MUNDAKA UPANISHAD ( “For the Shaven-Headed” ) - 3. Swami Advayananda.

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Adi Shankaracharya, Swami Sivananda, Swami Tapovanji, Swami Chinmayananda

SERVE  LOVE  GIVE  PURIFY  MEDITATE  REALISE

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Reflections by Swami Gurubhaktananda on the Series of 54 Lectures by Swami Advayananda ji  of the 15th Batch Sandeepany Vedanta Course held at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai, Mumbai. From 16th December, 2012 – 13th February, 2013

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Thursday, 07, 2022. 20:00.

MUNDAKA UPANISHAD : 6 Chapters (64 Mantras)

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Chapter-1.

Section-1.

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Mantram - 3: Shaunaka’s Question to Angira

1 shaunakah ha vai  mahashalah angirasam,

2 vidhivad-upasannah  papraccha;

3 kasmin nu bhagavo vijaate,

4 sarvam-idam vijnatam bhavati iti.

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Translation :

1 shaunakah ha vai  mahashalah angirasam, = Once, Shaunaka, the great and 

highly  accomplished householder, went to Angiraa.

2 vidhivad-upasannah  papraccha;                      = He approached him in the 

prescribed manner, and asked him:

3 kasmin nu bhagavo vijaate,                           = What is That, my Lord, by knowing 

which

4 sarvam-idam vijnatam bhavati iti.               = all other things become known?

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Shaunaka’s Eligibility for Spiritual Knowledge :

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1 Mahashala : This word indicates something about the student in this text.  Shaunaka was an influential and accomplished person, with some importance and standing in society.  An excellent description of him is given in Pujya Gurudev’s commentary, and was read out in class :

“The great disciple of this inimitable Upanishad is not one of those impotent cowards and runaways from life. Here is a healthy mind-intellect equipment, soaked to satisfaction in all possible experiences of life. Having intelligently lived an intense and active life, he feels an inward dissatisfaction even in the midst of the best that life can offer.

“Shaunaka was not suffering from mental psychosis. He was not an embittered revolutionary. There was no suppression of desire in him. He was not one of those products of ‘mental hysteria’ or ‘intellectual dysentery’ that we see today howling in madness from platforms and parapet walls, the trained species called ‘political leaders’. Nor was Shaunaka a tragic specimen of a bundle of superstitions that was hawked along in a handcart of leprous fanaticism and intolerance!

“In Shaunaka we have a full-grown true son of the Aryans, who alone is fit to enter the portals of the Upanishads, successfully live the life advocated therein, and with a joyous certainty reach the goal pointed out therein. All the above-mentioned qualities in Shaunaka have been indicated by this one little phrase of inspiration – Mahashaalah – the great householder or a pious and a charitable rich man of devotion and faith who erected and maintained many a great Yajnashala or hall for Vedic sacrifices.”

2 Vidhivat Upasannah: This is another deep-meaning word. In approaching one’s Guru, the proper protocol of the day was to take some gift for the Guru, to go at the right time, to make an appointment with him, and do some personal service to him and, when he is pleased by such acts of humility, to approach him with one’s doubts or request for spiritual knowledge.

This was followed by Shaunaka to perfection. The Bhashya even suggests that the word ‘duly’ implies that such a tradition was not known earlier, and so this demarcates the period after which it began, i.e. it was started by Shaunaka himself.

With this humble approach, Shaunaka deserved to have the privilege of asking a question to his Guru. This is dealt with in detail in the Bhashya, as follows:

Shaunaka’s Question:

3-4 “What is that by knowing which everything else is known?”

This is not a knowledge that is given in schools. It is something special. One only gets it when one asks for it. The question indicates that Shaunaka was already thinking about the endlessness of ordinary secular knowledge. No matter how many books are studied, there will never be an end to how much to learn. There comes a time when all this bulk only clutters the mind and one finds no satisfaction in it. The enquiry therefore shows the spiritual maturity of the questioner. There is a spirit of enquiry developing in him.

He seems to have an inkling that there is an answer. The Bhashya compliments his

use of the word “which” for the sake of brevity, otherwise the question could have been

quite verbose. There is no harm in using this pronoun in his question. It also tells us that he

knows what he is asking, and it is not just an idle curiosity to know, “Is there such a thing?”

The disciple asks for that ‘minimum’ by which the ‘maximum’ is

known – quite an intelligent bargainer!

Guru Upasadana: “approaching a Realised Guru”. We have dealt with this in

the community, such as a well-respected Guru. A “Guru-made” man is eulogized more in the

Indian tradition than a “self-made” man.

The spiritual path itself is so hazardous due to the vagaries of the ego, that one

should enter it only after being initiated into it by a Guru of standing. It is too perilous to

attempt this path on one’s own. This is another significance of the Guru as upheld in the

Vedic tradition.

Shaunaka also desires to make his life worthwhile. We see in him a striving to be a man of honour, to be noble, to make a significant contribution to society, not to be kept in the dark – these are valid intentions in the pursuit of knowledge. Then again he seeks to know something big, he wants to know everything! In such a thirsty student alone can the will to succeed in life be generated.

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Next - Mantram -4 : Angiraa’s Answer to Shaunaka

To be continued ....

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