The foundation of all knowledge (Mundaka Upaniṣad #01)
The first part of a course on the Mundaka Upanisad, based on my translation and commentary of the book. The Mundaka is a short, but extremely rich treatise on the topic of devotional service.
Srila Vyasadava composed the Upanisads by selecting passages from the four original Vedas that deal directly with the topic of self-realization. The Aitareya and Kaushitaki Upanisads are derived from the Rig Veda, the Chandogya and Kena Upanisads from the Sama Veda, the Brihadaranyaka, Isha, Taittiriya and Katha Upanisads from the Yajur Veda and the Mundaka Upanisad, togueter with the Mandukya and Prashna are derived from the Atharva Veda.
The name "Mundaka" literally means "shaved". It has two meanings. One refers to ascetics that performed the siro-vrata, shaving their heads and renouncing the practice of fruitive activities. Another is "shaved" in the sense of shedding ignorance and focusing on the pursuit of deep spiritual knowledge, instead of being distracted by karma-kanda sacrifices and promises of elevation to the celestial planets, as common among ritualistic followers of the Vedas.
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The Mundaka Upanisad
Srila Vyasadava composed the Upanisads by selecting passages from the four original Vedas that deal directly with the topic of self-realization. The Aitareya and Kaushitaki Upanisads are derived from the Rig Veda, the Chandogya and Kena Upanisads from the Sama Veda, the Brihadaranyaka, Isha, Taittiriya and Katha Upanisads from the Yajur Veda and the Mundaka Upanisad, togueter with the Mandukya and Prashna are derived from the Atharva Veda.
The name "Mundaka" literally means "shaved". It has two meanings. One refers to ascetics that performed the siro-vrata, shaving their heads and renouncing the practice of fruitive activities. Another is "shaved" in the sense of shedding ignorance and focusing on the pursuit of deep spiritual knowledge, instead of being distracted by karma-kanda sacrifices and promises of elevation to the celestial planets, as common among ritualistic followers of the Vedas.
Modern scholars attribute the composition of the Mundaka Upanisad to between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, but if we accept the account offered in the Vedas themselves, the Mundaka Upanisad was composed by Vyasadeva close to the end of Dvapara-yuga, which ended around the time of the battle of Kuruksetra, more than 5,000 years ago.
The history of the compilation of the Vedas is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam. This is the direct account given by Suta Goswami, who was present at the time and gave his firsthand testimony. Direct accounts of historical events always offer more precise information than someone trying to reconstruct the events of thousands of years later based on indirect evidence.
"Sūta Gosvāmī said: When the second millennium overlapped the third, the great sage [Vyāsadeva] was born to Parāśara in the womb of Satyavatī, the daughter of Vasu. Once upon a time he [Vyāsadeva], as the sun rose, took his morning ablution in the waters of the Sarasvatī and sat alone to concentrate. The great sage Vyāsadeva saw anomalies in the duties of the millennium. This happens on the earth in different ages, due to the unseen force of time. The great sage, who was fully equipped in knowledge, could see through his transcendental vision the deterioration of everything material due to the influence of the age. He could also see that the faithless people in general would be reduced in duration of life and would be impatient due to lack of goodness. Thus he contemplated for the welfare of men in all statuses and orders of life. He saw that the sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas were means by which the people’s occupations could be purified. And to simplify the process he divided the one Veda into four, in order to expand them among men. The four divisions of the original sources of knowledge [the Vedas] were made separately. But the historical facts and authentic stories mentioned in the Purāṇas are called the fifth Veda.
After the Vedas were divided into four divisions, Paila Ṛṣi became the professor of the Ṛg Veda, Jaimini the professor of the Sāma Veda, and Vaiśampāyana alone became glorified by the Yajur Veda. The Sumantu Muni Angirā, who was very devotedly engaged, was entrusted with the Atharva Veda. And my father, Romaharṣaṇa, was entrusted with the Purāṇas and historical records. All these learned scholars, in their turn, rendered their entrusted Vedas unto their many disciples, granddisciples and great-granddisciples, and thus the respective branches of the followers of the Vedas came into being.
