A Commentary on the Upanishads by Swami Nirmalananda Giri -9

A Commentary

on the Upanishads

by

Swami Nirmalananda Giri

A Commentary on the

Mundaka Upanishad

Knowing the ALL

It is an interesting trait of the Western mind that it wants encapsulations of things,

lists of “essentials,” advice on “shortcuts,” and “what is the one thing?…” in every

department of life and thought. Whether this is a desire for efficiency or a form of

intellectual minimalism or outright laziness is hard to say–chances are it varies from

person to person. Nevertheless, “getting to the heart of the matter” is something dear

to the heart of Americans, especially. They are not alone in this attitude. The

upanishads reflect the same mentality. Perhaps that is why Vivekananda considered

the West, and America particularly, as being more suited to the teachings of Vedanta–

the upanishads–than the contemporary East.

In the first section of the Mundaka Upanishad we find the highest expression of

this attitude:

“Out of the infinite ocean of existence arose Brahma, first-born and foremost

among the gods. From him sprang the universe, and he became its protector. The

knowledge of Brahman, the foundation of all knowledge, he revealed to his first-born

son, Atharva.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:1:1)

A pre-creation story

According to Indian texts, at the beginning of the present creation cycle Brahma,

that person who was destined to be the creator/projector of the three worlds, awoke to

find himself in infinite, empty space. At first he felt fear, but then he laughed at his

foolishness, for there was no one there but him. Who would he fear? Then he

pondered his situation, attempting to comprehend it. At one point a great voice

resounded all around him, saying a single word: “Tapa”–meaning “do tapasya.” This

awakened Brahma’s memory of yoga meditation, so he began to mediate. After some

time he attained full memory of his past as well as the knowledge of how to create the

worlds–which he did. He also became established in direct perception of Brahman.

Among his “children” brought forth through his meditation, was Atharva, to whom

he taught the way to realize Brahman. “In turn Atharva taught this same knowledge of

Brahman to Angi. Angi, again, taught it to Satyabaha, who revealed it to

Angiras.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:1:2)

The essence of knowledge

“To Angiras came upon a time Sounaka, the famous householder, and asked

respectfully: ‘Holy sir, what is that by which all else is known?’” (Mundaka Upanishad

1:1:3)

We have already been told that the knowledge of Brahman, Brahmavidya, is the

foundation of all knowledge. But Sounaka has a very salutary impatience and ambition.

He wants to know what is the one thing which, being known, causes all to be known.

This is both a wise quest and a wise attitude. Little Red Riding Hood ended up in the

wolf’s stomach because she dawdled on the way instead of going straight to her

destination. If we look at the history of religions we will find that the countries which

produce the most enlightened persons are those countries which have produced

empires. For when such people turn to spiritual life they go after the loftiest spiritual

attainments–they become imperialists of the spirit! They seek out the most direct

way…and go there. Sounaka is one of them–and hopefully so are we. Knowledge is the

subject of the question, so Angiras lays a foundation for his answer.

“Those who know Brahman,” replied Angiras, “say that there are two kinds of

knowledge, the higher and the lower.

“The lower is knowledge of the Vedas (the Rik, the Sama, the Yajur, and the

Atharva), and also of phonetics, ceremonials, grammar, etymology, metre, and

astronomy. The higher is knowledge of that by which one knows the changeless

reality.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:1:4-5)

Analysis of knowledge

Now we should look at this very carefully. First of all, who do we believe? When I

first emerged from the deadly cocoon of fundamentalist Protestantism my intellectual

world was quite simple–simplistic, actually. Fortunately I first read the Bhagavad Gita

and then Autobiography of a Yogi. The next step was to get out of my deadly

environment, so within a few months I was on the plane to California and wider

horizons.

