, so too beings originate from Brahmam. Brahmam causes the sun, moon, stars and planets to revolve in space; Brahmam grants the consequence of all the acts of beings. The Individual and the Universal are two birds sitting on the same tree i.e., the human body. The Jivi (individual) acts, and suffers the consequences of those acts. The Iswara (universal) sits quiet, as a witness of the other bird. When the Jivi looks at the Iswara and realizes that it is nothing but an image, it escapes from grief and pain. When the mind is drawn by yearning to know the Iswara, all other low desires diminishes and disappears. Then, knowledge of Atma is attained. The last mantra of this Upanishad declares that its aim is to make man attain that Jnana. Munda means head; this Upanishad is the Head of all Upanishads, we can say.
It has three sections, with two chapters in each. In the first section, the Aparavidya, and in the second, the Paravidya and the means of mastering them are dealt with. In the third, the nature of the Reality and of the release from bondage is defined. The Karma that helps attain the Brahmam is denoted in the mantras. That is why this Upanishad is respected as very sacred.
The spider, as already indicated, spins out the web from itself without any extraneous agency; it also takes in the web it has spun. So too, Creation was effected without an agent and the Universe emanated. Heaven is the highest attainable stage through Karma. Of such Karmas or rites, the worship of Fire called Agnihotra is the chief. The performance of such rites contributes to the cleansing of the mind. Such cleansing is a necessary preliminary to Paravidya. The flames that rise high from the sacrificial altar of fire appear to the performer as if they are hailing him on to realize the Reality or Brahmam. He who does the rite with full awareness of the significance of the mantra is able to reach the Solar Splendor, through the offerings made; they take him to the region of Indra, the Lord of the Gods. Only on this basis, Swamiji Sri.Selvam Siddhar does a lot of fire worship and he recommends fire worship named “Mahayajna” to his devotees, who need more and more powers.
The Upanishad recommends two types of obligatory Karmas: Ishta and Poortha. The rite of Agnihotra, adherence to Truth, Thapas or Asceticism, Veda-adhyayanam or study of the Vedas, the service offered to guests in one's home - these are Ishta; construction of temples, caravan-series, rest-houses, tanks, planting of avenue trees - such acts are Poortha. These give consequences that are beneficial but, all such cause-effect chains are transient, they are fundamentally defective. The entire Creation is bound up with name and form and so unreal. It can be described in words and so, limited and circumscribed by the intellect and the mind. The Paramapurusha, the Supreme Person alone is eternal, real, and pure. He is the prompter of activity and the dispenser of consequence. But, He is beyond the eye, beyond the intellect. Like the spokes of a wheel that radiate from the hub, that lead from all directions to the centre, all creation radiates from Him.
To reach the central hub and know that all spokes radiate from it, the mind is the instrument. Brahmam the target is to be reached by the arrow-mind. Have your mind fixed on the target and using the Upanishadic teaching as the bow, shoot straight and hard, to hit the Brahmam and master. That is to say, the Pranava or the OM is the arrow; Brahmam is the target. As aforesaid the mind and thoughts are the base for an individual’s development. That’s why Swamiji Sri.Selvam Siddhar often says as “you will live according to your thoughts”.
The Brahmam illumines the Jivi by getting reflected in the inner consciousness or Anthah-karana. One has only to turn that consciousness away from the objective world, contact with which contaminates the mind. Now, train the inner consciousness to meditate on the OM, with single-pointed attention. Meditate on the Atma as unaffected by the Jivi, though in him and with him and activating him. Meditate on Him in the heart, from which radiate countless nadis, subtle nerves, in all directions. If this process is followed, one can attain Jnana or Wisdom. The Universe is an instrument to reveal the majesty of God. The inner firmament in the heart of man is also equally a revelation of His Glory. He is the Breath of one's breath. Since He has no specific form, He cannot be indicated by words. Nor can His mystery be penetrated by the other senses. He is beyond the reach of asceticism, beyond the bounds of Vedic rituals. He can be known only by an intellect that has been cleansed of all trace of attachment and hatred, of egoism and the sense of possession.
