Attaining perfection
By his practice of devotional service, a pure devotee lives in a state of fearlessness even while living in the material world and after quitting his body, he reaches the spiritual planets.
« The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: An in-depth study
Attaining perfection
Omkāra is the sound incarnation of the Lord, He is Krsna Himself. Omkāra is thus eternal, unlimited, transcendental, supreme and indestructible. He is the beginning, middle, and end. One who understands Omkāra and the Lord as one and the same never laments. By his practice of devotional service, a pure devotee lives in a state of fearlessness even while living in the material world and after quitting his body, he reaches the spiritual planets.
Karika 4.2
oṃkāraṃ pādaśo vidyāt, pādā mātrā na samśayaḥ
oṃkāraṃ pādaśo jñātvā, na cintet kiñcid api saḥ
Let one understand the Oṃkāra, consisting of four parts, represented by the sounds, which are the different aspects of the Lord. He who knows the Oṃkāra as Lord Turīya the nāda, the eternal sound, no longer thinks or desires anything. He becomes free from all anxiety and enjoys transcendental bliss.
Commentary: The twelve verses of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad were concluded with the previous verse's discussion of Turīya. The following verses are the concluding verses of the Karika, offering some final insights.
As described previously, the first three aspects of the Lord are represented by the letters A, U, and M of the syllable Om (pādā mātrā na samśayaḥ). The fourth aspect is Turīya, represented by the nāda. The first line, oṃkāraṃ pādaśo vidyāt, indicates one should know the first three aspects of the Lord, represented by the three sounds, while oṃkāraṃ pādaśo jñātvā in the second line indicate that if one comes to know the Lord in His supreme aspect as Turīya, he attains perfection.
Karika 4.3
yuñjīta prajave cetaḥ, prajavaḥ brahma nirmayam
prajave nityayuktasya, na bhayam vidyate kvacit
Let him concentrate his mind on the Praṇava, for Praṇava is the fearless Brahman. The soul who becomes connected with Praṇava never experiences fear.
Commentary: "Vaikuṇṭha" means the place without anxiety. A devotee who attains perfection attains this state of fearlessness even while living in the material world, and after death attains the Supreme abode. This verse echoes verse 8.13 from the Bhagavad-gītā:
om ity ekākṣaram brahma, vyāharan mām anusmaran
yaḥ prayāti tyajan deham, sa yāti paramām gatim
"After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable om, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets."
Karika 4.4
praṇavo hy aparaṃ brahma, praṇavaś ca paraṃ smṛtaḥ
apūrvaḥ anantaraḥ ābhyaḥ anaparaḥ praṇavaḥ avyayaḥ
The Prāṇava is both the original manifestation of Brahma and also the expansion. The Prāṇava is without a beginning (apūrva), without destruction (anantara), the all-pervading (ābhya), the highest and perfectly independent (anapara) and unchanging (avyayaḥ).
Commentary: The scriptures describe a certain order for the expansions of the Lord, starting from Krsna Himself, then Balarāma, Vāsudeva, Sankarṣaṇa, and so on, culminating with Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣnu and all the incarnations manifesting from Him. However, at the same time, all these incarnations are eternal. There is no chronological date for the appearance of Lord Balarāma, or Vāsudeva, they are all eternal and simply appear in different universes to perform pastimes. The order described thus doesn't indicate a chronological creation, or that one is higher and the other lower, it just indicates the relationship between them. Krsna expands Himself into many forms to perform pastimes, but He remains the foundation of all.
In this way, when the current verse mentions praṇavo hy aparaṃ brahma, praṇavaś ca paraṃ smṛtaḥ, “The Prāṇava is the later manifestation of Brahman and the earlier manifestation”, it makes the point that all incarnations of the Lord are in the same level.
Karika 4.5
sarvasya praṇavo hy ādir madhyam antaś tathaiva
evaṃ hi praṇavaṃ jñātvā vyapnute tad anantaram
Praṇava is indeed the beginning, the middle, and the end of all that exists, the creator, the maintainer, and the destroyer. Knowing the Prāṇava, one finally reaches the Supreme Lord, the innermost Brahman.
