Mundakopanishad (The what, how and who of me and Me) VI

Vedanta

oi-Staff

By Staff

Friday, January 16, 2009, 17:11

Mistaking the 'other' in 'Me' to be myself we get caught with the objects and their experiences. However, if the 'me" is firmly held on to, the 'other' looses its strength to propel us into all types of compulsive actions. This is said in the verse as 'when the second bird above is seen, the first bird stops eating' ! This is the theory behind the practice of witnessing as one of the methods of meditation.

To one who has thus achieved this great-feet of dissolving the split within 'Me' as 'me' and the 'other', the Upanishad eulogizes as jnana truptah (one who is contented with the knowledge), kruttatmananah (one whose purpose is fulfilled), viitaraagah (one whose attachments are relinquished), prashaantah, whose mind is calm), yukta aatmanah (one whose mind-intellect personality is integrated), etc. Such a person is like a river which having merged with the waters of the ocean will seize to loose its identity as a tiny river and becomes the very ocean itself. In this way, one who knows the supreme Brahman becomes the very Brahman (as Me) - Brahmavid Brahmaiva bhavati, revels in the Self (aatma rathih), sports in the 'Self' ( aatma krieda), does not chatter unnecessarily ( na ativaadi bhavati).

In short, the jiva, jagat, Ishwara bedha is dissolved. It is to realize that there were no divisions really anytime, anywhere. The division imagined within 'Me' as 'me' and the 'other' led to the division outside. On seeing that this division-within is only a fictitious one - in the form of the first bird seeing the other bird witnessing - will give up its worthless pursuit of searching for happiness outside by seizing to see the very division of outside and inside. This is aptly represented by the single tree in the analogy on which the two birds are perching.

Who is Ishwara? Or what is Brahman?

To comprehend the unthinkable is no easy task. The seers of Upanishadic times devised a number of methods viz., precise and abstract pointers, method of contradiction (virodhabhasa), and the method of negation and assertion (anvaya-vyatireka). All these three are used in this Upanishad at various places to bring the seekers' mind to cross its own barrier. Some of them are given below. Here it is worth mentioning the observation made by Echart Tolle before we take to the contemplation of Brahman - "the words are no more than sign posts. That to which they point is not to be found within the realm of thought, but a dimension within yourself that is deeper and infinitely vaster than thought. ....... Sutras of ancient India are powerful pointers to the truth in the form of aphorisms or short sayings with little conceptual elaboration" .

Ishwara is subtler than the subtle and It is farther than the farthest; It is nearer than the nearest wherein all the worlds are hidden. It is big, unthinkable, formless. It is indicated in a variety of ways both at the level of jiva and also jagat. At the level of the jiva, Ishwara is not the jiva comprising of different parts such as jnanendriyas, karmendriyas, etc. It is not the breath, not mind, pure, living in the whole body with his heart as the seat. - the inner most sheath. However, Ishwara is the very source from which all these have risen viz., prana, manah, all sense organs and organs of action, all five great elements, different worlds, the Sun, moon, etc., the Vedas, all types of sacrifices, faith, truth, self control, oceans, mountains, plants, etc., He is the life, speech, mind, reality, immortality. So, Brahman or Ishwara is like that point where all the nerves meet like the spokes of a chariot wheel in the hub within the heart-the epi-centre of everything.

From the point of the jagat, It is That where the sun does not shine, not the moon, stars, lightening, fire. It shines all alone and because of which all this (idam) shines forth. This Brahman is every where - in front, at the back, below, above, etc. Brahman indicated as eternal, the lord, all-pervading, imperishable, that which is hidden in all beings, effulgent, formless, partless omni-sentient, all-wise and light of all lights.

To Be Continued