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 Commentary on the Mundaka Upanishad–6–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
 Knowing God
About God
Further description of Brahman is now to be given along with instructions on how to know Brahman. The upanishad is so clear, and the concepts have been referred to before, so some verses hardly need more than a sentence of comment.
“Self-luminous is Brahman, ever present in the hearts of all. He is the refuge of all, he is the supreme goal. In him exists all that moves and breathes. In him exists all that is. He is both that which is gross and that which is subtle. Adorable is he. Beyond the ken of the senses is he. Supreme is he. Attain thou him!” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:1) The last part is the most important. What value is it to know about God if we do not go to God? Saint Silouan of Athos used to say that theology is the false mysticism of the ego, for people become satisfied, or even fascinated, with philosophical concepts that are nothing but bare words. Rare are those who want to experience the things they believe. In many instances it may be that people intuit the untruth of their religious beliefs and subconsciously know that they cannot be experienced. But it is sad to see those that have come to understand the concepts of karma, reincarnation, and evolution of consciousness still dawdling along with the theorists instead of getting on to the Goal.
“He, the self-luminous, subtler than the subtlest, in whom exist all the worlds and all those that live therein–he is the imperishable Brahman. He is the principle of life. He is speech, and he is mind. He is real. He is immortal. Attain him, O my friend, the one goal to be attained!” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:2) Not only must we attain God, we must understand while striving that He is the only goal to be attained–for everything else is antithetical to our eternal nature. The means to reach God
Having hopefully convinced us of the value of seeking God (!) the sage is going to tell us how to find God by telling us the actual means: “Affix to the Upanishad, the bow incomparable, the sharp arrow of devotional worship; then, with mind absorbed and heart melted in love, draw the arrow and hit the mark–the imperishable Brahman. OM is the bow, the arrow is the individual being, and Brahman is the target. With a tranquil heart, take aim. Lose thyself in him, even as the arrow is lost in the target.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:3, 4)
Here is Swami Gambhirananda’s more literal version: “Taking hold of the bow, that is the Great Weapon familiar in the Upanishads, one should fix on it an arrow, sharpened with meditation. Drawing the string with a mind absorbed in Its thought, hit that very target that is the Immutable. Om is the bow; the soul [atma] is the arrow; and Brahman is called its target. It is to be hit by an unerring man. One should become one with It just like an arrow.” This is really a description of meditation, so each point is significant.
Taking hold of the bow (Om is the bow). Right away we are being given a most valuable instruction in meditation. We “take hold” of Om by intoning It within. Our practice must not be passive, but calmly active–we are always to be in charge by taking hold of Om and applying it in meditation through the generation of subtle sound. (See Om Yoga, Its Theory and Practice.) The active character of Om is indicated by Its being called a bow, for a bow impels the arrow to its target. It is a matter of strength, of power. In the Rig Veda we find the Gayatri Mantra, a great prayer for enlightenment: “We meditate on the Spiritual Effulgence of that Supreme Divine Reality. May That impel us toward It.” Om is the force that impels us toward Divinity.
That is the Great Weapon familiar in the Upanishads. Om is not just a weapon among many, It is the Great Weapon for conquering ignorance that is referred to throughout the Upanishads. This is not a matter of opinion or discussion. In the eleven basic upanishads, the Gita, and the Yoga Sutras the only mantra recommended is Om, and the only meditation set forth is the meditation on Om. An honest perusal of these texts will reveal that this is neither an exaggeration nor a wishful interpretation. Although the wisdom of these sacred texts has been almost totally ignored for past centuries, their truth is not to be denied by any who ascribe to Sanatana Dharma. It is departing from the upanishadic philosophy that has resulted in the confused mess of contemporary Hinduism, the worst of it aspects being the treacherous and destructive idolatry of Gurudom. Because of this aberration people have accepted a myriad substitutes for the upanishadic truth on the basis of “guru bhakti” and “faith in the guru.” The resulting confusion is obvious to those not drowning in it themselves.
One should fix on it an arrow, sharpened with meditation (the Self is the arrow). Our very Self, our very consciousness, is to be united with Om in calm and whole-hearted attention. This can only be done by being “purified by constant meditation” according to Shankara’s commentary. So meditation is itself the way to become proficient in meditation. The simple fact that we are meditating is assurance that we shall become more and more proficient in it. When that proficiency is gained, then we will easily unite our consciousness with Om.
Drawing the string with a mind absorbed in Its thought. Through constant meditation we develop the ability to fill our awareness with the inner intonations of Om which act like the string of a bow to the mind that is fixed on It.
Hit that very target that is the Immutable (Brahman). We do not start out small and work up to bigger things. From the first we aim at Brahman. By means of this determination Brahman alone will be realized by us without wandering into the psychic byways that can confuse and delude the wandering meditator who does not know the method of the upanishads.
