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MUNDAKO UPANISHAD – A BRIEF SUMMARY

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prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram

 

MUNDAKO UPANISHAD – A BRIEF SUMMARY

 

In Mundako Upanishad Sage Angira answers questions of rishi Saunka in

64 verses. The sage makes the distinction between `lower' knowledge –

which one would interpret as either intellectually grasped or

ritualistically gathered – and the `higher' knowledge which one would

interpret as the spiritual experience itself, beyond the web of mind.

The Sage differentiates between the transitory character of the

materialistic path and its fleeting benefits, and the potentially

permanent nature of the path of renunciation which he saw as

prerequisite to attain real happiness. This distinction lies at the

heart of this Upanishad.

 

Sage Angira says: Two birds live together, each friend of the other,

on the same tree…One eats the sweet fruit of the tree and the other

simply looks on. The first bird is the jivatma , the finite self,

eating and thereby experience both pleasure and pain. The observer

bird, the Real Self witnesses the turbulence alongside, quietly

nudging us back to the " real-reality " , while we search for the

elusive musk fragrance, not knowing that it emanates from us only.

[it may be noted that Jiva while identifying with the body is

jivatm;. it is Paramatama when we succeed in disassociating it from

the bodily senses.]

 

Sage Angira was double-edged in his use of the word `mundaka' which

etymologically refers to a person who has shaved off his head. In the

larger sense, the Sage also meant to expound this jnana in such a

way that it would shave off the many layers of ignorance which cover

us all, to enable to see ourselves as being One with the Universal

Self. – Pranav Khullar

 

[satyameva jayate – Truth alone triumphs, which forms part of our

national emblem, is a part of the first verse of the sloka 3/1/6

from this Upanishad, which forms part of the Atharva Veda].

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