MANDUKYA UPANISHAD with GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA : 8. - Swami Advayananda ji.

Chinmaya Mission :

The 12th edition of the Chinmaya Naada Bindu Festival '23 was led off with a warm inaugural ceremony on February 10th, 2023, by the hands of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda and Pandit Raghunandan Panshikar Ji. The event started with the release of "Ragakavya," a collection of Hindustani Classical compositions by Dr. Swapnil Chaphekar, and the "e-souvenir" of the festival. 

On Day 1, at the inaugural ceremony,  the faculty of ‘School of Kalayoga’ gave a mesmerising performance followed by Dr. Swapnil Chaphekar's amazing rendition. The audience were soaked in the enchanting performance by Pandit Raghunandan Panshikar at the Chinmaya Naada Bindu Gurukula, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Pune.

Day 2 had Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda blessing the audience with an intropsective and profound discourse on the meaning of Chinmaya Naada Bindu and the aspect of the Supreme, which is Naada Bindu Kalaateeta. Child prodigy Chi. Rahul Vellal, Vid. Rohit Prasad, and Vid. Sivakumar also gave an iconic performance that the audience appreciated. Vid. Ramana Balachandran conducted an Art Talk, while Pt. Uday Bhawalkar gave a beautiful rendition of Dhrupad. Dr. Mysore Manjunath and Pt. Rupak Kulkarni's explosive jugalbandi performance was a highlight of the day. Brni. Maitreyi Chaitanya from Chinmaya Mauli Ashram Pune also gave an interactive story session.

Day 3 began with a soulful Veena performance by Vid. Ramana Balachandran and Vid. B. C. Manjunath on the Mridangam. Rahul Pophli, a 2nd-year MA student of Tabla, gave the second 'Khade Khade' session, accompanied by Alumni Dipin Das. The renowned Tabla player Pt. Swapan Choudhuri also gave a taste of his excellence, ably accompanied by Shri Tanmay Deochake. Overall, the NBF '23 proved to be a grand success with numerous talented artists performing and blessing the audience with their mesmerizing performances

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Wednesday, February 22, 2023. 06:30.

MANDUKYA UPANISHAD 

With Part -1/4 of Goudapada's Karika

Agama Prakarana - "The Scriptural Treatise"

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THE MEANING OF “OM”

Upanishad Section 1: 

Mantram - 5: The Third Pada – Deep Sleep Consciousness (Vyashti)

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Mantram-5 : Continued

5 This is the Third Quarter of Consciousness named PRAJNA, and is associated with 

the individual causal body. It is at the helm of the other two, which have doorways to and 

from it. As per the block on page 12-13, we restrict ourselves to Prajna, the individual causal 

Consciousness whose sphere is the deep sleep state, and do not extend our discussion at 

this stage to Ishwara, the universal causal Consciousness. We are dealing with an individual

sleeper; we are not dealing with cosmic Pralaya when the whole universe goes to sleep!

The description of the deep sleep state can only be given in relation to the two

previous quarters. From the table on page 10, we note that deep sleep is differentiated

from the other two states by the experience of Duality, Dream, and Desire – none of these 

are present in deep sleep. Only the ‘blanket’ of Ignorance is present in this state.

The Deep Sleep State :

There are four unique features that apply to the deep sleep state. They are taken up 

in each Pada of the mantram :

1 i) Kaamayate : 

There being no desire in deep sleep, the state is clearly 

differentiated from waking and dream, in both of which there is rampant desire.

2 ii) Swapnam : 

There being not a trace of dream obviously differentiates it from the 

dream state, as well as from the imagination of the waking state, which is “day-dreaming”.

3 iii) Ekee-Bhootah Prajnanaghana : 

Deep sleep is a state where one experiences 

only one thing – namely, a “homogenous mass of consciousness”. This differentiates it from 

the other two which have Duality roaring in them. However, it has to be noted that this 

absence of Duality is not to be mistaken as being Non-duality! It only means that the state is 

free from the experience of any diversity and restless activity. It is experienced in ignorance 

of one’s real nature. On getting up from sleep, we do not feel we have gained any new 

knowledge. In that sense, sleep is an inert state of experience, the only gain being a good, 

satisfying rest – or a terrible nightmare!

Desires and hidden tendencies merely remain dormant in sleep. On awakening, they 

resume lordship over us. They are only covered by the blanket of sleep, not eliminated. The 

restless motion of the mind gets, so to say, solidified during deep sleep. It is as though our 

consciousness has ‘frozen’. This is another way of describing the absence of Duality.

4 iv) Anandamaya: 

“full of Bliss”. Sleep is far from being a state full of Bliss; yet it is 

jolly close to it! All the conditions appear to be ripe for a blissful experience to take place. 

The mind is not there to disturb us; the senses are not there to tickle us; objects are not 

available to tempt or taunt us. What then stops us from being enlightened in sleep? It is the 

veil of Ignorance that still sits as a shroud between our mind and the Infinite Atman.

One appears to be at the threshold of realisation, but the doorway to it is kept 

tightly shut by Avidya. We are obstructed from having direct knowledge of the Self. An 

example to describe this is to compare it to entering a beautiful city at night when there is a 

general power failure. Everything is there for our eyes to feast on, but Darkness prevents us 

from seeing them!

Ananda-Bhuk : 

Rest gives one great relief. We feel greatly rejuvenated and refreshed 

after a good sleep. Bliss is experienced by a sleeping man purely due to being free from the 

captivity of his mind. The enjoyment is due only to freedom from the mind’s tyranny. We

have temporary relief from our restless mind, and that relief is relished in sleep. It makes 

the sleeper experience some measure of joy, the joy that is really the absence of sorrow. 

This Pada is a “post-mortem” of the experience of joy during sleep. Acharyaji told us 

that while asleep, there is not even the feeling of having an experience, let alone the 

thought of it. It is only in retrospect, when the mind returns, that the experience gets

‘thoughtified’ and verbalized. 

Cheto-mukhah: 

“doorway of experience”. There are three meanings for this term :

i) it is the doorway to the experience of the waking and dream states; or

ii) it is the doorway for the consciousness to enter those two states; or 

iii) to return from those two states. 

The ticks and crosses in the table on page 10 indicate the presence or absence of 

four sets of factors. Such an analysis is called Anvaya-Vyatireka, an analytical tool to 

determine which condition prevails all the time and which part of the time. The most 

significant result is that the Self or Atman persists at all times in all the four states.

Duality, Dream and Desire are absent only in deep sleep, and so differentiate it from 

the other two states. Gross body objects, Senses and Intellect are present only in the waking 

state, and so differentiate it from the other two states. Non-duality, Atman and Knowledge

are the only items present in Turiya, and so differentiate it from all the other three states.

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Next
Mantram - 6: The Third Pada – The Causal Consciousness (Samashti)

To be continued

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