It is to be hit by an unerring man. The idea here is that the one who can successfully “hit” the target of Brahman is one who has no distractions or waverings, whose mind remains firmly established in the japa and meditation of Om. There is a kind of parable about this in the Mahabharata. In Yoga As A Universal Science, Swami Krishnananda tells it this way:
“Those who are familiar with the Mahabharata know the story of the tournament arranged by Acharya Drona for the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The test of concentration which Dronacharya arranged for those boys was like this. There was a tree with many branches. In one fine twig, he hung a wooden bird. The eye of the bird was looking like a black spot, and that eye was to be shot by the arrow. So he asked the boys: ‘Concentrate yourself on the eye of that bird and hit it. Look! What do you see?’ ‘Well,’ one said, ‘well, I see a bird sitting on the tree.’ Dronacharya said, ‘You are unfit. You are not able to concentrate.’ Then he asked another, ‘What do you see?’ ‘I see the bird sitting on the branch.’ ‘No, you are not able to concentrate.’ Then he asked Yudhishthira, ‘What do you see?’ ‘I see only the eye.’ ‘No. No good,’ he said. He asked Arjuna. Arjuna said, ‘I see only the black spot. I see nothing else.’ ‘Yes, you are the man’ said Dronacharya, ‘Hit it!’ Arjuna’s concentration was so intense that he could see only the black spot. He could not see even the eye of the bird there, let alone the bird and the tree and the people around. That was Arjuna.” And that must be us. It may take time, but it nonetheless must come about.
One should become one with It just like an arrow. The arrow embeds itself in the target and becomes one with it. This is not an occasional ascent to higher awareness, but a permanent establishment in the Being of Brahman. It is meditation on Om that can accomplish this.
What we will perceive in that union
As a result of our meditation we shall directly perceive: “In him are woven heaven, earth, and sky, together with the mind and all the senses. Know him, the Self alone. Give up vain talk. He is the bridge of immortality.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:5) This verse actually refers to Om, and literally says: “On that [Om] are strung heaven, earth, space, the mind and all the senses. It alone is the sole support of all. Having known the Self [through Om] discard other speech [or mantras] and their results. For this [Om] is the bridge to immortality.” That is a bit different! Om is the all-encompassing Reality from which all things have come. It alone leads us back to Immortality. Om should be our continual–and in meditation our only–thought insofar as it is possible and practical. Where we find God
“Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!” (Job 23:3 ) lamented the Biblical Job. If he had access to the upanishads as we do, he would have found the answer in the next verse:
“Within the lotus of the heart he dwells, where, like the spokes of a wheel in its hub, the nerves meet. Meditate on him as OM. Easily mayest thou cross the sea of darkness.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:6) Gambhirananda: “With that [hub] in which are fixed the nerves [nadis] like the spokes on the hub of a chariot wheel, moves this aforesaid Self by becoming multiformed. Meditate on the Self thus with the help of Om. My you be free from hindrances in going to the other shore beyond darkness.”
At the core of all our manifest existence there moves the immortal Spirit-self which has assumed all the forms and aspects we call “us.” Although these numberless veils hide the Self from our present vision, we can meditate on it by the means of Om. This will remove all obstacles and carry us safely over the heaving waves of samsara into the harbor of Spirit. As Patanjali says regarding Om: “Its constant repetition and meditation is the way. From it result the disappearance of obstacles and the turning inward of consciousness.” The same thing is said in the Varaha and Yoga Tattwa (B) Upanishads. More about the heart
When the upanishads speak of the “heart” they do not mean the physical organ that pumps blood, but the center of our being where the Self ever dwells. The sage now speaks more about this spiritual heart.
“This Self, who understands all, who knows all, and whose glory is manifest in the universe, lives within the lotus of the heart, the bright throne of Brahman. By the pure in heart is he known. The Self exists in man, within the lotus of the heart, and is the master of his life and of his body. With mind illumined by the power of meditation, the wise know him, the blissful, the immortal.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:7) There is a great deal to learn from this verse.
Since the Self understands and knows all, to be truly knowledgous and wise all we need do is shift our awareness into our own Self.
Although the Self should not be identified with external things such as our body or the world, nevertheless, the glory of our Self–including the Supreme Self–is manifested in our own private universe and the greater universe as well. We can come to perceive spiritual realities hidden within the material illusions.
The Self abides in the core of our being–not in the physical heart. According to the great yogis, we can speak of the thousand-petalled lotus of the brain as our spiritual “heart,” especially the very core of the brain, the cave-like area within which the pineal gland is located. This is sometimes called the Chidakasha, the Space of Consciousness. Both God and the individual Self dwell there. In the Sanskrit text there is the expression Brahmapuri–the City of God–used for this spiritual heart. It further says that God and the Self are known by centering our awareness in this heart.
It is meditation which illumines the mind and enables us to see and know this blissful, immortal Self all around us, in everything. This is living!
“The knot of the heart, which is ignorance, is loosed, all doubts are dissolved, all evil effects of deeds are destroyed, when he who is both personal and impersonal is realized.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:8) When we enter into the consciousness of our individual spirit and the Infinite Spirit, the blinding veil of ignorance will dissolve away along with all the bonds of karma.
“In the effulgent lotus of the heart dwells Brahman, who is passionless and indivisible. He is pure, he is the light of lights. Him the knowers of the Self attain.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:9) What greater goal can we have than this? The Light of lights
In summation of this section, the sage says:
“Him the sun does not illumine, nor the moon, nor the stars, nor the lightning–nor, verily, fires kindled upon the earth. He is the one light that gives light to all. He shining, everything shines.
“This immortal Brahman is before, this immortal Brahman is behind, this immortal Brahman extends to the right and to the left, above and below. Verily, all is Brahman, and Brahman is supreme.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2:2:10, 11)
These thrilling words need no comment–only response.
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