Mandukya Upanishad : 8. T.N.Sethumadhavan.

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Chinmaya Mission :

After more than 2 years the Chinmaya Vrindavan team was excited to host Pujya Swami Swaroopananda for a 5 day talk series on Managing difficult situations based on Sankat Mochan Hanuman Stotram during the Ganesh Utsav season. 

The daily talks were preceded by chanting by the Bala Vihar children and cultural events. The ashram premises was brimming with excitement to bask in Pujya Swamiji’s presence and the Bala Vihar children also had a chance to fly kites with Pujya Swamiji.

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Saturday, September10, 2022.09:00. 
An inquiry into what is Real And Unreal 
AGAMA PRAKARANA 
Post-8.

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DEEP SLEEP STATE :
Mantram-6.

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MANTRAM – 6:

"Esa sarveshvara esa sarvajna eso. antaryamy-esa 

yonih sarvasya prabha-vapyayau hi bhutanam." 

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Commentary :

This is the Lord of all; this is the knower of all; this is the controller within; this is the source of all; and this is that from which all things originate and in which they finally dissolve themselves.

This mantra describes such Atman. We find the same idea conveyed by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita as under. (the common words are indicated in bold type). 

BG - CH-7, SLO-6. 

"Etad-yonini bhutani sarvanityupadharaya

aham kritsnasya jagatah prabhavah pralayas tatha."

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Know all matter to be born from these (the higher and lower natures-prakritis-of The Lord). I am the reason for the origin of the entire universe and its dissolution. 

Prajna is the natural state because in deep sleep all diversities of waking and dream states merge. This state, being free from the conditions of the waking and dream states, manifests the pure Consciousness. In this state Pure Consciousnss (Atman) is the Lord of all (sarveshvara). He is the Lord of all because if this consciousness is not there, we would not have been responsive at all. He is not different from the universe. He is omniscient (sarvajna) because he is the knower of all beings in their different conditions. 

He is the antaryamin, that is, he alone enters into all, directs everything from within.  Therefore He is called the origin of all (sarvasya yonih) because from Him proceeds the universe characterized by diversity. If consciousness is not there in us, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, nor the entire world of objects nor the world of ideas would have been existent. For a man in the state of comma the world just doesn’t exist.

It being so, He is verily that from which all things proceed (prabhavah) and in which all disappear (apyaya). The world outside and the world within, rise up from this Pure Consciousness, exist in Consciousness and shall merge back into the Consciousness itself. When the consciousness in us is projected forth through the mind and intellect we acquire knowledge of the plurality of the world and when such projection is absent a man is considered dead. 

But instead of the total absence of consciousness, if the consciousness is directed beyond the mind and intellect, in such awareness we will realize the allpervading Reality in the names and forms we see around us. What the Upanishad tells us is that the Ultimate Reality is one and that the diversities we see are only apparent but not true and hence it establishes the identity between the individual and the cosmic.

(N.B. from here commence Gaudapada’s Karikas(explanatory verses) interspersed between the mantras in elucidation of the Mandukya Upanishad. As the Karikas are numerous in volume and deep in content, it is not practicable to incorporate them in an essay format like this. However a brief note is given at the end of this dissertation as an annexure giving a fair idea about the Karikas and their author, Gaudapada).

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Next-TURIYA : MANTRAM – 7

To be continued ...

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