MANDUKYA UPANISHAD with GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA: 19 - Swami Advayananda.

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Friday  23,  Feb 2024. 06:00.

MANDUKYA UPANISHAD 

GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA

Agama Prakarana – “The Scriptural Treatise”

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PART 1: Agama Prakarana (Mantras-29.)

THE SYLLABLES OF “OM”

Upanishad Section 3: 

Mantras - 8-12

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PRELIMINARIES : 

Karika Section 4.1:   Mantras - 1-8   (8 No.) 

Post-19.

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Mantram : 4.1: 

The Purpose of this Chapter : 

1 

Jnaanena aakaasha kalpena,  =  By means of Knowledge resembling space, 

2 

dharmaan yah gaganah upamaan;  = the nature of that which resembles the sky,

3 

jneya  =  i.e. the Jeevas, or objects to be Known, being

abhinnena sambuddhah, =   non-different, is fully realised by the Knower. 

4 

tam vande dvipadaam varam.  =  I salute Him (Narayana), the Best among ‘bipeds’. 

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This Chapter “kicks-off” with quite a bang. The Bhashya suggests that under the 

guise of being a salutation to his Ishtha Devata, Lord Badrinarayana, and to his Guru (Sri 

Suka Acharya, the son of Vyasaji), the author, Sri Gaudapadacharyaji, is establishing the 

purpose of this Chapter. 

What is that purpose? 

Through a refutation of all the opposing views, the purpose is to establish the 

philosophy of the Supreme Non-dual Reality, devoid of all distinctions between knowledge, 

the knowable and the knower. 

This is done in two ways: 

i) Abhinnena: 

By ascribing “distinctionless-ness” between: 

a. Jnaanam: 

The Knowledge as taught to him by his Guru, i.e. the Knowledge of the Self which “resembles space”; 

b. Jneyam: 

and the Knowable– the individual soul or Jeeva – which “resembles the 

sky”. These two are considered to be non-different from each other, in their essence. 

[In the process, the identity between the Jeeva and Brahman is also established.] 

ii) Dvipadaam Varam: 

By addressing his Guru as “the Best among men” (literally ‘bipeds’), the author is implying that he intends to compare him with other men who have not accepted this great and highest philosophy. 

By throwing a challenge to all the schools which contradict this Truth, the Acharya wishes to establish the supremacy of the pure Vedantic theory of Non-duality or Oneness. This is the expressed purpose of this text. 

The Aptness of the Space & Sky Similes:

 Two similes are used to illustrate Jnaanam and Jneyam respectively. Jnaanam, the 

knowledge, is illustrated by the clear space . Jneyam, the knowable or Jeeva, is illustrated by 

the sky. The sky is really not different from space, except that the name ‘sky’ is used when it 

is associated with other attributes such as blueness, orangeness (at sunrise or sunset), 

murkiness when polluted, cloudless when there are no clouds, etc. In such cases, we do not 

use the word ‘space’, but prefer to say ‘cloudless or blue sky’. 

In the same way, Brahman is the clear ‘space’, while the Jeeva is the conditioned 

‘sky’, associated with limitations imposed by mind, body and intellect. In essence, the two 

are shown to be identical if these limitations are negated. 

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Next

Mantram - 4.2: 

Salutation to the “Asparsha Yoga”  

Continued

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