But I discovered in a short time that wider horizons can have a drawback. I began

encountering just about every shade of philosophical and religious thought and

attitude, most of them incompatible with each other. Almost daily I was told conflicting

things, and always with the utmost confidence. As someone once said: “The problem

with ignorance is that it picks up confidence as it goes along.” I loved being in the

wide-open mental spaces of California (and I still do), but which way should I go? Who

could–or should–I trust? Since I had been shaken out of my spiritual entombment by

learning of the yoga tradition I wisely followed the principle that only those who know

God really know anything. So I sought out the teachings of illumined yogis of past and

present, discarding those inauspicious Indian teachers who claimed to have a new

revelation for a new age, and only paying attention to those who were right in the

center of the Eternal Dharma. (Once somebody asked me what a great yogi’s

“distinctive teachings” were. “None!” I replied with satisfaction. “If he taught anything

‘new” I would have nothing to do with him. Truth is eternal.”) I appreciated it if the

English was good (and equally if the book was free from typos), and expressed in a

way that someone in the twentieth century like myself could comprehend, but I wanted

to know what all the great yogis throughout history knew: the tried and proven way to

God.

My great blessing was being able to trek many times to the Vedanta Bookshop in

Hollywood. There I found an abundance of eternal wisdom, the same wisdom that had

been flowing in a life-giving stream for countless ages–like the holy Ganga. The Ganga

that emerges at Gangotri high in the Himalayas is the same Ganga that flows into the

ocean at Gangasagar. In the same way I found on the shelves of that little shop the

same Sanatana Dharma spoken by the primeval sages of India. A little further east in

Hollywood at the Self-Realization Fellowship I listened every Sunday to an ideal

presentation of both the philosophy and spiritual practice of Eternal India. All this

prepared me for India where, as a friend of ours once said about the same pilgrimage,

“I got the idea.” And have treasured it ever since.

So those who know Brahman “say that there are two kinds of knowledge, the

higher and the lower.” The lower, they say, is the knowledge of scriptures, ritual,

philosophic, expression and suchlike–including, by the way, astrology. Please note that

they do not denounce these things as useless or as ignorance. They are definitely said

to be knowledge, and a sensible person appreciates and learns them to a reasonable

and practical degree. But it must be understood that the essential, “the higher is

knowledge of that by which one knows the changeless reality”–Brahman. The

knowledge which enables us to Know is to be sought for and prized above all else.

While writing this previous sentence I could clearly hear in memory the recorded

voice of Yogananda saying: “I walked my feet off from Cape Cormorin to the

Himalayas” in search of the knowledge that would reveal God to him.

The lesser knowledge tells us only of that which changes, including our own short

physical life. But the higher knowledge brings us to the Changeless Reality. “By this is

fully revealed to the wise that which transcends the senses, which is uncaused, which

is indefinable, which has neither eyes nor ears, neither hands nor feet, which is allpervading,

subtler than the subtlest–the everlasting, the source of all.” (Mundaka

Upanishad 1:1:6) The Absolute Consciousness, the Totality of Being, is shown to the

wise–to the yogis–by this knowledge.

And the world?

What about this world in which we find ourselves? Is it to be despised as worthless

and antithetical to Brahman, our Goal? Lest we think such a foolish thing Angiras

further says: “As the web comes out of the spider and is withdrawn, as plants grow

from the soil and hair from the body of man, so springs the universe from the eternal

Brahman.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:1:7)

The world, then, is an extension or emanation of Brahman. In other words, the

world IS Brahman. We are living and moving in divinity manifesting as the world. Why,

then, do we say that the world is illusory? It is the world in our mind–our perception,

our interpretation, of the world–that is an illusion, not the world itself. In Indian texts

we continually find the simile of the snake in a rope or a man in tree. That is, in

darkness we see a rope lying on the ground and immediately “see” a snake lying

there–we see the glitter of its eyes and may even hear it hiss! Yet, when light is

brought we see only a rope. The rope was always real, was always there. The snake

was an illusion that existed only in our mind. In the same way, walking in the darkness

we may see a dead tree and mistake it for a human being, taking its branches for arms.

