Mundaka Upanishad – 2

Brahma Lakshanam

Upadesa of guru Angiras starts from Mantra 7 as reply to the question asked by Saunaka.  First he divides the entire range of knowledge into two classes; 1) knowledge of Brahman, 2) knowledge of all that has come from Brahman.  The first he calls as Para Vidya, higher knowledge, and the second he calls as Apara Vidya, lower knowledge.  The distinction, higher and lower, is not from the point of view of knowledge but from the point of view of the subject of knowledge.  Para Vidya is the knowledge of supreme Brahman who is eternal and Apara Vidya is the knowledge of the universe which is ephemeral.  In Apara Vidya all the Vedas and all the ancillary sciences of that time are included.  In Vedas, the former portion dealing with rituals and upasanas, called Veda purva bhaga or Karma Khanda only are included in Apara Vidya.  The latter portion of Vedas, dealing with Brahman, and Jiva, the individual, Jagat, the universe and their relationship with each other, called Veda anta Bhaga or Jnaana Khanda is the only knowledge coming under Para Vidya.  After this classification of knowledge, guru Angiras proceeds to give Brahma Lakshanam in Mantra 6. 

yat tad adreshyam, agraahyam, agotram, avarnam,

achakshuh shrotram, tad apaani paadam;

nityam, vibhum, sarvagatam, susookshmam, tad avyayam,

yad bhootayonim paripashyanti dheeraah.

That which is invisible, ungraspable, un-originated, and attributeless; having neither eyes nor ears, neither hands nor legs;  eternal, full of manifestations, all-pervading, subtlest of the subtle, the Imperishable, and perceived by the wise only as the source of all creation. (1-1-6)

This is termed direct definition or swarupa lakshanam.  But Brahman is not an object that can be defined directly.  So it is defined ingenuously in a way that mind cannot conceive of it as an object from the definition, negative or positive.  Negatively it is defined as not visible, not graspable, having no origin, no attributes, no eyes, no ears, no hands, no feet.  That means it is not available for the senses to perceive and thereby for the mind to conceive as an object.  And as it has no organs to operate, it has no form or shape and it is not subject to changes.  Positively, it is defined as eternal, all pervading, immeasurably subtle, of manifold expression and is the source of creation.  This also defies imagination.  The Mantra goes on to say that this can be realized only by discriminating wise men referred to by the term ‘dheeraah’.  This term refers to one who has the four fold qualifications called sadhana chathushtaya sampathi, which are viveka, vairagya, samadhi shatka sampathi  and  mumukshuthvam which are as follows:

·        viveka - discrimination.  He knows Brahman is the only eternal one and gives top priority to seeking that knowledge of Brahman.

·        vairagya - dispassion.  To everything else he accords low priority.

·        Samadhi shatka sampathi  - six fold disciplines of mind control, sense control, withdrawal, endurance of opposites, faith in the words of guru and sastras and single-pointedness of the mind.

·        mumukshuthvam  -  desire for Moksha i.e. freedom from samsara.

The term used to refer to Brahman as source of creation is ‘bhootayoni’ meaning It is the womb of the Pancha Bhutas, which make up the universe.  This shows that Brahman is the only material cause for the universe, and the Brahman has karana–karya  sambandha or cause–effect relationship with the universe.  From this it follows:

1.   As cause, it pervades the universe in all its aspects.

2.   As cause, it is the very essence of the universe and all the things of the universe are only Brahman +nama,and rupa

3.   As cause Brahman is nityam, permanent, and as effect, the universe is anityam, perishable

                   4. Brahman as cause is singular while the universe as effect is plural

These aspects of cause-effect relationship can be verified from the examples of gold and gold ornaments, clay and mud pots etc.  In these examples we have one other aspect.  There are two causes for creation; namely the material cause, Upadhana Karanam and the intelligent cause, Nimitha Karanam.  For the gold ornaments gold is the material cause, goldsmith, the intelligent cause.  For the mud pots, clay is the material cause, potter, the intelligent cause etc.  We have seen from Mantra 6 that Brahman is the material cause for this universe.  Mantra 7, 8 and 9 refer to the uniqueness of Brahman as the intelligent cause as well, for this universe. Mantra 7 gives three examples to illustrate three aspects of creation.

1.   Spider and the web, it weaves out of itself and withdraws into itself - Brahman is similarly the material and intelligent cause for the universe it brings out and dissolves in itself, but this example has the defect of implying that creation may involve a selfish intention as in the case of spider’s web.

2.   Earth producing various plants and trees of different shapes and colours - Similarly the manifold objects of the universe are created from one Brahman and that Brahman is the adhishtanam for the whole universe. Here, no doubt, no personal, selfish intention is possible but it has the defect that the earth, from which the herbs sprout, is inert which is not the case with Brahman

3.   Sentient body giving rise to insentient hair on the head and all over the body -  Similarly the insentient things of the universe have also come from sentient Brahman only and also the creation is  an effortless projection and it also shows that the creation is a process with vitality as well. 

In Mantra 8, it is revealed that Brahman which is ordinarily without attributes, Nirguna, expands itself with its power of Maya Sakthi to become Iswara, the Saguna Brahman or Brahman with attributes, to initiate creation through its Sankalpa.  So, through this, it is established that Brahman is the Abinna Nimitta Upadhana Karanam for Jagat i.e. the unbroken intelligent, material cause for the universe and on this basis Saunaka’s question can be rephrased as ‘what is the knowledge of Brahman?’ Or ‘Please teach me BrahmaVidya!’  The first Khanda ends with Mantra 9 that glorifies Iswara as Sarvajna and Sarvavit indicating that Iswara has a thorough knowledge not only of the overall aspect of creation, but also of every detail of its execution.

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