NOTES ON MANDUKYA UPANISHAD & KARIKA-AGAMA PRAKARANA-MANTRA1

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Ch. 1: Agama PrakaraNa-Mantra I

 

Mantra 1:

 

HariH Om! Omityetadaxaramidagam sarvam| tasyopavyAkhyAnam| bhUtam bhavad

bhavishyad iti, sarvam OmkAra eva| yaccAnyat trikAlAtItam tadapi OmkAra

eva||

 

HariH! Om! This very word ‘Om’ is this entire phenomenal world. A clear

explanation of this follows. ‘All this’ means all that is within the

three periods of time, that is all that is past, all that is present and

all that will be in future – All this is nothing but OmkAra only. If

there is anything that exists beyond the three periods of time is also,

indeed, Omkaara only.

 

Agama means Veda signifying that which came from the Lord. PrakaraNa is

an explanation of the scriptural teachings. Bhagavaan Shankara in his

introduction to his bhAShya or commentary on this upaniShad makes

following observations:

 

1. The text begins with Om! It fulfils the traditional requirements of

introducing in the beginning of the verse both the (a) subject matter

and (b) the purpose or object of the study in the beginning verse. Here

the upaniShad starts with ‘Om!’ indicating both the subject matter and

the object of the study is Om!. The subject matter is the very essence

of all upaniShads. The subject is nothing but ‘Om’ which is everything

which is nothing but Brahman. ‘Om iti eka axaram brahma’- ‘one letter Om

signifies Brahman’ says Krishna in Gita.

 

2. The object of the study of the upaniShad is also indicated by Om! The

purpose of the study of upanishad is to understand Om! Understanding of

Om! to understand everything that is to understand Brahman.

 

3. The Om! being the subject and Om! being the object of the study, the

identity of the subject and object is implied. The essence of the

upaniShad is also this very identity of the subject ‘I’ and the object

of any study indicated by ‘this’. Thus the purpose of the study of this

upaniShad is to realize the identity of oneself with Brahman, and this

aspect will be expounded in the text itself. This is also ‘THE END’ in

itself since it is the end of all human pursuits, since it ends all

samsaara or human suffering just like any disease ends when an

appropriate medicine is taken. Here samsaara or human suffering is

considered as symptom of the disease arising called ‘ignorance of

oneself’, the subject, I.

Understanding of the upaniShad restores the seeker to his normal state

by removing the cause of the disease. The ignorance of the

subject-object identity results in ‘delusion’, moha, because of which

the apparent duality is taken as reality. Hence, realization of reality

of non-duality of the apparent subject-object duality is the cure for

the disease. This is accomplished by revealing Brahman by means of

knowledge of Om and the self, which destroys the ignorance of the self.

 

 

4. Shankara quotes Br. Up mantra from Maitreyi brAhmanam. 2-4-14, which

implies that giving a reality to duality is the fundamental problem. It

is the duality that causes all the problems of samsAra. But once it is

recognized that it is only apparent and not real, all the problems of

duality cease to be real. Just as paper tiger does not cause any more

fear similarly when one recognizes that the world of plurality is

mithya, all the problems that originated from duality are dissolved.

 

The upaniShad starts by defining the word Om or what it stands for.

Every word or name stands for a conceptualized object or conversely

every object is named for conceptualization. Thus, name and form, where

form includes conceptualized object, go together and stored together in

the memory as a unit for subsequent transaction or vyavahaara.

Language, communication, and transactions are possible only by naming

the objects. As one progresses to higher mathematics the communication

reduces to pure symbolism. In modern mathematics, Greek letters are

extensively used to symbolize the concepts. All mathematical formulas

are communicated by symbolic language. E = mc2 is a familiar example

where each letter has symbolic meaning which is precisely defined. The

equal sign itself is symbolic representation that provides a precise

relationship between two entities represented on each side of the sign.

Symbolic language provides a mathematical precision for defining and

communicating the knowledge. Here upaniShad is communicating to us

through symbolic representation of the truth relating nAma (name) with

nAmi (object that it represents).

 

In this mantra a general definition for the word is provided. The Vedic

student is quite familiar with the word ‘Om’, since almost all Vedic

mantras and invocations start with that word. Om! is also called

praNava, since provides the very life for all mantras. We cannot chant

any mantra without beginning with Om! Hence mantra starts – Om iti etat

axaram’ – here ‘Om iti’ – thus the word Om – indicating that the

discussion is going be about the word Om! – ‘etat’ meaning ‘this very

word’ indicating that it is the most familiar of the word for the

student of Vedanta. Since this word Om! has been extensively used in

the earlier portions of the Vedas as well as in other upaniShads.

