MUNDAKO UPANISHAD – A BRIEF SUMMARY

[Guest guest]

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].