Mundaka Upanishad and Brahma Vidya

To attain the state of Purushottama, we must entertain pure feelings and engage in pure actions. Appreciate one truth, and you have understood everything – What is this truth? This is what Shaunaka asked Sage Angirasa, “Swami! What is that concept, knowing which, I will know everything? What is that sight, having seen which, I would have seen everything? What magnificent experience is equal to experiencing everything? What is so Divine, ever new?”

Angirasa replied, “Brahma Vidya (knowledge of the Atma) alone is true. All other education is illusory.” Art, music, literature, sculpture, botany, zoology, physics, chemistry… all pertain to the ephemeral world. We may feel these sciences grant us true knowledge (vijnana). No, no. Enquire calmly. These subjects are meant only for earning a living. True education must cater to true knowledge, wisdom. Brahma Vidya alone qualifies as true education by this criterion.

What is Brahma Vidya? Worldly education deals with what is visible to the eye, audible to the ears, felt by the mind, accessible to the senses. Brahma Vidya cannot be seen by the eyes, heard by the ears, comprehended by the mind or felt by the heart. It reminds one of the Atma and takes one to its threshold. When can we claim to have understood such Atma Vidya? Only when we become shodasha-kala-paripoorna – one in whom the 16 kalas have blossomed fully.

For this reason, God is described in the Vedas as – Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma. Satyam means changeless, beyond past, present, and future. Jnanam is the wisdom of non-duality (Advaita). Anantam is unlimited, infinite. Brahma is vastness.

Angirasa

Who is Angirasa? We read our epics and consider characters like Angirasa to be sages, highly evolved personages. Our scriptures are not mere stories (kathas) but the essence of infinite wisdom designed to dispel our sorrow (vyathas). This essence, or rasa, is Angarasa.

Anga means limb. Angarasa is one who is a shodasha-kala-paripoorna and therefore, guards and fosters every limb of the body with the essence of the sixteen kalas. How does rasa flow? It melts the sixteen kalas, makes them flow toward the Atma, and reveals the Divinity immanent everywhere. Therefore, Angarasa is none other than the embodiment of wisdom (prajna) within us.

Prajna is that power or witness which pervades the body, senses, mind, the inner instrument, the life-force, our actions, everything. Therefore, the Vedas declare – Prajnanam Brahma. Four fundamental affirmations are associated with the four Vedas:

1. Tat Tvam Asi, That You Are
2. Prajnanam Brahma, Awareness is Brahman
3. Ayam Atma Brahma, I am Atma, I am Brahman
4. Aham Brahmasmi, I am Brahman

These statements are pregnant with infinite power. Man need not look outward or consult scriptures. All knowledge is within. Having forgotten the totality of knowledge, he seeks it outside and encounters frustration. He has lost it in one place and searches for it somewhere else! Search for the missing article wherever you lost it. Search within. Then you come face to face with your brilliant prajna.

Akshara = Perishable + Imperishable

All is contained within this word – Akshara. The union of the temporary and permanent is akshara. Akshara = A + Kshara. ‘A’ stands for Anantam (infinite), Aprameya (beyond measure), Apramanam (beyond proof). This is the Atma, true, permanent. Kshara means temporary, false, illusory, perishable. Kshara is perishable, A is imperishable. The merger of the two is Akshara. Akshara is not a single word, but two words. The fleeting world and the durable Atma are an inseparable pair. One cannot leave the other.

God and Devotee

Similarly, the devotee and God are a pair. The devotee creates God, and God creates the devotee! We think God has created all beings. No, no. The devotee, by dint of his spiritual effort, creates the God of his choice! This is sakshatkaram – the process of materializing God to appear in physical form. The feelings of the devotee gain name and form as sakshatkaram. Sakshat (physical) + Akaram (form) is sakshatkaram. Therefore, it is none other than the devotee who creates God! And he is created by God as well.

Devotees today are blind to their power and constantly ask, “Where is God, where is God?” What ignorance, what foolishness! Why search for God when He is everywhere? Your delusion tells you it is necessary to search for God. Truly, it is the other way around – God is in search of a real devotee! Why? Even a single genuine devotee is not to be found! Such power of enquiry is rare today. The saint Tyagaraja sang –

In the ant, in Brahma,
In Shiva, Keshava and other Gods,
Present as Love,
You, who lives up to Your manifold names, Rama,
Save me!