We may even see the “arms” move and think we see a face looking at us. But when we

come closer we see it is only a tree–and a dead one, at that. The tree was real, but the

man was not. Illusion is always a mental phenomenon, never a real or objective thing.

So it is illusion and ignorance we must decry, but never find fault with the world; for

the world is Brahman.

In both instances, rope and tree, we may experience great fear. But the moment we

see them for what they really are, our fear evaporates and we are at peace. This is how

it is with us and this world. Our illusions fill us with terrible fears and anxieties, all of

which will be dispelled when we see its actual nature as Brahman. No wonder, then,

that Krishna told Arjuna: “Even a little of this dharma delivers you from great

fear.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:40)

The chain of causation

The sage now gives us an outline of the process of the emanation of the world from

Brahman.

“Brahman willed that it should be so, and brought forth out of himself the material

cause of the universe; from this came the primal energy, and from the primal energy

mind, from mind the subtle elements, from the subtle elements the many worlds, and

from the acts performed by beings in the many worlds the chain of cause and effect–

the reward and punishment of works.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:1:8)

Creation is also spoken of as expansions from Brahman, and that is the mode here.

Brahman first expands as primordial matter, than as primordial energy. From this

comes the intelligence inherent in creation, then the elements, and the various worlds

in which they predominate. The final ingredient, though, comes from the sentient

beings within the universe: karma. God supplies the stage and we supply the actions

and reactions which unfold upon the stage.

“Brahman sees all, knows all; he is knowledge itself. Of him are born cosmic

intelligence, name, form, and the material cause of all created beings and

things.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:1:9) No wonder, then, that in the Gita, that great digest

of the upanishads, we find the words: “Brahman is the ritual, Brahman is the offering,

Brahman is he who offers to the fire that is Brahman. If a man sees Brahman in every

action, He will find Brahman.” (Bhagavad Gita 4:24)

Seeing is freeing.

Delusion and Ignorance

We usually think of delusion and ignorance in terms of “ordinary” life and its

situations. Those who are more occupied with “spiritual” matters assume that they are

beyond such, but Angiras thinks differently, and so should we.

“Finite and transient are the fruits of sacrificial rites. The deluded, who regard

them as the highest good, remain subject to birth and death.” (Mundaka Upanishad

1:2:7. Swami Prabhavananda has omitted verses 1 to 6 of this section as they

enumerate various technical aspects of Vedic sacrifices. Verse seven begins the

philosophical exposition of the external rites.) Swami Nikhilananda translates a bit

more literally: “Frail indeed are those rafts of sacrifices, therefore they are

destructible. Fools who rejoice in them as the Highest Good fall victims again and

again to old age and death.” “Back they must turn to the mortal pathway, subject still to

birth and to dying,” (Bhagavad Gita 9:3) says the Gita on the same subject.

Karma and religion

I think just about everybody puts karma into two lumps: Good Karma and Bad

Karma. But that is not very satisfactory. Karma, like all of life, has many nuances and

can vary greatly. Some karma, for example, creates more karma, and some actually

dissolves karma. For example, Sri Ramakrishna said that all spiritual practices are part

of Karma Yoga, but they deliver us from karma. There are material, mental, and

spiritual karmas. The material and mental karmas impel us to more of the same,

whether good or bad. But spiritual karma enables us to rise above the material and

mental planes and free ourselves from karmic bondage.

Angiras wants us to understand that religious karma is not always spiritual. This

should not surprise us when we can readily see that most religion is based on material

goals. “Stuff” and “happiness” just about sums up the motives of all the religions of the

world, including that of modern India. As a result, most religious acts culminate in

more mental and psychological involvement, not freedom. In the verses omitted by

Swami Prabhavananda it is pointed out that most religion creates karma that takes us

to heaven–and then dumps us back on earth when our “merit” is used up. So we end

back where we started. What a gyp.