Thus the great sage Vyāsadeva, who is very kind to the ignorant masses, edited the Vedas so they might be assimilated by less intellectual men. Out of compassion, the great sage thought it wise that this would enable men to achieve the ultimate goal of life. Thus he compiled the great historical narration called the Mahābhārata for women, laborers and friends of the twice-born." (SB 1.4.14-25)
Most of the calculations of dates for the different books that compose the Vedas made by scholars are off by a few thousand years because they can't conceive how the books could have beem composed by a single person so long ago, nor can they trace the original manuscripts written by Vyasadeva. Vyasa originally wrote the Vedas in palm leaves and entrusted the manuscripts to his disciples, who in turn copied them into new sets of leaves over time. Palm leaves can last for a few centuries at best, therefore we can presume all the original leaves written by Vyasadeva are now destroyed. One who tries to reconstruct the history of different Upanisads and other books in the Vedas will always come to copies or commentaries written thousands of years later. If one wants to come to the correct conclusions, he must accept the conclusions given in the texts themselves.
It's described that Vyāsadeva was born "when the second millennium overlapped the third". This describes how he was born in the particular cycle of yugas we are now, the first cycle of the second half of the day of Brahma when Krsna appears in His original form.
Krsna appears only once on each day of Brahma, and when he does, the second millennium overlaps the third, creating a situation when powerful Ksatriyas —many being incarnations of the most powerful demons in the whole universe— take birth in the third era of the cycle. This creates the background for Krsna appearing to save his devotes, performing His pastimes of killing demons and giving them liberation.
Another account of the disciplic succession of the Vedas, starting with Lord Brahma himself, is given by Suta Goswami in the 12th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam:
"From that omkāra Lord Brahmā created all the sounds of the alphabet — the vowels, consonants, semivowels, sibilants and others — distinguished by such features as long and short measure. All-powerful Brahmā made use of this collection of sounds to produce from his four faces the four Vedas, which appeared together with the sacred omkāra and the seven vyāhṛti invocations. His intention was to propagate the process of Vedic sacrifice according to the different functions performed by the priests of each of the four Vedas.
Brahmā taught these Vedas to his sons, who were great sages among the brāhmaṇas and experts in the art of Vedic recitation. They in turn took the role of ācāryas and imparted the Vedas to their own sons. In this way, throughout the cycles of four ages, generation after generation of disciples — all firmly fixed in their spiritual vows — have received these Vedas by disciplic succession. At the end of each Dvāpara-yuga the Vedas are edited into separate divisions by eminent sages.
Observing that people in general were diminished in their life span, strength and intelligence by the influence of time, great sages took inspiration from the Personality of Godhead sitting within their hearts and systematically divided the Vedas. O brāhmaṇa, in the present age of Vaivasvata Manu, the leaders of the universe, led by Brahmā and Śiva, requested the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the protector of all the worlds, to save the principles of religion. O most fortunate Śaunaka, the almighty Lord, exhibiting a divine spark of a portion of His plenary portion, then appeared in the womb of Satyavatī as the son of Parāśara. In this form, named Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa, he divided the one Veda into four.
Śrīla Vyāsadeva separated the mantras of the Ṛg, Atharva, Yajur and Sāma Vedas into four divisions, just as one sorts out a mixed collection of jewels into piles. Thus he composed four distinct Vedic literatures. The most powerful and intelligent Vyāsadeva called four of his disciples, O brāhmaṇa, and entrusted to each of them one of these four samhitās.
Śrīla Vyāsadeva taught the first samhitā, the Ṛg Veda, to Paila and gave this collection the name Bahvṛca. To the sage Vaiśampāyana he spoke the collection of Yajur mantras named Nigada. He taught the Sāma Veda mantras, designated as the Chandoga-samhitā, to Jaimini, and he spoke the Atharva Veda to his dear disciple Sumantu. After dividing his samhitā into two parts, the wise Paila spoke it to Indrapramiti and Bāṣkala. Bāṣkala further divided his collection into four parts, O Bhārgava, and instructed them to his disciples Bodhya, Yājñavalkya, Parāśara and Agnimitra. Indrapramiti, the self-controlled sage, taught his samhitā to the learned mystic Māṇḍūkeya, whose disciple Devamitra later passed down the divisions of the Ṛg Veda to Saubhari and others.