What does an ant do? When you mix two grains of sugar in a pile of sand, it discards the sand and hauls the grains of sugar. When an ant is able to discriminate so acutely, why is man blunt in his intellect? Anoraneeyan Mahato Maheeyan – God is smaller than the smallest, vaster than the vastest. Understand this unity.

The common meaning given to the word Akshara is indestructible. No, no. Decay and destruction are also an aspect of akshara. Theism (astikatvam) and atheism (nastikatvam) are related in a similar manner. How? Nastika (atheist) = Na + Astika (theist). Na means no. Asti is yes. The denial of ‘yes’ is atheism. Nasti = Na + Asti. Without Asti, how can the world Nasti exist? Meaning, the concept of ‘yes’ or acceptance of God is present within denial, within atheism!

The bud of a flower does not exude fragrance. Only when it blossoms into a flower does it emit a smell. The fully blossomed flower is theism, the bud is atheism. Both are one. One is dormant, the other is awake. The flower of the heart has not yet blossomed in atheists. It is bound to bloom, sooner or later. However, not necessarily in this birth. If they die with narrow hearts, that is their misfortune.

All is One

Thus, there are no two substances in this world – all is One. Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti – Only One exists, but seers express it in many ways. When you know the Divine rasa called Prajna, you come to know everything. When you behold it, you have seen everything.

You are, in reality, offering everything to that Prajna. There is a direct proof to illustrate this truth. A man promised to God that he would conduct a special worship for Him at the temple if his task was completed successfully. His chosen deity was Lord Krishna. He offered flowers one by one as he repeated the 1008 names of Krishna, “Keshavaya Namah, Narayanaya Namah, Madhavaya Namah, Govindaya Namah, Madhusudanaya Namah” and so on. The names are different but all offerings are to one God. This is – Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti. There is only one, but you call it by different names. Foods are different, hunger is one. Flowers are different, worship is one. Births are different, the being is one. Focus on the unity underlying the diversity.

Jnana, Vijnana and Sujnana

The concepts taught by Sage Angirasa to Shaunaka were also clarified to Sukesha by Sage Pippalada. Sukesha enquired, “Swami, there are three kinds of knowledge in this world - jnana, sujnana and vijnana. What is their inner significance and how are they related? Kindly shed light on this topic”.

Pippalada smiled, “Foolish fellow! There are no glaring differences between jnana, sujnana and vijnana. One form of knowledge pertains to the body, another emerges from the mind and the third deals with the heart.”

One small example. Here are a handkerchief, a microphone, a plate, a tumbler, and a table. They are visible and tangible objects. This is Jnana, related to the physical world, to the body. Next, the mind. “I wish to embark on this task. Is this work beneficial to me, to others?” – When you ponder in this manner and seek to help others, this is sujnana. When you seek to do good to others even in actions done for your personal benefit, such deeds are sujnana.

Having experienced both Jnana and sujnana, when you do that which lends satisfaction to your conscience, when you ask, “What actions will make God happy?” – All actions which seek to please God are vijnana. There is no need to search for vijnana in some secret enclave. Please God, and the world will be pleased with you, automatically. Once, a devotee prayed to the Divine Mother, “Mother! You haven’t granted me Your Vision. Why am I distant from You? Why do You not look at me? If I do not mean anything to You, without Your kind glance on me, I will not be worth anything to anybody.

If I fail to become Your Own, O Mother,
I will be derided by the world as well, Mother!

Sri Krishna and Gandhari

Sri Krishna explained this point to Queen Gandhari beautifully. After the death of her hundred sons, the Kauravas, Sri Krishna went to Gandhari to assuage her grief. Poor Krishna went there only to console her. Gandhari, on the other hand, let anger and grief overwhelm her when she was informed of Krishna’s approach. Grief leads to anger, which gives rise to hatred. Hatred causes jealousy. Gandhari, as you know, had taken upon herself a permanent blindfold, in deference to her husband’s blindness. Her maid servants told her, “O Queen! Sri Krishna is here.”

Quivering in grief, Gandhari blurted out, “Krishna! You are full of partiality. You are the meanest of hypocrites! Pandavas and Kauravas are cousins, sons of brothers. How could you be so partial to the Pandavas, so hateful to my sons? Even this partiality is acceptable. But why didn’t you save a single son of mine, while all five Pandavas are alive today? Not even a single son, to perform the funeral rituals for the others! Why didn’t You let your Divine Look fall on just ONE SON of mine?”

Krishna had a perpetual smile dancing on His lips. He was always happy, even when everyone around Him cried! He removed grief and granted grief as well! He turned paupers into millionaires, millionaires into paupers. Enquire – Why would Krishna cause grief at one time and remove grief at another time? No, no. Each person only experienced the results of his destiny.