Just because a religious act is either directed toward God or offered to God does

not mean it will ultimately lead to God. Usually it leads us away from God into the

labyrinth of relative existence in some form or other. Since most people have been

cultivating a taste for earthly things through life after life, this suits them. But it should

gall us, and we should refuse the pursuit and get off the merry-go-round.

Great suffering

So there are aspects of religion we should avoid adamantly. Otherwise: “Living in

the abyss of ignorance, yet wise in their own conceit, the deluded go round and round,

like the blind led by the blind.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:8) “They be blind leaders of

the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch,” (Matthew 15:14)

said Jesus, surely having this verse in mind.

Swami Gambhirananda’s translation points out a sad aspect of all this: “Remaining

within the fold of ignorance, and thinking, ‘We are ourselves wise and learned,’ the

fools, while being buffeted very much, ramble about like the blind led by the blind

alone.” Buffeted very much. (“Being afflicted by many ills” is the translation of Swami

Nikhilananda.) How true. Promising others the cessation of all troubles and sorrows,

these religious mountebanks are more afflicted than ordinary people. Whether this is

from the negative karma accruing from their dishonesty or a manifestation of their

own inner diseases, the result is the same. “While they promise them liberty, they

themselves are the servants of corruption,” (II Peter 2:19) as Saint Peter put it.

You have better ways to spend your time, so I will not recount to you the

observations of over sixty years in which I have seen such hucksters and their dupes

literally undergoing “the sufferings of the damned.” And all the while they denounce

those taking another path as “deluded” and “of the devil.” Well, as Jesus said: “They

have their reward.” (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16) And they must like it, for they certainly cling

to it.

Such is the grave danger of externalized religion.

Great delusion

As I say, they love and cling to their miserable condition. As the upanishad

continues: “Living in the abyss of ignorance, the deluded think themselves blest.

Attached to works, they know not God. Works lead them only to heaven, whence, to

their sorrow, their rewards quickly exhausted, they are flung back to

earth.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:9)

Then the heart of the matter is revealed in the next verse: “Considering religion to

be observance of rituals and performance of acts of charity, the deluded remain

ignorant of the highest good. Having enjoyed in heaven the reward of their good

works, they enter again into the world of mortals.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:10)

Rituals of worship and good deeds certainly produce good karma, but that is not

the force that lifts us above samsara, the ever-turning wheel of birth and death. If our

religion consists only of outer observances it will condition our consciousness even

more to identify with the material level of existence. And that identification will be a

round-trip ticket for our return to another birth after another death!

Even helping others is spiritually valueless if it is not done with a wider, spiritual

perspective. One of the hallmarks of today’s ineffectual religion is its obsessive

involvement in social action and reform. When we look at the lives of saints we see

they were the most generous of people, even sacrificing themselves for others. But

they did these things not as their religion, but as an expression of their love for God

and His children–which is the true religion.

We must not “remain ignorant of the highest good,” but must seek that Highest

Good within through meditation and the cultivation of spiritual consciousness even

outside meditation. Unless we do this we will find ourselves shuttled right back to

earth on completion of our good “heaven karma.”

Wisdom and Truth

The wise

No one likes to be thought stupid, and all like to be thought intelligent. Even better

is it to be thought wise. Of course, in all ages there have been the fools that preferred

to be “cool” or “sharp” or “neat” or such idiotic expressions. The sad thing is that the

vast majority want to be thought of as smart or wise, but only a small percentage care

whether they really are smart or wise. The upanishad is meant for these latter people,

so the sage continues: “But wise, self-controlled, and tranquil souls, who are contented

in spirit, and who practice austerity and meditation in solitude and silence, are freed

from all impurity, and attain by the path of liberation to the immortal, the truly existing,

the changeless Self.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:11)

Let us look at the traits of the wise. They are disciplined, and so are self-controlled.

