Mundaka Upanishad—Knowledge of the Soul

To attain the state of Purushottama [the supreme self], you must entertain pure feelings and engage in pure actions. Appreciate one truth, and you have understood everything. What is that truth? This is what Saunaka asked Sage Angiras (in the Mundaka Upanishad): “Swami, what is that concept, knowing which, I will know everything? What is that sight, having seen which, I would have seen everything? What magnificent experience is equal to experiencing everything? What is so divine, ever new?”

Angiras replied, “Brahmavidya (knowledge of the soul) alone is true. All other education is illusory.” Art, music, literature, sculpture, botany, zoology, physics, chemistry—all pertain to the ephemeral world. You may feel these sciences grant you true knowledge. No, no! Inquire calmly. These subjects are meant only for earning a living. True education must cater to true knowledge, wisdom. By this criterion, Brahmavidya alone qualifies as true education.

What is Brahmavidya? Worldly education deals with what is visible to the eye, audible to the ears, felt by the mind, accessible to the senses. Brahmavidya cannot be seen by the eyes, heard by the ears, comprehended by the mind, or felt by the heart. It reminds you of the soul and takes one to its threshold. When can you claim to have understood such knowledge? Only when you become someone in whom the 16 attributes have blossomed fully.

For this reason, God is described in the Vedas as satyam jnanam anantam Brahma. Satyam means “changeless,” “beyond past, present, and future.” Jnanam is “the wisdom of non-duality.” Anantam is “unlimited,” “infinite.” Brahma is “vastness.”

Angiras

Who is Angiras? You read the epics and consider characters like Angiras to be sages, highly evolved personages. The scriptures are not mere stories, but the essence of infinite wisdom designed to dispel your sorrow. This essence, or rasa (sweet juice) is, Angiras.

Anga means limb. Angiras is one who guards and fosters every limb of the body with the essence of the 16 attributes. How does rasa flow? It melts the 16 attributes, makes them flow toward the soul and reveals the divinity immanent everywhere. Therefore, Angiras is none other than the embodiment of wisdom within you.

Prajnana is the power or witness that pervades your body, senses, mind, inner instrument, life force, actions, everything. Therefore, the Vedas declare, “Awareness is God.” Four fundamental affirmations are associated with the four Vedas:

That you are (Tat twam asi).
Awareness is God (Prajnanam Brahma).
I am a soul, I am God (Ayam atma Brahma).
I am the Universal Absolute (Aham Brahmasmi).

These statements are pregnant with infinite power. Man need not look outward or consult scriptures. All knowledge is within. Having forgotten the totality of knowledge, he seeks it outside and encounters frustration. He has lost it in one place and searches for it somewhere else! Search for the missing article wherever you lost it. Search within. Then you come face to face with your brilliant intuitive wisdom.

Akshara equals perishable plus imperishable

All is contained within the word akshara, which is the union of the temporary and permanent. In akshara, a stands for anantam (infinite), aprameya (beyond measure), and apramana (beyond proof). This is the soul, true, permanent. Kshara means “temporary,” “false,” “illusory,” “perishable.” Kshara is perishable, a is imperishable. The merger of the two is akshara, which is not a single word, but two words. The fleeting world and the durable universal soul are an inseparable pair. One cannot leave the other.

God and devotee

Similarly, the devotee and God are a pair. The devotee creates God, and God creates the devotee. You think God has created all beings. No, no, the devotee, by dint of his spiritual effort, creates the God of his choice! This is sakshatkara, “the process of materializing God to appear in physical form.” The feelings of the devotee gain name and form as sakshatkara. Sakshat (physical) plus akara (form) equals sakshatkara. Therefore, it is none other than the devotee who creates God. And he is created by God as well.

Devotees today are blind to their power and constantly ask, “Where is God? Where is God?” What ignorance! What foolishness! Why search for God when He is everywhere. Your delusion tells you it is necessary to search for God. Truly, it is the other way around—God is in search of a real devotee. Why? Even a single genuine devotee is not to be found. Such power of inquiry is rare today. Saint Thyagaraja (a great devotee of the Hindu God Rama and a pioneer of South Indian classical music) sang:

In the ant, in Brahma,
In Shiva, Keshava, and other Gods,
Present as love,
You, who lives up to Your manifold names, Rama, save me!

What does an ant do? When you mix two grains of sugar in a pile of sand, it discards the sand and hauls the grains of sugar. When an ant is able to discriminate so acutely, why is man blunt in his intellect? God is smaller than the smallest, vaster than the vastest. Understand this unity.

