Muṇḍakopaniṣad

Muṇḍakopaniṣad belongs to Atharvaveda, since it was received by Atharva-rśhi. Muṇḍaka means head. One of the reason this upaniṣad is called Muṇḍaka, because of a ritual in Atharvaveda called śirovrata, in which the student ceremonially carried a fire pot on his head when he approaches the teacher. The idea conveyed here is that one should approach upaniṣad with burning desire to gain self-knowledge (mumukṣutvam). Another reason is that upaniṣad is studied by sannyāsī. Muṇḍana is the removal of hair on the head represents giving up of all duties, enjoyment and attachment of the householder. Since self-knowledge implies cessation of activities, people take to sannyāsa exclusively pursue this knowledge.

From the title itself shows the audience of the text is a mumukṣu (the one who desires for liberation). Liberation essentially is putting an end to all problems by the knowledge of the truth of the all the problem. This knowledge is the knowledge of oneself being Brahman, which is unfolded by the teaching of the upaniṣad, also known as Vedānta.

The word upaniṣad is derived from the root ‘sad’ which means ‘to disintegrate’, ‘to destroy’ and ‘to reach’ (three meaning are there). The root has two prefixes here, ‘upa’ and ‘ni’. ‘Upa’ means near. What is sought after by the seeker is the nearest to him. The seeker seeks for limitless, which is the nature of himself. There is no distance between the seeker and limitless brahman. And the prefix ‘ni’ stands for well-ascertained knowledge. ‘Upa’ and ‘ni’ together refer to brahma-vidyā, the well ascertained knowledge about oneself being brahman. What does brahma-vidyā do? It ‘disintegrates’ our desires that keep us in the life of samsāra, and those desires never come back since brahma-vidyā ‘destroys’ ignorant of one’s true nature which is the seeds of samsāra. It makes me recognised my true nature which is figuratively says as ‘reaching’ brahman. Therefore brahma-vidya as the 1)subject matter is called upaniṣad, and the text it self is also called upaniṣad. 2)connection between subject matter and the text is revealer-revealed relationship. Because of this they are having the same name, just as a book about the history of Singapore is called ‘History of Singapore’. 3)The result gained by knowledge of upaniṣad is mokṣa. And between knowledge and mokṣa, there is a means-end relationship. One takes up this subject matter is not interested in brahma-vidyā itself, but its result which is freedom from sorrow. 4)The qualified person for the text is the one who is able to discern the limitations of all other pursuits and has recognised the conclusion that ‘I am limited’ may be wrong and needs to be corrected śāstra-pramānam. This four-fold factor, namely subject matter, result, connection and the disposition of a qualified person, is called anubandha-catuṣṭaya (four-fold requirement) that makes a given subject matter worth pursuing.

Introduction to prayer

Traditionally, both the teacher and the student pray together before beginning the study of any upaniṣad. Every upaniṣad has a śanti-pāṭha, a prayer that invokes successful study. It is in the form of chanting mantra of the Veda to which the upaniṣad belongs. A prayer is said in order to ward off all the obstacles and invoke the grace of the Lord for the success of the study. The success of any undertaking requires three factors: prayatna, kāla and daiva.

Prayatna is well directed, adequate effort, which signifies your commitment to the pursuit. One may have a commitment to begin with, but it may slowly fade away. One must persevere and continue to be with the pursuit until it is accomplished. This perseverance is called prayatna. Kāla is time, a right timing is an important factor in the successful completion of any undertaking. The third is daiva, which is an unknown factor. An undertaking doesn’t succeed just because we put forth adequate effort and time. There are countless obstacles that could come in the way of accomplishing the goal; we can’t totally overcome all of them. We may call it karma, chance, luck, god or whatever, but we recognise, there is a factor which we can’t control. Though we can’t control it, we can take it into account and do something to make it favourable, in which case we are not that helpless; we can be hopeful. This hope is based on prayer; it is a prayerful hope. When I do not call all the shots, then naturally, I take into account the daiva factor and say a prayer to manage the hidden variables.

When a prayer is done to the Lord in general, without any specific purpose in view, then it is a broad-spectrum prayer. This prayer can be seen as a broad-spectrum prayer to pray for overall well-being, as well as a specific prayer for successful study of the śāstra.

For the study of upaniṣad belonging to Atharvaveda, like Muṇḍakopaniṣad, we chant the following śanti-pāṭha:

Om bhadram karṇebhiḥ śruṇuyāma devā | bhadram paśyemākṣabhiryajatrāḥ |

sthirairaṅgaistuṣṭuvāgͫsastanūbhiḥ | vyaśema devahita yadāyuḥ |

svasti na indro vṛddhaśravāḥ |

svasti naḥ pūṣā viśvavedāḥ svasti nastārkṣyo ariṣṭanemiḥ |

svasti no bṛhaspatirdadhātu ||

om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

Oh devatās! May we always hear with our ears what is auspicious. Oh Yajatras! May we always see with our eyes what is auspicious. May we live, with healthy limbs and bodies, our full life span, praising the devatās and doing good to please them. May Indra of great fame, the all-knowing and nourishing Lord Sun, Garuda, the one who knows no obstacles in his flight and Brhaspati, the protector of our intellect bless us with well-being and auspiciousness. Let there be peace through freedom from obstructions from three sources.

Om is the name of the Lord (that which protects), marks the beginning of the mantra.

bhadram karṇebhiḥ śruṇuyāma devā - oh devatās, may we listen to what is most auspicious with our ears. Auspiciousness which is heard can be in many forms, like nice words, good music, good news, etc. But the most auspicious for the mumukṣu is brahmavidyā which frees us from samsāra. May we have the opportunity to listen to such śāstra with śraddhā. bhadram paśyemākṣabhiryajatrāḥ - may yajatras (devatā who are the recipients of praise) let us see the most auspicious by our eyes. Seeing means understanding everything here is brahman alone. sthirairaṅgaistuṣṭuvāgͫsastanūbhiḥ vyaśema devahita yadāyuḥ - may we engage our healthy limbs by praising the devatās in my whole life. Healthy limbs are given to live a life dharma established by Veda. May we please the devatā by such a life. svasti na indro vṛddhaśravāḥ - may Indra who is the exalted one, gives us well-being. svasti naḥ pūṣā viśvavedāḥ - may the all-knowing Lord Sun do good to us by bless us with bright intellect for self-knowledge. svasti nastārkṣyo ariṣṭanemiḥ - may Tārkṣya (Garuda) bless us, with the pursuit without obstacles. svasti no bṛhaspatirdadhātu - may bṛhaspati do good to us. Bṛhaspati is the teacher Indra, thus let the grace of the teacher of teachers be with us. om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ - oh Lord, let there be freedom of obstacles. There are three types of obstacles: ādhidaivika, ādhibhautika, and ādhyātmika. Ādhidaivika obstacles are those centred on factors over which we have no control in the form of natural calamities like heavy rain, earthquakes, accidents, etc., causing disturbance to our pursuit of study. Ādhibhautika obstacles arise from fellow human beings and other life forms. The third source of obstacle ādhyātmika is centred on our body-mind-sense-complex. This is a prayer to maintain good health and also a good mind. The invocation of śanti three times is for resolving these three types of obstacles, thus we can be successful in pursuing ātma-jñānam.