As a result of their discipline they have become peaceful. Intent on spiritual

development, giving priority to the spirit, they have become contented–for outside the

spirit there is no peace or tranquility. This means that they are harmonious and

balanced, as well. They continually engage in those disciplines which purify them, and

by being so purified they are capable of becoming adept in meditation. As a result of

these qualities they are firmly on the path to liberation, and shall without doubt attain

to the Self which is the only truly existing thing, changeless and sure from eternity.

Some adjectives

Now a look at some Sanskrit terms will be helpful to us.

The wise are said to be aranye–living in the forest. At the time of the Gita, many

serious sadhakas lived on the outskirts of towns, preferring to live in the wooded areas

where neighbors would not be visible, even if somewhat near. This ideal is found twice

in the Gita: “Turn all your thought toward solitude, spurning the noise of the crowd, its

fruitless commotion.” (Bhagavad Gita 13:10) And: “When a man seeks solitude,…ever

engaged in his meditation on Brahman,…that man is ready for oneness with

Brahman.” (Bhagavad Gita 18:52, 53) It is not a matter of surrounding vegetation, but

the inward withdrawal from outer association that is being praised here. Even in a

crowded city we can live in “the forest” of inner solitude. In the thirteenth chapter of

Autobiography of a Yogi, the master yogi, Ram Gopal Muzumdar, asked Yogananda:

“Are you able to have a little room where you can close the door and be alone?” When

he said that he did have such a room, the saint told him: “That is your cave. That is

your sacred mountain. That is where you will find the kingdom of God.” Though that is

so, still the aspiring yogi should be extremely sparing of social contacts, and then only

with those who benefit him spiritually.

The first words of this verse in Sanskrit describe the wise as tapahshraddhe–an

interesting fusion of tapasya and shraddha–ascetic discipline and faith–shraddha in this

instance meaning aspiration more than faith. Many people engage in spiritual practice

for the wrong reasons, but the right one is a confidence in one’s ability to attain selfrealization.

Tapah literally means to generate heat, so tapahshraddha can also mean

heat-generating faith or aspiration, that which heats us up, builds the proverbial fire

under us, gets us moving and keeps us moving. Tapasya is the energy generator of the

wise directed by their assurance that the Goal exists and is within grasp.

Tapahshraddha is the radiance (tejas) that fills the proficient yogi. In the Chandogya

Upanishad, when a young man returns from a long period of tapasya, his teacher said

to him: “My son, your face shines like one who knows Brahman.” (Chandogya

Upanishad4:14:2) This is the effect of tapahshraddha.

The wise are vidvamsah–learned. They not only practice, they study and learn and

assimilate what they have learned. There is no place in spiritual life for pious

ignorance. Sentimental dummies are not “devotees,” they are fools. And fools do not

find God. It is very true that many people get what Yogananda called “intellectual

indigestion” from reading loads of theories and trivia. But the wise carefully choose

books of spiritual wisdom such as scriptures, lives of holy people, and the writings/

teachings of those who possess genuine inner illumination. Such books can never do

anything but good. It is especially necessary to read the teachings of realized yogis. (I

am not talking about super-gurus, glitter-gurus, and empire-building gurus, but real

Masters of the spiritual life.) Naturally, they will have to use their own good sense as to

whose words are worthwhile and whose are worthless or even poisonous. They will

not have a library of thousands of books, I assure you. But they will have a goodly

number of spiritual gems which they will perpetually read and ponder daily. Certainly

they will not spend hours a day on reading, but they will allot an appropriate amount of

time for it. Fake teachers and cults hate what I have just written, insisting that “loyal”

and “in tune” cultists will read nothing but what the cult authorizes, so the dupes will

not “get confused.” This only reveals their predatory cruelty. Their “protection” of their

“sheep” is nothing less than the “protective custody” of the Nazi death camps. They

fear that if their followers become informed as to the real nature of traditional

philosophy and yoga they will realize they are being lied to, and will sensibly go

elsewhere and find real truth. And that is bad for business.