The son of Māṇḍūkeya, named Śākalya, divided his own collection into five, entrusting one subdivision each to Vātsya, Mudgala, Śālīya, Gokhalya and Śiśira. The sage Jātūkarṇya was also a disciple of Śākalya, and after dividing the samhitā he received from Śākalya into three parts, he added a fourth section, a Vedic glossary. He taught one of these parts to each of four disciples — Balāka, the second Paila, Jābāla and Viraja. Bāṣkali assembled the Vālakhilya-samhitā, a collection from all the branches of the Ṛg Veda. This collection was received by Vālāyani, Bhajya and Kāśāra. Thus these various samhitās of the Ṛg Veda were maintained through disciplic succession by these saintly brāhmaṇas. Simply by hearing of this distribution of the Vedic hymns, one will be freed from all sins." (SB 12.6.43-60)
The disciplic succession of the Atharva Veda, of which the Mundaka Upanisad is part, is also described:
"Sūta Gosvāmī said: Sumantu Ṛṣi, the authority on the Atharva Veda, taught his samhitā to his disciple Kabandha, who in turn spoke it to Pathya and Vedadarśa. Śauklāyani, Brahmabali, Modoṣa and Pippalāyani were disciples of Vedadarśa. Hear from me also the names of the disciples of Pathya. My dear brāhmaṇa, they are Kumuda, Śunaka and Jājali, all of whom knew the Atharva Veda very well. Babhru and Saindhavāyana, disciples of Śunaka, studied the two divisions of their spiritual master’s compilation of the Atharva Veda. Saindhavāyana’s disciple Sāvarṇa and disciples of other great sages also studied this edition of the Atharva Veda. Nakṣatrakalpa, Śāntikalpa, Kaśyapa, Āngirasa and others were also among the ācāryas of the Atharva Veda." (SB 12.7.1-4)
The Mundaka Upanisad describes a conversation between the sage Angirasa and Śaunaka Rsi, the leader of the sages performing sacrifices in the forest of Naimisharanya. They started at the end of Dvapara-yuga and continued after the start of Kali-yuga. Although this great meeting of sages is commonly associated with the narration of the Srimad Bhagavatam by Sukadeva Goswami, it was also the stage for the narration of many other important scriptures.
The Mundaka Upanisad was narrated at some point before the narration of the Srimad Bhagavatam, and it is organized into three parts or mundakas, each divided into two sections or khandas, making a total of six sections. Like in other Upanisads, the text uses poetic and metaphorical language to convey the teachings, making a literal translation practically unintelligible.
The first section, 1.1, introduces the quest for knowledge of Śaunaka Rsi and presents the distinction between two types of knowledge inside the Vedas: para-vidya (spiritual knowledge, describing the nature of the Supreme Lord, the soul, our eternal relationship with Him and the process of devotional service) and apara-vidya (lower knowledge about fruitive activities and other material subjects). Understanding the distinction between the two is essential in understanding the Vedas because the same verses can be understood at both levels according to one's level of qualification. When interpreted based on apara-vidya, the verses of the Vedas appear to describe fruitive activities, rituals, and different branches of material knowledge, but when the higher meaning, para-vidya, is revealed, one can see that the verses actually describe the Lord and the process of devotional service that allow us to attain Him.
The first section also describes the structure of the universe and the process of creation and highlights the importance of approaching a qualified spiritual master to receive spiritual knowledge and guidance on the spiritual path. Without the expert guidance of a spiritual master, it is practically impossible for anyone to attain perfection, since one will not be able to find the correct understanding of the sastras alone. A self-taught seeker will always accumulate misunderstandings and deviate at a certain point. We can notice that all of this is discussed in just nine verses. That's how profound the words of the Upanisads are, and why a literal translation has very little utility.
The second section of the first part, 1.2, offers a practical illustration of the difference between the paths of para-vidya and apara-vidya, describing the process of sacrifice offered in the Vedas, and how the same instructions acquire different meanings and the same actions lead to different results according to the mentality of the performers. These verses offer very deep knowledge, but this knowledge becomes accessible only when studied with the right conclusions.
The first section of the second mundaka, 2.1, describes the process of creation, explaining how everything originates from the Lord, and how everything can be seen in relationship with Him. The Mundaka Upanisad explains extremely complex concepts using just a few words.
