Sathyakama’s question
sa yo ha vai tadbhdagavanmanushyeshhu prayanantamonkaramabhidhyayiita
| katamam vaava sa tena lokam jayatiiti ||
O Bhagavan, if a person goes on meditating on the
syllable OM throughout his life, which world, verily, does he win by such
meditation? (5-1)
OM is the symbol of both Lower Brahman (Saguna
Brahman) and the Higher Brahman (Nirguna Brahman) and a seeker can worship
Brahman in any of its aspects. Pippalada rishi starts explaining this from Mantra
2, as given below:
etadvai satyakaama param chaaparam cha brahma
yadonkarah | tasmaadvidvaanetenaivaayatanenaikataramanveti ||
O Satyakama, the syllable OM is the higher (Nirguna) Brahman and also the lower (Saguna) Brahman. Therefore the learned one (Upasaka) who knows it attains, with its support (Omkara upasana), the one or the other.
Brahman, being transcendental in nature and attributeless, cannot be
directly comprehended by our mind. Hence an indirect method is prescribed in
the scriptures to meditate on Brahman and one such method is through a
symbol or pratika. Such a symbol can be thought of in two ways - 1. One
as associated with the original or 2. as equivalent to the original. Just as saligrama
is considered as a symbol of Lord Vishnu, the syllable OM is considered as a
symbol of Brahman. Lord Krishna emphasises the importance of OM in Gita
through the words:
Om iti ekaksharam Brahma vyaaharan
maamanusmaran I
yah prayaati tyajan deham sa yaati paramaam
gatim II 8.13 II
Uttering the monosyllable OM-the Brahman-and remembering
Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains the supreme goal. (8-13)
Mandukya Upanishad in Mantra 1 also gives the
importance of OM with these words
bhootam bhavat bhavishyat iti, sarvam
omkaarah eva;
yat cha anyat trikaala ateetam, tat api
omkaarah eva.
That which is past, present and future (the immanent), it
is all verily the syllable OM. And That which is beyond the three periods of
time, (the transcendent) – even That is also OM.
Though God is beyond vibration, vibration, being the subtlest form of His creation, it is the nearest we can get to Him in the physical world. So by contemplating the Supreme Brahman through OM, one realizes the highest plane and by contemplating on OM itself as a symbol one attains the lower plane. Though OM is only one syllable which is to be meditated upon by uttering it as one unit, it can be uttered and meditated upon by using the sounds produced by pronouncing its three constituent syllables(matras) viz. akaarah, ukaarah, makaarah (A,U,M). Pippalada rishi discusses in next Mantra akaarah pradhana Omkara upasana.
sa yadhyekamaatramabhidhyayiita
sa tenaiva samveditasturnameva jagatyamabhisampadhyate | tamricho
manushhyalokamupanayante sa tatra tapasaa brahmacharyena shraddhayaa sampanno
mahimaanamanubhavati ||
If he meditates on one letter (matra), then, being enlightened by that alone, he quickly comes back to earth after death. The Rig Mantras lead him to the world of men, where by practising austerity, chastity and faith he enjoys greatness. (5-3)
The person who meditates on the first matra ‘akaarah’ is born again in the mortal world without staying in higher worlds and here endowed with austerity, chastity and faith enjoys the glory and power of spiritual life. Of course we should note that the upasaka will not chant only one matra. The chanting will be of the entire Omkara. But the emphasis is on akaarah. The matra of AUM indicated by ‘A’ (akaarah) constitutes in essence the hymns of the Rig Veda which alone has the power to bestow human body in the next birth. Thus even those who are ignorant of the meaning of the whole syllable AUM and meditate only on akaarah are not deprived of a spiritual reward but reap the fruit of good spiritual life back on earth and no calamity befalls them. Such is the greatness of AUM. Pippalada then talks about meditating on akaarah and ukaarah, the first two matras in next Mantra.
atha yadi
dvimaatrena manasi sampadhyate soantariksham yajurbhirunniyate somalokam | sa
somaloke vibhutimanubhuya punaravartate ||
Again, if he
meditates on the two syllables, he becomes identified with the mind (Moon) and is led up by the Yajur Mantras
to the intermediate space, to the world of the Moon (swarga loka).
Having enjoyed its greatness (pleasures), he returns again (to earth). (5-4)
The upasana on two syllables (sound produced by akaara and ukaara) is more subtle, and the reward is also greater. The upasaka here travels by krishna gathi after death led by the Yajur Mantras and is led to the world of Moon, the swarga loka. He also returns to the earth but he is not whisked away from swarga loka immediately and brought back to the earth as in the first stage, but he spends time and enjoys the swarga loka until his time is up when he is guided back to this world to continue his evolution as in earlier upasana. The next Mantra is the main Mantra that answers the question of Satyakama and these two Mantras are leading up to it and to emphasise the importance of meditating on all the three syllables
yah
punaretam trimaatrenomityetenaivaaksharena param purushhamabhidhyaayiita sa
tejasi surye sampannah | yathaa paadodarastvachaa vinirbhuchyata evam ha vai sa
paapmanaa vinirbhuktah sa saamabhirunniiyate brahmalokam sa etasmaajjiivaganath
paratparam purisayam purushamikshate | tadetau shlokau bhavatah ||
Again, he who meditates on the Highest Person
through this syllable AUM consisting of three letters, becomes united with the
effulgent Sun. As a snake is freed from its skin, even so he is freed from all sins.
By the Sama Veda Mantras, he is taken
to Brahmaloka, the world of Brahmaji. There He out of the total mass of beings,
goes to the One higher than even Brahmaji, the Supreme Purusha,
who has entered all the bodies, and has His Vision (Jnanam)! Bearing on this, there occur two verses. (5-5)
One who meditates on all three syllables together as AUM, after death travels through the path of sun, sukla gathi, to Brahma loka led by the Sama Veda Mantras, absolved of all his sins. There acquiring Brahma Jnanam under the guidance of Brahman he gets krama mukthi, merging with ParaBrahman in the next pralaya. For him no more birth or death as he does not return to the mortal world like the other two upasakas. ParaBrahman is the Nirguna Brahman who is described in this Mantra as the Supreme Purusha who resides in all. Sun represents Brahmaloka, the highest heavenly world, from which one does not return to Earth, as one does from the lesser heavenly worlds, such as the Moon. Pippalada rishi then quotes two Rig Veda Mantras which serve as a summary of his teaching. These two Mantras can be summarized as follows.
The first of the two Rig Mantras, Mantra 6 of this Chapter says that when each of the three matras is medtated upon separately, the meditator has to be born again and again in this world and is not free from the cycle of birth and death. But when the three matras are blended together in sound and significance and meditated upon as representing Brahman continuously in all states, he is unshakeably established in Brahman.
The second of the two Rig
Mantras, the concluding Mantra of this chapter, Mantra 7, speaks
of the different lokas to which the upasaka travels when he meditates on matras
alone and not on the full Omkara. In addition it also states that the
wise one who does the Omkara upasana with all the three matras
together, having the knowledge of Supreme Brahman and using Om only as
an aid to reach the Supreme Brahman realises Him in this life
itself and describes the Supreme Brahman through the following words:
1.
Shaantam:
total peace meaning total bliss
2.
Ajaram: beyond old age meaning changeless
3.
Amritam: immortal meaning eternal.
4.
Abhayam: fearless meaning one without a second.
5.
Param: the Highest meaning
Supreme.
Thus concludes Chapter 5, with the assertion that the upasana upon the three syllables of AUM in their totality as One Brahman takes one to the realisation of that Supreme Brahman who is total bliss, changeless, eternal, one without a second and Supreme.
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