Now comes an interesting adjective: virajah–beyond (free from) rajas. This may

seem odd, but those of you who have been yogis for some years will remember how at

the beginning of your “yoga days” you were very rajasic in your approach. First of all,

you wanted to tell everyone about it, and you went around accumulating “spiritual

stuff” of all kinds. You really began to star in your own spiritual movie, and you made

quite an epic. Your motives were perfectly all right, even laudable, but they were

rajasic, filled with activity and “passion” for getting on to the Goal. Again, the intentions

were good, but the feverishness and externalization was not. For a lot of people, when

the rajas fizzles out so does their impetus toward God. Most abandon any form of

spiritual life, while others settle down to a comfortable and ineffectual life in some yoga

cult that makes them feel secure and one of the “chosen.” But what is needed is for the

rajasic heat to mutate into the steady warmth and radiance of sattwa. Then the

aspiration and involvement actually increases, but in a fully effectual way, an

increasingly interior way. Spiritual life changes over from a compulsion to an intelligent

choice. Spiritual restlessness becomes steadiness in spiritual practice and

development. God is no longer the brass ring to strain at but an ever-present Reality

whose perception keeps on increasing in a naturally supernatural way.

And the result of all this? The upanishad says: “prayanti suryadvarena,” which

Shankara says means: “they move superbly [skillfully] along the path of the sun.” That

is, they ascend steadily and skillfully to the solar world, the realm of the Self-existent

Light that is Brahman.

Getting in Perspective

Many things are needed in life, but none more important than an overview, a

perspective on the values of life. This is true for everyone, so the sage now speaks of it

in a spiritual context.

“Let a man devoted to spiritual life examine carefully the ephemeral nature of such

enjoyment, whether here or hereafter, as may be won by good works, and so realize

that it is not by works that one gains the Eternal. Let him give no thought to transient

things, but, absorbed in meditation, let him renounce the world. If he would know the

Eternal, let him humbly approach a Guru devoted to Brahman and well-versed in the

scriptures.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:12)

This needs to be looked at bit by bit.

Let a man devoted to spiritual life examine carefully the ephemeral nature of such

enjoyment, whether here or hereafter, as may be won by good works, and so realize that it

is not by works that one gains the Eternal. Back in high school I came across an

eighteenth-century collection of humor and satire. I have forgotten most of it, but there

was one story about a man who fell in love with a woman he often saw at the theater.

That was when all lighting came from candles, and in that light she looked stunningly

beautiful. He got the courage to ask her if he could visit her at home in the daytime.

She agreed, and in the daylight he saw that she was horrible-looking, incredibly old,

wore a wig and loads of make-up. He fell out of love instantly! It is the same with this

and all other worlds and the enjoyments they offer in return for good karma. It is all

deathly illusion. What we need is the light of spiritual day.

Seeing the world clearly is the only lasting antidote for the poison of worldliness.

First we approach the matter intellectually. Just the fact of inevitable death should

begin to turn us from attachment, and the fact that nothing lasts should seal our

disillusionment. Yet, old habits do indeed die hard, and there is no habit as strongly

entrenched as attraction to the world and its promises. So discipline is needed.

Let him give no thought to transient things. The wise aspirant must exert his will and

refuse to even give a thought to the “good things” offered by the world, “good things”

that will melt away in time, and that often prove to be anything but good. Look at those

that have worldly success. Misery and confusion is their daily bread, but those who

envy them are convinced that they alone have found the way to happiness. We must in

contrast refuse to even look at the mirages held out to us by the world and our own

habit-deluded mind. How will we cure the mind of its awful addictions? By being…

Absorbed in meditation. For meditation cures the fevers of the mind and heart and

dispels the hallucinations produced by illusions and desires. The only way to be

absorbed in meditation is to be constantly cultivating interior consciousness even

outside of meditation. Our whole life must become a meditation process.