upanishad says this word is ekAxaram, which is single word, but is a

samyukta axaram or conjugate letter consisting of A U M. (In English A

exactly does not translate the Sanskrit first letter in term of the

sound – The first letter in Sanskrit sounds more like that of U in rum,

rut, rug etc than that of A in race, pace, or pac, sac etc. Similarly

the middle letter U is similar to the sound in put, and M sound is

similar to m in rum, plum, etc.) In Sanskrit A and U pronounced in the

way indicated above when combined together will give conjugate letter O

which sounds like in hOpe. Thus AUM together becomes Om! as single

conjugate syllable. Mantra says it is axaram meaning it is as though a

single letter. Axaram has significance in view of the definition for Om

that follows. Axaram also means that which is not xaram or that which

does not gets destroyed or that which does not undergo any mutation or

change. Hence, the mantra indicates that this very word symbolically

represents that which is indestructible and eternal, which is truth. By

saying that OM is axaram, UpaniShad is indicating that it represents the

ultimate truth. Lord Krishna endorses this by saying that ‘Om iti

ekAxaram brahma’ – single letter Om stands for Brahman – B.G.8-13.

kaThopaniShad (1-2-15) glories Omkaara upAsana both as means and a

goal, and the who realizes this is revered even in Brahma loka – ‘yetad

Alambanam jnAtvA brahmaloke mahIyate’ 1-2-17.

 

The above upaniShad mantra takes up this Omkaara mantra as the subject

matter and provides a detailed description of what it stands for. The

equation provided is

 

Om = All ‘this’, bounded by time and ‘this’ that can exist beyond

time. …(1)

 

Here equation (1) is given where the left side of the equation is the

word Om. The mantra defines the right side of the equation providing

what exactly it is equal to, first in general terms. Later from mantra

8 to 12 it provides more specific details. By this symbolic language,

Vedanta is instructing us what one should understand whenever or

wherever the word ‘Om!’ is used.

 

Examining the right side of the equation, we gather from the mantra

itself that ‘all this’ includes all this that one can point out, for

example, in the present. Therefore any thing that can be pointed out

comes under the category of ‘this’. In principle, I can point out

‘anything’ and ‘everything’ in the universe as ‘this’. Hence it

includes everything that can be existing in the universe that since all

that can be pointed as ‘this’. Hence it includes all the objective

sciences since objective sciences comes under the category of ‘this’

only. To emphasize this aspect, mantra specifically uses the words –idam

sarvam – meaning ‘this everything’ implying there are no exceptions.

 

How big is ‘this everything’? Since it excludes ‘nothing’, it includes

this entire universe – jagat – consisting of all objects. This universe

itself has to be infinite since if it is finite then question arises

what is there outside the finite universe. If something is there, it

can be pointed by ‘this’ – and hence that also comes under the category

of ‘this universe’. Hence Vedas proclaim ‘this is infinite’ – pUrNam

idam. (pUrNam adaH pUrNam idam…). Hence ‘idam sarvam’ includes this

entire universe which can be pointed out as ‘this’ and hence by equation

1, the whole universe is included in Om!.

 

Just to insure that the above equation is correctly understood,

upanishad declares that it is not just the current existing universe

present in the ‘present time’, ‘this’ includes that which existed in the

past and also that which will exist in future. Hence the statement ‘that

which existed in the past, that is existing in the present and that

which may come into existence in the future – all that is included in

Om!’

 

Here we need to recognize Krishna statement of Law of Conservation in

the B. Gita.II-6 – ‘nAsato vidyate bhAvo, nAbhAvo vidyate sataH’ – that

which is non-existent cannot come into existence and that which exists

can never cease to exist. Hence creation can only be a modification of

that which was existing before into something else – in essence one this

transforming into another ‘this’, like gold becoming into an ornament.

 

Combining all of the above analysis, we gather that ‘Om!’ includes all

those objects that existed before in the past, those that transformed

into something else in the present and those that may transform into

something else in the future. If it includes that which is there before

transformation and that which is there after transformation, it implies

that it includes the very essence that remains changeless in the

changing things. The absolute changeless entity is nothing but Brahman.

That is which is changeless absolutely is beyond time and there Om

includes that too. Hence to bring this aspect to our understanding

mantra emphasizes that that which is beyond all the three times is also

Om! It says ‘yat ca anyAt trikAla atItam, tad api OmkAra eva’. Here ‘ca’

(also) is used to indicate specifically all that which is changing i.e.

the names and forms and also that which remains changeless the

substantive is Om! only. Hence it include both the world of object that

can be pointed as ‘this’ which are names and forms; and also that which

remains as changeless both in the relative and in the absolute sense in

the changing this is included.

 

Finally, when we specify ‘this’ it excludes something that cannot be

specified as ‘this’. We can point out everything as this, this, and

this, but we can not point out one thing in the universe as ‘this’.

That thing is nothing but myself, who is doing the pointing. Thus I

cannot point out the subject I as this. Hence the mantra includes the

word ‘tat api’ even that – indicating that ‘Om!’ includes even that

which cannot be indicated by ‘this’. In the description it is also

pointing out that subject is ‘trikAla atItam’ that which is beyond three

periods of time.

 

The first mantra has discussed only an out line of what is going to

address in the upanishad. Hence it declares ‘tasya upavyAkhyAnam’ – the

discussion of this ‘Om!’ will be provided in the upanishad.

 

Thus it has provided outline of Eq. 1 in mantra 1.