The second section, 2.2 describes the difference between the Lord in the heart and the individual soul, as well as the eternal relationship between them. This explanation is deepened in the first section of the third part, 3.1, which further explains the relationship between the soul and Paramatma using the analogy of two birds on a tree. The soul is the bird who eats, trying to enjoy the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree, while the Lord simply observes.
The final section, 3.2, concludes the book by describing the means for attaining the supreme Lord, describing the process of renunciation, self-discipline, etc. concluding with the final stage of transcendental realization attained by pure devotees and sages who attain perfection.
The Mundaka Upanisad is considered one of the cornerstones of the Advaita school. Sankaracarya wrote an extensive commentary on it, which defined much of the basis of the Mayavada philosophy. Superficially, it indeed appears that many of the verses describe the impersonal aspect and impersonal liberation, but when we dive deep we can see the verses actually describe the Supreme Lord in His personal aspect, the nature of the soul and devotional service to Him as the supreme goal of life. In this way, this commentary is not just an explanation of the Mundaka Upanisad according to the Vaishnava school, but also a refutation of the Mayavada interpretation.
Both Srila Ranga Ramanuja and Srila Madhvacarya wrote brief commentaries on the Mundaka Upanisad, and Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana explains the conclusions in his Govinda Bhasya. However, they are not easily understandable without the conclusions given by Srila Prabhupada in his books. It's only because Prabhupada explains the concepts discussed in the Upanisads in so much detail in his books that understanding the commentaries of the previous acaryas becomes possible.
Text 1.1.1
om brahmā devānām prathamaḥ sambabhūvaviśvasya kartā bhuvanasya goptā
sa brahma-vidyām sarva-vidyā pratiṣṭhām
atharvāya jyeṣṭa-putrāya prāha
Brahma, the foremost among the demigods, the creator of the universe and protector of the world, imparted Brahma-vidya, the foundation of all knowledge, to his eldest son, Atharva.
Commentary: Brahma is the first living being in the universe, created before the great sages and demigods. He is described as "prathamaḥ" (the first or foremost), "kartā bhuvanasya" (the creator of all living entities), and "goptā", the protector. This should be understood in the context of Brahma being subordinate to Lord Vishnu and receiving the mission of creating this particular universe. Understanding the proper context of each verse is essential in studying the Upanisads.
Everything starts with Lord Maha-Vishnu, who lies down on the causal ocean (or the karana ocean) and creates all the universes from his breath and the pores of His body.
The karana ocean is also known as pradhāna or mahat-tattva. When the energy is inactive, it is called pradhāna, which is just like a cloud that covers a small part of the spiritual sky, and when it becomes active by the influence of time and the three modes it is called mahat-tattva. Due to the influence of time, everything in the material world is created and destroyed, including the universe itself. Because of the influence of time, everything here is temporary, and the material universes themselves go through cycles of creation and destruction.
The manifestation of the material universes lasts for 311.04 trillion years. That's the lifespan of Lord Brahma calculated according to our time. This equals one breath of Maha-Vishnu. When He exhales, all universes come out and everything becomes active, and when He inhales, all the universes are destroyed and everything merges back into His body.
This time lasts for the same period of time as the manifestation of the universes, also 311,04 trillion years. During this time all the souls stay dormant inside the body of Maha-Vishnu. After this period He again exhales and all the universes become active again. The souls have thus another opportunity to perform material activities, satisfying their material desires, performing devotional service, and eventually going back to Godhead, back to the spiritual world.
In his Sariraka Bhasya, Sankaracarya refuses to acknowledge that the Lord has potencies, and thus he ends up offering the interpretation that the material world is false, the fruit of illusion. As Vaishnavas, we don't agree with this interpretation. According to Vaishnava philosophy, the material world is not false, but it is illusory. This means that the way we see it is different from what it is in reality. This illusion is called Maya. We think we will live forever, but in reality, we all die, we think we are these bodies, that we belong to a certain family or country, and so on, although in reality, we are not.
The material energy is originally one of the spiritual potencies of Lord Maha-Vishnu, His external potency. This external potency is like a shadow, which stays behind the Lord. The Lord uses this spiritual potency to create the unmanifested material elements (pradhāna). As mentioned, this pradhana is just like a cloud that covers a small part of the spiritual sky. The Lord then looks in the direction of this cloud, and His look carries all the souls, as well as the time energy. This puts this energy into movement, activating the three material modes (goodness, passion, and ignorance), and starting the process of creation.
