Mundaka Upanishad Qutoes.+

Mundaka Karika:- Sage Goudpada wrote or compiled the Manduka Karika, also known as the Sage Goudpada Karika and as the Agama Sastras.

The Manduka Karika is a commentary in verse form on the Manduka Upanishad, one of the shortest but most profound Upanishads, or mystical Vedas, consisting of just 13 prose sentences.

In Sage Sankara’s time, it was considered to be a Sruti, but not particularly important. In later periods, it acquired a higher status, and eventually, it was regarded as expressing the essence of the Upanishad philosophy.

The Manduka Karika is the earliest extent systematic treatise on Advaita Vedanta, though it is not the oldest work to present Advaita views, nor the only pre-Sankara work with the same type of teachings.

Sage Goudpada took over the Buddhist doctrines that and "that the nature of the world is the four-cornered negation”. Sage Goudpada "wove (both doctrines) into a philosophy of the Manduka Upanishad, which was further developed by Sage Sankara ".

Sage Sankara gave out what was of most use to the greatest number of people. Therefore, in the commentaries on the Upanishads, such as the famous Mundaka, he gave the highest nondual message of the identity of Atman and Brahman, revitalizing the philosophy and practice of Advaita, while in the commentaries on the Brahmasutra he gave a lesser teaching, positing both higher and lower Maya and higher and lower Brahman (Ishvara) to explain creation for those of lesser intellects until they were ready for the highest truth.

The essence of Mundaka is: Do not be satisfied with rituals, yoga, etc., which are good in their own way, but inquire. Into what? Brahman and Atman are things you can never see. So do not inquire into them. Inquire into the world around you, which you can see. Science tells you it is passing away every second. Everything is dying repeatedly. Where is it going?

Thus, you follow up your inquiry into what you can lay your hands on. How can you inquire into Atma, which you cannot see? So, first, we deal with the known and seen; this inquiry leads up to the unknown in the end.

Manduka Upanishad has no assumptions whatsoever. It is an honest and bold inquiry into truth. It rises above scripture.

Manduka Upanishad:~ Reality and illusion together make Brahman: nothing can be left out.

Manduka Upanishad:~ Reality and illusion together make Brahman: nothing can be left out.

Manduka Upanishad:~ Only a few will be able to understand and assimilate it

Manduka Upanishad is not meant for all, as it is based entirely on reasoning.

Manduka:~ Those who want the ultimate truth, Brahman, will not practice control of the mind. (p.231)

Manduka Upanishad:~ Yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality.The eye cannot see it; the mind cannot grasp it. The deathless Self has neither caste nor race, neither eyes nor ears nor hands nor feet. Sages say this Self is infinite in the great and in the small, everlasting and changeless, the source of life.

Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:8:~ “Remaining in the fold of ignorance and thinking 'we are extremely wise and learned,” the fools with a boastful nature ramble about like the blind led by the blind alone.”

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3:- “The weak and timid cannot realize the Self. Self-realization is not possible through intellect or hearing spiritual discourse. One who welcomes God in every activity, through a thorough controlled and disciplined life, to him also the Soul is revealed.

In Manduka Upanishad Brahman and Atman are defined as same:~ सर्वं ह्येतद् ब्रह्मायमात्मा ब्रह्म सोयमात्मा चतुष्पात् / sarvam hyetad brahmaayamaatmaa brahm soyamaatmaa chatushpaat –

Manduka Upanishad, verse-2

Translation:~

Sarvam(सर्वम्)- Whole/All/Everything; hi(हि)- Really/Just/Surely/Indeed; etad(एतद्)- This here/This; brahm(ब्रह्म)- Brahm/Brahman; ayam(अयम्)- This/Here; aatmaa(आत्मा)- Atma/Atman; sah(सः)- He; ayam(अयम्)- This/Here; chatus(चतुस्)- Four/Quadruple; paat(पात्)- Step/Foot/Quarter

Fragmented Verse:~ सर्वम् हि एतद् ब्रह्म अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म सः अयम् आत्मा चतुस पात् / sarvam hi etad brahm ayama aatmaa brahm sah ayam aatmaa chatus paat

Simple Meaning:~

All indeed is this Brahman; This Atman is Brahman; God, this Atman has four steps/quarters.

While Brahman lies behind the sum total of the objective universe, some human minds boggle at any attempt to explain it with only the tools provided by reason. Brahman is beyond the senses, beyond the mind, beyond intelligence, beyond imagination.

Indeed, the highest idea is that Brahman is beyond both existence and non-existence, transcending and including time, causation, and space, and thus can never be known in the same material sense as one traditionally 'understands' a given concept or object.

Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:8:~ “Remaining in the fold of ignorance and thinking 'we are extremely wise and learned,” the fools with a boastful nature ramble about like the blind led by the blind alone.”

Mundaka Upanishad 3:2:3:- “The weak and timid cannot realize the Self. Self-realization is not possible through intellect or hearing spiritual discourse. One who welcomes God in every activity, through a thorough controlled and disciplined life, to him also the Soul is revealed.

Mundaka Upanishad:~ As rivers flow into the sea and in so doing lose name and form, so even the wise man, freed from name and form, attains the Supreme Being, the Self-luminous, the Infinite. He who knows Brahman becomes Brahman. ~ 3.2.8-

Mundaka Upanishad condemns rituals. The Para or Higher knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being, while the Apara or Lower Knowledge is that of following sacrificial rites and ceremonies. (1/2/ 1 – 6)

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 (7) - He who knows all and understands all, and to whom belongs all the glory in the world-, Atman, is placed in the space in the effulgent abode of Brahman. It assumes the forms of the mind and leads the body and the senses. It dwells in the body, inside the heart. By the knowledge of that which shines as the blissful and immortal Atman, the wise behold Him fully in all things.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 - The fetters of the heart are broken, all doubts are resolved, and all works cease to bear fruit when He is beheld who is both high and low.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 (9) - There the stainless and indivisible Brahman shines in the highest, golden sheath. It is pure; It is the Light of lights; It is That which they know who know the Self.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightning, nor to speak of this fire. When Brahman shines, everything shines after Brahman; by Brahman light, everything is lighted.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 (11) - That immortal Brahman alone is before, that Brahman is behind, that Brahman is to the right and left. Brahman alone pervades everything above and below; this universe is that Supreme Brahman alone.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they still remain in ignorance of the Atman, the real God.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (9) - Children, immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's purpose. Because these performers of karma do not know the Truth owing to their attachment, they fall from heaven, misery-stricken, when the fruit of their work is exhausted.

Mundaka Upanishads: ~ So-called spiritual pundits and learned are called children because a child takes whatever it thinks as truth. The question never occurs to children, “Is what I have seen or thought really the truth?" (P.334 line 9)

Mundaka Upanishad: - ‘Know that One and give up other talks’.

Mundaka Upanishad: ~ This Atman cannot be attained through the study of the Vedas, nor through intelligence, nor through much learning. He who chooses Atman—by him alone is Atman attained. It is Atman that reveals to the seeker its true nature. (3 page-70 Upanishads by Nikilanada)

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Mundaka Upanishad condemns rituals. The Para or Higher knowledge is the knowledge of the Supreme Being, while the Apara or Lower Knowledge is that of following sacrificial rites and ceremonies. ( 1/2/ 1 – 6)

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 - Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (9) - Children, immersed in ignorance in various ways, flatter themselves, saying: We have accomplished life's purpose. Because these performers of karma do not know the Truth owing to their attachment, they fall from heaven, misery-stricken, when the fruit of their work is exhausted.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - Ignorant fools, regarding sacrifices and humanitarian works as the highest, do not know any higher good. Having enjoyed their reward on the heights of heaven, gained by good works, they enter again this world or a lower one.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (11) - But those wise men of tranquil minds who lives in the forest on alms, practicing penances appropriate to their stations of life and contemplating such deities as Hiranyagarbha, depart, freed from impurities, by the Path of the Sun, to the place where that immortal Person dwells whose nature is imperishable.

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (12) - Let a Brahmin, after having examined all these worlds that are gained by works, acquire freedom from desires: nothing that is eternal can be produced by what is not eternal. So that he may understand that Eternal, let him, fuel in hand, approach a Guru who is well versed in the Vedas and always devoted to Brahman.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 (7) - He who knows all and understands all, and to whom belongs all the glory in the world-, Atman, is placed in the space in the effulgent abode of Brahman. It assumes the forms of the mind and leads the body and the senses. It dwells in the body, inside the heart. By the knowledge of that which shines as the blissful and immortal Atman, the wise behold Him fully in all things.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 - The fetters of the heart are broken, all doubts are resolved, and all works cease to bear fruit when He is beheld who is both high and low.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 (9) - There the stainless and indivisible Brahman shines in the highest, golden sheath. It is pure; It is the Light of lights; It is That which they know who know the Self.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 (10) - The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings, nor to speak of this fire. When Brahman shines, everything shines after Brahman; by Brahman light, everything is lighted.

Second Mundaka - Chapter 2 (11) - That immortal Brahman alone is before, that Brahman is behind, that Brahman is to the right and left. Brahman alone pervades everything above and below; this universe is that Supreme Brahman alone.  :~Santthosh Kumaar