MANDUKYA UPANISHAD with GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA : 4 - Swami Advayananda ji

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Chinmaya Mission

From July 24th to 28th, 2023, at Chinmaya Somnath in Chantilly, VA, 90 high schoolers from across the United States gathered for the Youth Camp and were engaged in several activities ranging from discourse to dodgeball from 9 am to 5 pm.

The camp’s theme was “Embracing Discomfort” focusing on how to find joy while being outside your comfort zone, conceptualized and conducted by Vivekji (Shri Vivek of Chinmaya Mission Niagara Falls, Canada).

Vivekji, Shankarji, and Sumanji facilitated daily satsangs with the campers reflecting on the Mananam Series book Youth: 

Keeping the Balance. In addition to satsangs, Vivekji led a workshop called Vitamin R3 for the campers that consisted of 20 minutes each of reading, writing, and reflecting to help campers begin to build the habit of daily self-reflection. 

Our Vedanta teachers also gave challenges to the campers while eating lunch served by our Sevaks in order for them to get out of their comfort zone, such as eating in silence, eating with their hands, and swapping sandwiches.

CHYKs led athletics every day to help campers explore outside of their comfort zone and work together as a team. On July 26th, the campers went to JK Community Farm, a farm which donates all of their harvest to local homeless shelters and food banks, and volunteered their time to help remove weeds, harvest watermelon, and fill beds with compost for new crops to grow. Afterwards, they went to a large field and played a variety of games such as soccer, handball, and ultimate frisbee for three hours.

CHYSKs and CHYKs also led dynamic workshops about relevant societal issues such as climate change and gun control, bringing light to these issues to the younger generation.

Overall, the feedback from the campers was very positive and the camp was very successful.

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Tuesday, 22 Aug 2023. 06:20.

MANDUKYA UPANISHAD 

with Part 1/4 of GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA

Agama Prakarana – “The Scriptural Treatise”

PART 1: Agama Prakarana (Mantras-29. )

Kar. Section 1.1: EXPERIENCE & ENJOYMENT (Mantras 1-5) 

Commentary on Mantras 1-5 of Mandukya Upanishad

Mantram -1 ( Plurality is Nothing But OM )

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Mantram -1 ( Plurality is Nothing But OM )

Harih Om. Hari Om!

1

Om iti etat aksharam idam sarvam;  =  Om, this word, is all this (world and also beyond it).

tasya upa-vyaakhyaanam;  =  On that matter, a clear explanation (is being started).

2

bhootam bhavat bhavishyat iti,  =  That which is past, present and future (the immanent),

sarvam omkaarah eva;  =  it is all verily the syllable Om.

3

yat cha anyat trikaala ateetam,  =  And That which is beyond the three periods of time,

tat api omkaarah eva.  =  (the transcendent) – even That is also but Om.

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1 

“As all these objects that are indicated by names are non-different from the 

names, and as names are non-different from Om, therefore Om is verily all this.”

The Supreme Brahman is also known up to a certain point by a name, hence It, too, 

is only Om. At the outset, the declaration is made – Om is immanent and transcendent.

The word for “explanation” is interestingly built up from three Upasargas (prefixes): 

upa + vi + aa + ‘Khyaanam’. The 3 Upasargas mean “close, clear and full”, i.e. the 

explanation that is given is close, clear and full. ‘Close’ means close to the Self within. An 

exhaustive explanation of “Om” as the one to follow is hard to come by in any Upanishad.

2 i) The Immanent Om: 

All objects have a birth and death on the scale of Time. It 

follows whatever has been created, is being created, or will be created, will all be Om. 

Time itself is a creation of Hiranyagarbha. Before Hiranyagarbha created the subtle 

elements or Tanmatras, let alone creating any objects, there was no time. At the instant the 

first object was created, Time was zero. Within the difference between that moment and 

the second moment, time was created.

3 ii) The Transcendent Om: 

Avyakrita is that which is beyond time. It is the state 

that precedes Hiranyagarbha in the cosmic hierarchy, referred to as the Unmanifested. It is 

beyond the axis of time. This, too, is defined as Om. Om is thus all-inclusive.

Bhashya Link From Mantram 1 to 2:

All this explanation is done in order to give more importance to the word Om, than 

to any object that it represents. This may invite the criticism of reducing the value of the 

object itself. For this reason the next verse speaks of the same truths but placing the stress 

on the object signified. This way their full identity can be understood.

The need to bring out this identity is so that later we shall need to focus only on the 

‘name’ and not the ‘named’ as well; that is when we eliminate both name and named to 

realize Brahman, which is beyond them both. It makes the process that much easier for the 

Sadhaka when, at this early stage, the ‘name’ is taken to include the ‘named’.

There is an important purpose behind this simplification: The groundwork is being 

laid to see the ‘World’ only as an extension of one’s mind, not as something physically 

present ‘out there’. Thus, the first verse, apart from plotting Om on the two axes of 

immanence and transcendence, also plots it in the third dimension of depth in our mind.

Surely, there cannot be a clearer start than this to the Upanishad.

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Next

Mantram - 2: Brahman is Verily OM

To be continued

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