Wednesday, April 20, 2016

MUNDAKOPANISHAD 2



                                                                 
Continuing his explanation, Angirasa describes how like the sparks emanating from blazing fire various beings emerge from the imperishable and finally merge into it. The Imperishable is formless, omnipresent, within and without,  unborn, pure and transcends life. He is the source of life, mind and all the senses, space, air light, water and the earth. Fire is the head of the Imperishable, sun and the moon his eyes, the directions his ears, the Vedas his voice. While the wind is his breath, the universe is his heart! Fire comes through the sun, rain from the moon, and herbs from the earth and progeny through women. In other words, the Purusha  begets  everything in the universe. Not only  these but the Vedas, sacrifices, ceremonies, the year and the sacrifice have their origin in the Imperishable.
                It is not surprising to say that gods, demigods, men, cattle, and birds the pranas, paddy and other grains, penance, faith, truth, chastity and law arise out of Him! Angiras continues and remarks that all the organs of sense, the seven flames of fire, seven oblations and seven worlds are centered in the heart of the imperishable Aii seas, mountains, flowing rivers of every kind, the herbs and their juices that sustain the inner soul come from Him! In short the Purusha alone is the embodiment of the universe. All the things mentioned above specify the Brahman the highest and the immortal!One who realizes that hidden in the heart, is released from ignorance! Thus this section of Mundakopanishad   describes the nature of Brahman, the self, the relation between the empirical world and the Brahman and the path to know the Brahman.
                 Angirasa introduces the metaphor of the bow and arrow in describing the path of reaching the Brahman.  He says, “ Taking the Upanishad as your bow, as your great weapon, fix on it the arrow sharpened by devotion, and then,  drawing it with  a mind concentrated  on THAT, hit the target of the eternal.” He explains further; AUM is the bow; one’s own self is the arrow; Brahman is the aim. An undistracted man alone should hit it! Like the arrow he should become one with it. Self is a combination of heaven, earth and sky together with the mind and the senses. This Self is the bridge to immortality. Meditating on AUM as the Self you can cross the sea of ignorance!
                    When the Brahman is realized “all fetters are broken, all doubts are dissolved,  and one’s works melt away.”  Brahman resides in the innermost sheath of golden color unstained and formless! Sage Angiras sums up the explanation of the Brahman excellently with these pregnant words:  “The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings, much less this fire. When He shines everything shines after Him. By His light all this is lighted.”   ( Continued)

No comments:

Post a Comment