Let him renounce the world. The Sanskrit word nirvedam does not really mean

renunciation, though many translators use that term. Actually, nirvedam means being

indifferent, not being influenced or moved by something–in this case the world and its

ways. It is an inner state, a condition of the mind very akin to the non-arising (nirodha)

of mental reactions (vrittih) spoken about in the Yoga Sutras as being the state of yoga.

“When your intellect has cleared itself of its delusions, you will become indifferent to

the results of all action, present or future.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:52) And consequently you

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will be indifferent to the actions that produce those results as well as the world-stage

on which their dramas are enacted. None of this occurs just for the asking or wishing,

so Angiras give us practical advice:

If he would know the Eternal, let him humbly approach a Guru devoted to Brahman

and well-versed in the scriptures. The ideal of the upanishads often differs from that of

later Indian thought which is not based on wisdom but on whimsy–and often on

theatrical effect. Today there is a lot of talk about how valueless a teacher is who only

knows the scriptures but has no inner realization, and how wonderful is the illiterate–

or one who is ignorant of the scriptures–but who has spiritual knowledge. This is silly.

First of all, a scholar can tell you what the great masters of the spiritual life taught in

the scriptures, and you can learn from them just as you would if they were still on

earth. You cannot get spirituality from books, it is true, but you can get spiritual

instruction that will lead to the acquisition of spirituality. On the other hand, what kind

of a person, supposedly intent on gaining spiritual knowledge, will choose to remain

ignorant? Consider Sri Ramana Maharshi. He had no interest in academic matters, but

after going to Arunachala and attaining realization he became a living library of

countless spiritual texts, having read widely in several languages. So the sage tells us

that a worthy teacher has a thorough knowledge of the holy writings and is also

Brahmanishtham–established in the experiential knowledge of Brahman.

Such a teacher is rare, but we should accept no lesser teacher. If we find such a one

we must learn all we can and then apply it. If we cannot find one, then we should

diligently study the words of realized masters and follow them. The Mahayana

Buddhists say a very wonderful thing: Whenever someone resolves to seek

enlightenment a host of buddhas and bodhisattwas immediately become aware of it

and begin blessing and guiding him. Real masters never die, so we can become their

disciples no matter how long ago they lived in a physical body. This is especially true of

three great Masters who both teach and save even now: Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus.

One who sincerely, with right intention, takes refuge in them and prays for guidance

will find they respond. Such a one will need to act on what he already knows if he

hopes to gain further understanding. And if he is wise he will assiduously avoid all

those who claim to be their representatives or intermediaries.

“To a disciple who approaches reverently, who is tranquil and self-controlled, the

wise teacher gives that knowledge, faithfully and without stint, by which is known the

truly existing, the changeless Self.” (Mundaka Upanishad 1:2:13) By these words we

know the qualified student and the qualified teacher. When the two come together the

result is Perfect Knowing.

Origin and Return

“The Imperishable is the Real. As sparks innumerable fly upward from a blazing

fire, so from the depths of the Imperishable arise all things. To the depths of the

Imperishable they in turn descend.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:1:1) This is a spectacular

simile–mostly because it happens to be the absolute truth. But a more literal

translation brings out some important points Prabhavananda decided to pass over.

Here is Swami Nikhilananda’s rendering: “As from a blazing fire, sparks essentially

akin to it fly forth by the thousand, so also, my good friend, do various beings come

forth from the imperishable Brahman and unto Him again return.” Swami

Gambhirananda, the saintly President of Ramakrishna Mission, translated it this way:

“As from a fire, fully ablaze, fly off sparks, in their thousands, that are akin to the fire,

similarly from the Immutable originate different kinds of creatures and into It again

they merge.”

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

(My humble salutations H H Swami Nirmalananda Giri ji and   Hinduism online dot com for the collection)

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