Mandukya Upanishad : 1. T.N.Sethumadhavan

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Monday, May 02, 2022. 20:00.

An inquiry into what is Real And Unreal 

Introduction :1.

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Bracelet is an illusory appearance of gold; only when the gold is forgotten does one see a

bracelet. Even so, are the illusory notions of a nation or the world and also that of

repeated births. When the false notion of the bracelet is rejected, the truth of the gold is

revealed; and when the false notion of the subject-object is rejected, there is no

ignorance to create a division. Thought alone creates all these divisions and illusions.

When it ceases, creation ceases too, then you realize that all the waves constitute one

ocean, dolls are wood, pots are clay and the three worlds are absolute Brahman. – Yoga

Vasishtha.

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PREAMBLE :

The statement “Brahma Satyam jagat mithya – Brahman is the only reality and all the

others are mithya or illusory, an unending dream” puts in a nutshell the entire nondualistic philosophy of Adi Sankara and his teacher’s teacher Gaudapada. But any person

even with a minimum intelligence is bound to argue how this everlasting universe

perceived by him and others like him day in and day out in the waking state be a dream?

The response to this question is very meticulously investigated and expounded in the

great MANDUKYA UPANISHAD and its explanatory or auxiliary treatise Mandukya

Karika by Acharya Gaudapada. It may be noted that Gudapada’s Karika on the

Mandukya Upanishad is the first systematic exposition of Advaita Vedanta which has

come down to us from Pre-Sankara days. Bhagavan Adi Sankara was so fascinated by the

theme of this Upanishad that he commented upon both the Upanishad and the Karika.

The Mandukya Upanishad mantras provide us with the staple food for our intellect by

enunciating the Truth while the Karika graphically reveals to us a line of enquiry and

thinking with logic and reason to find out that Truth.

Let the universe be real or a dream, in what way we are concerned? Of what use is this

intellectual exercise to us who are already overburdened with the problems and

challenges of daily living? Is it not a sheer waste of time to indulge in this cerebral

gymnastics? All the replies to these and other similar issues can be found in this

Upanishad itself. By thinking over these problems and analyzing them with the

instruments provided in the Upanishad and the Karika we can certainly come to the

conclusion that this world and worldly objects are all momentary and not real and such

momentary worldly objects cannot give us eternal Bliss and that Eternal Bliss lies only in

realizing Brahman. Mandukya Upanishad and the Karika take us to that Bliss through a

direct path as an arrow flies to hit the target.

The Karika of the Upanishad has been divided into four chapters. The first chapter called

Agama Prakarana has been dedicated to the `Unity of Consciousness` that is present in

the three states of human being that is waking, dream and deep sleep and also deals with

the fourth state called ‘Turiya’, the transcendent state of illumination.

The second chapter called Vaithathya Prakarana talks about the exposition of Unreality

of the World-of-Duality or Illusion. In this chapter it has been further explained that

waking experiences are similar to dream experiences. In both the states objects

experienced are external to the experiencer and it asserts that there is no birth, no death,

no bondage and no release of the Atman.

According to the third chapter of the Mandukya Upanishad called Advaita Prakarana

(Non-dualism) The One manifests Himself as many without undergoing any real changes.

It states that every change is imaginary and to a man who has realized the Absolute Truth

all things are equivalent to nothing and only the Atman is of prime importance.

The fourth chapter of this Upanishad entitled Alata Shanti Prakarana (Quenching the

Firebrand) talks about the theory of non-creation. It has rejected the concept of God as

the Creator. It has claimed that God has projected Himself into the World and the world

of duality is nothing but mere imagination, an Illusion. According to this section of the

Upanishad once the Truth has been realized nothing else seems real and there remains

neither bondage nor attachment. Only Eternal Bliss prevails.

Mandukya Upanishad forms a part of the Atharva Veda. Though this is the shortest of the

Upanishads, consisting of only twelve mantras in prose, it occupies a very important

position in the Vedantik literature. This is because the Upanishad consists of the essence

of the entire Advaita Vedantam. In fact one of the Mahavakyas used for deep meditation

(ayam atma brahma - this Atman is Brahman) has been derived from the Mandukya

Upanishad. Hence it is no wonder when the Muktika Upanishad observes “Mandukya

alone is sufficient for an aspirant to reach liberation” (mandukyam ekam kevalam

mumumukshunam vimuktaye). According to Dr. S. Radhakrishnan it contains the

fundamental approach to reality.

There are several theories about the nomenclature of this Upanishad but it is generally

attributed to a sage called Manduka.

To be continued ....

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