Realizing that Gandhari could not understand His role, Krishna decided to enlighten her by quoting her personal experience. “Mother Gandhari! You know you had a hundred sons. But had you ever set eyes on them? How do you know you had a hundred sons? Only through the words of others. You haven’t seen even one of them! How could your wicked sons, unworthy of their own mother’s loving glances, ever become fit for God’s kind looks?”

Do you see? Children who cannot obtain their mother’s blessings remain distant from God’s Grace. “When you do not see your children, how can you cultivate true love for them? Your sons were wicked, unfit for their own mother’s love. They hated and envied the gentle Pandavas beyond limits. Pandavas are righteous. Your sons heeded the words of no well-wisher. They grew in hatred day by day. They had no power of discrimination whatsoever. They were selfish to the brim. Selfishness led them to a pitiable plight.

Justice and fairness dictate that the kingdom belongs to the Pandavas. They appointed your husband, Dhritarashtra, only as an interim ruler. When the Pandavas, also your children, trusted your husband, is it right to cheat them?” In history, we do not know some truths, and without factual knowledge, we are confused.

Unity of Gross and Subtle

Therefore, one who invokes God’s kind glances upon himself can easily conquer the world. The one who distances himself from God is unworthy of respect from anyone. When you recognize God, you understand all the secrets of the world, because the world is nothing but a part of God.

Men today are fools who look at only one side of a coin. Look on both sides – Only then you know its true worth. One side is the world, the other is God. One is perishable (kshara), the other is permanent (akshara). One is the basis (moolam), the other is the based or the gross (sthoolam). Today no one endeavors to discern the basis (moolam) hidden behind the diversity. The moolam is the key to all knowledge, to all acts of God.

Therefore, no one can demarcate God as such and such. Based on ancient writings, we develop the duality of like and dislike. We must strive to go beyond attachment and hatred, to understand their unity. For example, we listen to interpretations of scholars and presume that Krishna was an immoral man. Similarly, we believe Rama had certain traits. No, no. We should go beyond these interpretations, to the Truth. Both Rama and Krishna are based on a changeless Truth.

Transform Your Heart

Therefore, the gopikas said, “Krishna! We see You with our eyes. To what extent is sight reliable? As long as our eyes can see You. Therefore, this cannot be the truth. We must look at You with our hearts. But our hearts are like a moss-covered lake in which Your reflection is unclear.

The center of our eyes, the pupil, is dark.
Your complexion is dark as well.
Our heart, the lake of our mind (manasa sarovaram)
is dark with impurities as well. The sky
appears dark in the dark lakes of our hearts.
For us to see You, there is no need to transform
our dark eyes or Your dark form.
But the “background”, the dark sky can be
changed to a white sky. When our hearts are
made bright, your dark reflection will appear
as clear as crystal. Change our hearts.”

What is the inner significance? We do not need to change our bodies, or even our mind. When we transform our heart, which is related to prajna, we achieve all. The mind’s nature is to be impure! You may wash it forever, but stains will remain. Can you wash charcoal with milk and expect it to become white? Instead, the milk will become black! If you wash coal with soap, the soap turns black.

Students must think clearly. What was the original form of charcoal? Wood. When wood burns, it turns into coal. However, coal is formed only when the burning is incomplete. To complete the process, put coal back into fire. Then it becomes ash, which is white. “Krishna, we are neither wood nor ash. We are midway, like black coal. Burn us in the fire of Your Grace and grant us the whiteness of purity”. You must recognize - “I have forgotten the beginning and the end. I am midway through the journey. That is why my mind is black like charcoal. Yes, I have lost my original status of wood. But I can still reach the final state of white ash. To achieve this end, the burning must be as intense as ever.” We yield to difficulties and sorrow because we do not try to reach the end, because we remain satisfied with the dualities of this interim existence.

Yes, we must acquire physical amenities. Next, we must obtain mental peace. Finally, peace of the Atma. For this reason, we repeat, “Om Shantih Shantih Shantih” three times. First, peace in the body. Nama Smarana (recitation of the Divine Name) is very important in this regard. For mental peace, a Divine outlook (Brahma Bhavam) is essential. Finally, for peace of the heart and conscience, sadhana is the path. Journey from the body to the mind and then, to the Atma.

(Swami concluded with “Hari Bhajana Bina Sukha Shanti Nahin”)

May 29, 1991