Commentary: Srila Prabhupada explains these points in Teachings of Lord Caitanya (ch. 20). These paragraphs are a perfect purport for this text:
"As far as the omkāra praṇava is concerned, it is considered to be the sound incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As such, omkāra is eternal, unlimited, transcendental, supreme and indestructible. He (omkāra) is the beginning, middle and end, and He is beginningless as well. When one understands omkāra as such, he becomes immortal. One should thus know omkāra as a representation of the Supreme situated in everyone's heart. One who understands omkāra and Viṣṇu as being one and the same and all-pervading never laments in the material world, nor does he remain a śūdra.
Although He (omkāra) has no material form, He is unlimitedly expanded, and He has unlimited form. By understanding omkāra one can become free from the duality of the material world and attain absolute knowledge. Therefore omkāra is the most auspicious representation of the Supreme Lord. Such is the description given by Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. One should not foolishly interpret an Upaniṣadic description and say that because the Supreme Personality of Godhead "cannot" appear Himself in this material world in His own form, He sends His sound representation(omkāra) instead. Due to such a false interpretation, omkāra comes to be considered something material, and consequently omkāra is misunderstood and praised as being simply an exhibition or symbol of the Lord. Actually omkāra is as good as any other incarnation of the Supreme Lord.
The Lord has innumerable incarnations, and omkāra is one of them. As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā: "Amongst vibrations, I am the syllable om." (Bg. 9.17) This means that omkāra is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Impersonalists, however, give more importance to omkāra than to the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The fact is, however, that any representational incarnation of the Supreme Lord is nondifferent from Him. Such an incarnation or representation is as good spiritually as the Supreme Lord. Omkāra is therefore the ultimate representation of all the Vedas. Indeed, the Vedic mantras or hymns have transcendental value because they are prefixed by the syllable om. The Vaiṣṇavas interpret omkāra as follows: by the letter O, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is indicated; by the letter U, Kṛṣṇa's eternal consort Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is indicated; and by the letter M, the eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord, the living entity, is indicated. Śankara has not given such importance to the omkāra. However, importance is given in the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Purāṇas and in the Mahābhārata from beginning to end. Thus the glories of the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are declared."
Karika 4.6
praṇavam hi īśvaram vidyāt sarvasya hṛdi sthitam
sarvavyāpinam onkāram matvā dhīro na śocati
Praṇava is the Supreme Lord Himself, residing in the hearts of all. The wise, having realized Om as all-pervading, no longer grieves.
Karika 4.7
amātro’nantamātraś ca dvaitasyopaśamaḥ śivaḥ
onkāro yam viditvaiva sa munir na itaraḥ janaḥ
He who knows the Omkāra as partless and yet full of parts, he who knows Omkāra as the destroyer of all false knowledge and fully blissful, this person is truly a sage and no one else.
Commentary: The Omkāra is ultimately Krsna, the Turīya, the Fourth, who is fully transcendental, incomprehensible by material intelligence, and the source of all other incarnations. In ordinary dealings, we classify people according to so many designations, but a truly exalted sage is the one who knows the science of Krsna. This is the ultimate goal and the ultimate qualification that trumps any material designation.
As confirmed by Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu (CC Madhya 8.128):
kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya
yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya
“Whether one is a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī or a śūdra—regardless of what he is—he can become a spiritual master if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa.”
In his purport to CC Antya 5.85, Srila Prabhupada mentions that "A person who knows what is spiritual and what is material and who is firmly fixed in the spiritual position can be jagad-guru, the spiritual master of the entire world." And, "Any person who knows the science of Kṛṣṇa and who is fully qualified in spiritual life can become jagad-guru. Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally took lessons from Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and also sent Pradyumna Miśra, an exalted brāhmaṇa, to take lessons from him."
"Akrūra said, "My dear Lord, all wonderful things that are happening within this world, either in the sky or in the water or on the land, are factually appearing in Your universal form. So when I have seen You, what wonderful things have I not seen?” This statement confirms the Vedic version that one who knows Kṛṣṇa knows everything and that one who has seen Kṛṣṇa has seen everything, regardless of how wonderful a thing may be. “My dear Lord,” Akrūra continued, “there cannot be anything more wonderful than Your transcendental form. When I have seen Your transcendental form, what is there left to see?" (KB 41)