Jnana alone can grant self-realization. Dhyana can confer concentration of the faculties; through that concentration, Jnana can be won, even while in the body. The Brahmam activates the body through the five vital airs or Pranas. It condescends to reveal itself in that same body as soon as the inner consciousness attains the requisite purity. For the Atma is immanent in the senses, inner and outer, as heat in fuel and as butter in milk. Now, the consciousness is like damp fuel, soaked in the foulness of sensory desires and disappointments. When the pool in the heart becomes clear of the slimy overgrowth, the Atma shines in its pristine splendor. He who acquires the knowledge of this Atman is to be revered. For, he is liberated. He has become Brahmam that which he strove to know and be.
Man is essentially divine. However, he believes himself to be an individual, limited and temporary, because he is entangled in the characteristics of the Five Elements, namely, Sound, Touch, Form, Taste and Smell. This error brings about joy and grief, good and bad, birth and death. To escape from this association with the Elements, to rid oneself of the pulls of their characteristics, is the sign of Liberation, called in Sanskrit as Kaivalya, Moksha or Mukthi. Names may change; but the achievement is the same.
While entangled in the Five Elements, man is attracted, distracted or disappointed by them; all this causes distress. Wealth, possessions - vehicles, buildings - all these re transmutations of the elements. Man craves for them; when he loses them or fails to get them, he spurns them. Let us take the Five Elements, one by one. The living being has the first one, the Earth, as its base. Water, the second, is the basis for the earth. Water is produced from Fire, the third element, Fire itself emanating from Wind, the fourth. Wind or Vayu arises from Ether, or Akasa. Akasa emerges from the Primal Nature and the Primal Nature is but the manifestation of one aspect of the majesty of God, or the Supreme Sovereign Atma, the Paramatma.
Seeking to reach that Paramatma, the source and core of the Universe, the Individual or Jivi, who has entangled himself in the elements, has to overcome, by discrimination and steady practice of detachment, the bonds one by one; such a person is a Sadhaka; he who wins in this struggle is the Jivan-muktha, 'Liberated even while alive.'
For the exercise of such discrimination and for the visualization of one's innate reality, one has to study the Upanishads. They are collectively called Vedanta. They form the Jnana kanda of the Vedas, the section that deals with the Higher Wisdom. Liberation from the consequences of Ignorance can be secured only by Knowledge or Jnana. The Upanishads themselves declare, "Jnaanaad eva thu kaivalyam": "By Knowledge alone can freedom be won."
The term Upanishad denotes the study and practice of the innate truth: the term, Brahmavidya, denotes the supremacy of spiritual contemplation; the term, Yogasastra denotes the mental churning that brings success. What is the fundamental activity which is required of man? What is the basic thing to be known? It is only one's basic reality. The Upanishads describe the various stages and the various modes of this search for realizing this. The name is full of significance. 'Upa' means the process of studying with 'Nishta' or steadfastness; 'shad' means the attainment of the Ultimate Reality. The name Upa-ni-shad arose for these reasons. The Upanishads teach not only the principles of Atmavidya; they indicate also the practical means of realization. They point out not only the duties and obligations one has to bear, but also the actions to be done and those to be avoided.
So, whether it is the Gita or the Upanishads or any holy and spiritual teachings, the teaching is Non-duality, not Duality, or qualified Monism. The human eye cannot delve into the minute or the magnitudinous. It cannot read the mystery of the virus or the atom or the stellar universe. Therefore, scientists supplement the eye with the telescope and the microscope. Similarly, sages are able to experience Divinity through the eye of knowledge, gained by following the Dharma of moral conduct and spiritual discipline. When the human eye stands in need of an extraneous instrument to observe even the insignificant worm and virus, how can one refuse to go through the process of mantra if he desires to see the omnipresent transcendent Principle? It is very hard to acquire the eye of wisdom. Concentration is essential for this. And, for concentration to develop and stabilize itself, three things are very important: purity of consciousness, moral awareness and spiritual discrimination. These qualifications are difficult of attainment by ordinary folk.
We should read at least the basic teachings of the Upanishads and try to practice the spirituality taught in those holy scriptures. By practicing the spirituality we all can lead a comfortable life. There is no caste, creed, region and religion for practicing spirituality. I thank Almighty and Swamiji for blessing me with an opportunity to share my thoughts one spirituality. I pray the Almighty and Swamiji to bless me with more and more opportunities like this to share my thoughts on spirituality.
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