Mandukya Upanishad and Ajatavada.

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Mandukya Upanishad … by Swami Atmananda

 

Mandukya Upanishad is an Upanishad found in the Atharvana Veda. It

is basically one of the smallest Upanishad containing only 12

mantras, yet it is one of the most respected and important

Upanishad. Before the advent of Sri Adi Sankara his paramguru Sri

Gaudapadacharya wrote a commentary called Karika on this Upanishad.

This Karika has become so important and famous that today it is seen

as a part of the Mandukya Upanishad itself. Sri Sankara thus wrote

his Bhashya on both the Upanishad and Karika shlokas as a single

text.

 

There are two things extremely famous about this Upanishad. One this

Upanishad reveals the methodology of realising Brahman as OM. OM is

revealed both as the end and the means. It is verily a commentary on

OM. The viveka which is followed to discern the truth is

the 'Awastha-traya-viveka' i.e. discrimination based on the three

states of consciousness. Secondly this Upanishad has in it one of

the four Mahavakyas which have been choosen from the four

Vedas. "Ayam Atma Brahma" i.e. This Atma alone is Brahman. In

Muktiko Upanishad we have the briefest and yet the most glorious

review on Mandukya wherein it is said that "Mandukya alone is

sufficient for an aspirant to reach liberation" (Mandukyam ekam

kevalam mumukshunaam vimuktaye).

 

The Upanishad along with Karikas (total of 215 shlokas) is divided

into four chapters called Prakaranas. The Agama Prakarana (has 12

mantras & 29 shlokas of Karika), Vaithathya Prakarana (has 38

shlokas), Advaita Prakarana (has 48 shlokas), and the Alatshanti

Prakarana (has100 shlokas). The first chapter contains all the

twelve original mantras, and the non-dual reality has been revealed

here purely on the basis of the scripture. From second prakarana

onwards we have an independent commentary on these mantras. In the

Vaithathya Prakarana we have Sri Gaudapadacharya revealing the world

as ephemeral. by equating the waking state to the dream state. The

approach is purely logical. In the third i.e. the Advaita Prakarana

we have the teacher revealing the non-dual reality again purely on

the basis of logic and then also validating it by appropriate

scriptural statements. In the last chapter called Alata-shanti

prakarana, we have not only the summarisation of the entire book but

also some unique things. In this chapter the Theory of Causality is

shattered to pieces, the illusiory world is compared to a rotating

firebrand which presents illusions of circles which are not really

there, and the Self is thus revealed as the one non-dual reality

itself, free from all cause-effect relationships.

 

One thing which has become a hallmark of this Upanishad is the

Theory of Ajatavada. Normally some scriptures give some theory of

creation, only to later prove the creation to be ephemeral, while

here Gaudapada appears to be very uncompromising. He doesnt like

going the longer way, he declares right from the beginning itself

that there is no creation whatsoever. He considers the compassionate

effort of some to temporarily accept the creation as a compromise.

He thunders the raw truth uncompromisingly.