Time is eternal as an energy, but its effect upon material energy has a beginning, the start of creation. In this way, time is eternal (as a cause), but at the same time, it has a beginning (as an effect).
The Lord then enters into each universe as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu. At first, the universe is completely empty, without any place to rest, so He fills half of it with water. Lord Seṣa then manifests, himself, acting as a bed, where the Lord comfortably rests. From there He manifests Lord Brahma from a lotus flower that sprouts from His navel, and Lord Brahma creates the physical manifestation of the universe.
Simultaneously, the Lord expands himself again as Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, Paramatma, who enters into the hearts of all and into everything, up to the individual atoms. There is no part of the universe where Paramatma is not present, therefore He knows everything. Lord Ksirodakasayi Vishnu is also known as Lord Hari, and He is the source of all the different incarnations that appear in this universe. As He himself comes from Lord Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, some passages say that Garbhodakasayi Vishnu is the source of all incarnations. In the same way, since Garbhodakasayi Vishnu comes ultimately from Krsna, we can also say that all incarnations come from Krsna. There is no contradiction.
Krsna appears in unlimited incarnations in the different universes. He appears as the different forms of Vishnu to create and maintain the universes, He comes to perform different pastimes (lila-avataras), He comes in every age to teach Dharma (yuga-avataras), He appears as an incarnation during the reign of each Manu (manvantara-avataras), He empowers different living beings to perform amazing activities (saktyavesa-avataras) and so on.
In this way, Brahma is created from Lord Maha-Vishnu and is thus considered to be His son. Normally, a child is born from a mother as a result of a sexual act, but Brahma is called aja (unborn) because he was born from the abdomen of Lord Garbhodakasayi Visnu without the need for a material father and mother. The Lord empowers Brahma to repeatedly create our material universe at the beginning of each of his days, creating an opportunity for the souls who desire to exploit the material energy to satisfy their material desires and eventually find their way back home, back to Godhead.
Brahma is born from the cosmic lotus flower that appears from the Lord's navel. One may question why a lotus flower, but once we accept that the Lord is a person, who processes intelligence, desires, and an artistic sense, it sounds quite natural.
Waking up on top of the lotus, Brahma could not see anything. The third canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, chapter eight, describes that he looked around to survey the space around him, and in this way, he acquired four heads. Next, still not being able to understand the origin of the Lotus or himself, Brahma had the idea of exploring it by going down the steam, but at a certain point, he met the kala-chakra of the Lord, the time factor, and becoming fearful he hurried in returning to the top. Brahma then gave up the idea of understanding his origin by experimental means and instead started performing austerities by meditating on the Supreme Lord.
Through his meditation, Brahma was able to develop knowledge and was able to see the Lord inside his heart as Paramatma. Then, looking outside, he was able to see Garbhodakasayi Vishnu lying on Lord Sesa on the Garbhodaka ocean, and the whole scene was illuminated by the transcendental light emanating from the jewels bedecking the hoods of Lord Sesa, dissipating all the darkness of these regions. In the beginning, Brahma could not see this transcendental light, just like we can't see it. All he saw was darkness. However, after acquiring transcendental vision, he was able to see it around the Lord.
Verses 3.8.24 and 3.8.25 of Srimad Bhagavatam describe the vision of Brahma:
"The luster of the transcendental body of the Lord mocked the beauty of the coral mountain. The coral mountain is very beautifully dressed by the evening sky, but the yellow dress of the Lord mocked its beauty. There is gold on the summit of the mountain, but the Lord’s helmet, bedecked with jewels, mocked it. The mountain’s waterfalls, herbs, etc., with a panorama of flowers, seem like garlands, but the Lord’s gigantic body, and His hands and legs, decorated with jewels, pearls, tulasī leaves and flower garlands, mocked the scene on the mountain. His transcendental body, unlimited in length and breadth, occupied the three planetary systems, upper, middle and lower. His body was self-illuminated by unparalleled dress and variegatedness and was properly ornamented."