The common meaning given to the word akshara is indestructible. No, no, decay and destruction are also an aspect of akshara. Theism and atheism are related in a similar manner. How? Nastika (atheist) equals na (no) plus astika (theist). Asti is “yes.” The denial of “yes” is nasti (atheism). Nasti equals na plus asti. Without asti, how can the word nasti exist? Meaning, the yes concept, or acceptance of God, is present within denial, within atheism.

The bud of a flower does not exude fragrance. Only when it blossoms into a flower does it emit a smell. The fully blossomed flower is theism; the bud is atheism. Both are the same flower, but one is dormant, while the other is awake. The flower of the heart has not yet blossomed in atheists. It is bound to bloom, sooner or later. However, not necessarily in this birth. If they die with narrow hearts, that is their misfortune.

All is one

Thus, there are no two substances in this world, all is one. Only the One exists, but seers express it in many ways. When you know the divine rasa called intuitive wisdom, you come to know everything. When you behold that highest wisdom, you have seen everything. You are, in reality, offering everything to it. There is a direct proof to illustrate this truth. A man promised God that he would conduct a special worship for Him at the temple if his task was completed successfully. His chosen deity was Krishna. He offered flowers one by one as he repeated the 1008 names of Krishna: Keshava, Narayana, Madhava, Govinda, Madhusudana, and so on. The names are different, but all offerings are to the one God. There is only one, but you call it by different names. Foods are different, hunger is one. Flowers are different, worship is one. Births are different, being is one. Focus on the unity underlying the diversity.

Physical, mental, and spiritual wisdom 

The concepts taught by Sage Angiras to Saunaka were also clarified to Sukesa [Sukesa Bharadvaja] by Sage Pippalada. Sukesa inquired: “Swami, there are three kinds of knowledge in this world—physical, mental, and spiritual wisdom. What is their inner significance and how are they related? Kindly shed light on this topic.”

Pippalada smiled, “Foolish fellow! There are no glaring differences between physical, mental, and spiritual wisdom. The first form of knowledge pertains to the body, the second emerges from the mind, and the third deals with the heart.”

Take one small example: Here are a handkerchief, a microphone, a plate, a tumbler, and a table. They are visible and tangible objects. This is physical wisdom, related to the physical world, to the body. Next comes the mind. You think, “I wish to embark on this task. Is this work beneficial to me? to others?” When you ponder in this manner and seek to help others, this is mental wisdom. When you seek to do good to others even in actions done for your personal benefit, such deeds are mental wisdom.

Having experienced both physical and mental wisdom, you move on to spiritual wisdom—when you do that which lends satisfaction to your conscience, when you ask, What actions will make God happy? All actions that seek to please God are spiritual wisdom. There is no need to search for such wisdom in some secret enclave. Please God, and the world will be pleased with you automatically. Once, a devotee prayed to the Divine Mother, “Mother, You haven’t granted me Your vision. Why am I distant from You? Why do You not look at me? If I do not mean anything to You, without Your kind glance on me, I will not be worth anything to anybody. If I fail to become Your own, O Mother, I will be derided by the world as well.”

Krishna and Gandhari

Krishna explained this point to queen Gandhari beautifully after the death of her hundred sons, the Kauravas*. Krishna went to Gandhari then to assuage her grief. Poor Krishna went there only to console her. Gandhari, on the other hand, let anger and grief overwhelm her when she was informed of Krishna’s approach. Grief leads to anger, which gives rise to hatred. Hatred causes jealousy. Gandhari, as you know, had taken upon herself a permanent blindfold, in deference to her husband’s blindness. Her maidservants told her, “O Queen, Krishna is here.”

Quivering in grief, Gandhari blurted out, “Krishna, You are full of partiality. You are the meanest of hypocrites! The Pandavas and Kauravas were cousins, sons of brothers. How could You be so partial to the Pandavas, so hateful to my sons? Even this partiality is acceptable. But why didn’t You save a single son of mine, while all five Pandavas are alive today? Not even a single son, to perform the funeral rituals for the others! Why didn’t You let your divine look fall on just one son of mine?”

Krishna had a perpetual smile dancing on His lips. He was always happy, even when everyone around Him cried. Krishna removed grief and granted grief as well! He turned paupers into millionaires, millionaires into paupers. Why would Krishna cause grief at one time and remove grief at another? No, no, each person only experienced the results of his destiny.