Observing the beautiful form of the Lord and His opulences, Brahma concluded that He is the Supreme Lord. At that point, he could see the stem of the lotus flower from where he was born coming out of his navel, the devastating waters of the ocean, and so on. Everything became visible to him. Brahma then became surcharged with the mode of passion and inclined to create the universe. The Lord indicated to Brahma the five causes of creation, which are Īśvara (The Supreme Lord); Prakṛti (the material nature); Kāla (time); the jīvas (living entities), and Karma (their activities). Seeing these five causes, Brahma offered prayers to the Lord and took shelter in Him before starting his work of creation.
Brahma is thus the original receptor of Vedic knowledge, and transmission of this knowledge is the very essence and purpose of the material creation. Brahma transmits different branches of this spiritual knowledge first to his mental sons, such as the Kumaras and Narada Muni, and they take charge of transmitting it all over the universe. Srimad Bhagavatam describes that Daksa receives knowledge in the karma-kanda section of the Vedas, the four Kumaras in the jñāna-kanda section while Narada Muni receives knowledge directly about devotional service.
This Brahma-vidya transmitted from Brahma is classified as the supreme knowledge because it is the knowledge that leads to liberation. The Vedas speak about many different subjects, such as astrology, medicine, architecture, etc. as well as fruitive activities and speculative knowledge, but all these different branches of the Vedas have the ultimate goal of gradually conducting the living entity to the understanding of his eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord. In other words, all the verses of the Vedas have the ultimate goal of elevating a person to the platform of devotional service.
This knowledge about self-realization, which allows the soul to revive his eternal relationship with the Lord, is thus the foundation of other sciences and disciplines included in the Vedas.
An attentive reader may notice that the Srimad Bhagavatam describes Brahma generating ten mental sons at the beginning of the current day: Marici, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhrigu, Vasistha, Daksha, and Narada, apart from the Four Kumaras and Lord Shiva, while this verse describes Atharva as the first son of Brahma, to whom he transmitted the knowledge of the Atharva Veda, which includes the Mundaka Upanisad. These two descriptions should not be seen as contradictory.
Srila Madhvācārya dispels the confusion in his commentary of this verse, mentioning that Atharva was the firstborn of Brahmā in the current Vaivasvata Manvantara, with Mitra, Varuṇa, Praheti, and Heti being born after him. The story described in the Srimad Bhagavatam, with the four Kumaras appearing first, followed by Lord Shiva and the ten other sons happened at the beginning of the current day of Brahma, the Varāha Kalpa. Madhvācārya also adds that in the first Kalpa (the first day of the life of Brahma), Lord Shiva appeared first.
To sustain this point, he quotes a verse from the Brahmaṇḍa Purāṇa:
"In the Vaivasvata Manvantara, Atharva was the first born of Brahmā, while Mitra, Varuṇa, Praheti, and Heti were born after him. In the first Kalpa, Śiva was the first born of Brahmā. Sanaka and the rest were the first born in Varāha Kalpa, while Brahmā is the first born of Viṣṇu."
Text 1.1.2
atharvaṇe yām pravadeta brahmāatharvā tām purovācāngire brahma-vidyām
sa bhāradvājāya satyavāhāya prāha
bhāradvājo ’ngirase parāvarām
That knowledge of Brahman, which Brahma taught to Atharva was then imparted by Atharva to the sage Angira. Angira spoke that knowledge to Satyavāha of the Bharadvāja lineage. Satyavāha, in turn, taught that knowledge to Angirasa in the parampara system.
Commentary: All conditioned living beings share the same basic defects: committing mistakes, being illusioned, cheating, and having imperfect senses. Even great demigods fall into illusion, commit mistakes, etc. The conclusion is that perfect knowledge can't be produced in this material world, it has to be imported from the outside, originating from Krsna and his pure devotees. This knowledge is then transmitted without adulteration through the parampara system. Due to this divine system, pure spiritual knowledge is always available in human society for anyone sincere enough to look for it. This system is so important that when the parampara is broken, Krsna comes personally to reestablish it or sends his representative to start a new disciplic succession.
In the disciplic succession of the Mundaka Upanisad, Brahma received knowledge directly from the Lord and transmitted it to his son, Atharva. He, in turn, transmitted it to Angira, one of the Saptarisis (the seven great sages). Angira, during a visit to earth, transmitted it to Satyavāha (described as a great sage dedicated to the truth), who later transmitted it to the sage Angirasa.