Realizing that Gandhari could not understand His role, Krishna decided to enlighten her by quoting her personal experience. “Mother Gandhari,” He said, “you know you had a hundred sons. But had you ever set eyes on them? How do you know you had a hundred sons? Only through the words of others. You haven’t seen even one of them! How could your wicked sons, unworthy of their own mother’s loving glances, ever become fit for God’s kind looks?”

Do you see? Children who cannot obtain their mother’s blessings remain distant from God’s grace. “When you do not see your children,” said Krishna, “how can you cultivate true love for them? Your sons were wicked, unfit for their own mother’s love. They hated and envied the gentle Pandavas beyond limits. The Pandavas are righteous. Your sons heeded the words of no well-wisher and grew in hatred day by day. They had no power of discrimination whatsoever, were selfish to the brim. Selfishness led them to a pitiable plight.

“Justice and fairness dictated that the kingdom belonged to the Pandavas. Your husband, Dhritarashtra, was only appointed as an interim ruler. When the Pandavas, also your children, trusted your husband, was it right to cheat them?” In history, men do not know some truths, and without factual knowledge, they become confused.

Unity of the gross and subtle

Therefore, if you invoke God’s kind glances upon yourself, you can easily conquer the world. But if you distance yourself from God, you are unworthy of respect from anyone. When you recognize God, you understand all the secrets of the world, because the world is nothing but a part of God.

Men today are fools who look at only one side of a coin. Look on both sides—only then will you know its true worth. One side is the world; the other, God. One is perishable; the other, permanent. One is the basis; the other, the based or the gross. Today no one endeavors to discern the basis hidden behind the diversity. The basis is the key to all knowledge, to all acts of God.

Therefore, no one can demarcate God as such and such. When you read ancient writings, you develop the duality of like and dislike. But you must strive to understand their unity, to go beyond attachment and hatred. For example, you listen to interpretations of scholars and presume that Krishna was an immoral man. Similarly, you believe Rama had certain traits. No, no, you should go beyond these interpretations to the truth. Both Rama and Krishna are based on a changeless truth.

Transform your heart

Therefore, the cowherd maids said, “Krishna, we see You with our eyes. To what extent is sight reliable? As long as our eyes can see You, this cannot be the truth. We must look at You with our hearts. But our hearts are like a moss-covered lake in which Your reflection is unclear.

“The center of our eyes, the pupil, is dark. Your complexion is dark as well. In each of us, the heart, the lake of the mind is dark with impurities as well. The sky appears dark in this dark lake. For us to see You, there is no need to transform our dark eyes or Your dark form. But the “background,” the dark sky, can be changed to a white sky. When our hearts are made bright, your dark reflection will appear as clear as crystal. Change our hearts.”

What is the inner significance [of this story]? You do not need to change your body or even your mind. When you transform your heart, which is related to prajnanam [higher wisdom], you achieve all. The mind’s nature is to be impure. You may wash it forever, but stains will remain. Can you wash charcoal with milk and expect it to become white? Instead, the milk will become black. If you wash coal with soap, the soap turns black. What was the original form of charcoal? Wood. When wood burns, it turns into coal. However, coal is formed only when the burning is incomplete. To complete the process, put the coal back into the fire. Then it becomes ash, which is white. The cowherd maids said, “Krishna, we are neither wood nor ash. We are midway, like black coal. Burn us in the fire of Your grace and grant us the whiteness of purity.” You must recognize [this concept by asserting that] “I have forgotten the beginning and the end. I am midway through the journey. That is why my mind is black like charcoal. Yes, I have lost my original status of wood. But I can still reach the final state of white ash. To achieve this end, the burning must be as intense as ever.” But instead you yield to difficulties and sorrow because you do not try to reach the end, because you remain satisfied with the dualities of this interim existence.

Yes, you must acquire physical amenities. Next, you must obtain mental peace, and finally, peace of the soul. For this reason, men repeat shanti three times. For peace in the body, recitation of the divine name is very important. For mental peace, a divine outlook is essential. Finally, for peace of the heart and conscience, spiritual discipline is the path. Journey from the body to the mind and then to the soul.

Source: Summer Showers in Brindavan, 1991

(Endnote)
*In the Mahabharata epic, the hundred Kauravas and the five Pandavas were warring cousins. Krishna was related to all of them, but considered the Pandavas alone dear to Himself because of their righteousness. The enmity of the cousins resulted in the Mahabharata war in which Krishna was charioteer for one of the Pandavas, Arjuna. All the Kauravas were destroyed in the war.