The disciplic succession
Brahma transmitted this spiritual knowledge to his mental sons, such as the Kumaras and Narada Muni, and they took charge of transmitting it all over the universe through the parampara system.
« The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: An in-depth study
The disciplic succession
When Brahma was born, he first tried to understand his origin by experimental means, by climbing down the universal lotus. After he failed in this endeavor, he heard the syllables "ta-pa" and decided to practice austerities, by meditating on the Lord. The Lord then appeared to him and revealed Brahma-vidya, the supreme spiritual knowledge that can free us from material existence. At first, the Vedas seem to speak on many different material topics, but when we gain access to the deeper meaning of the texts we can understand that every word has the goal of elevating us to the platform of devotional service.
Brahma, in turn, transmitted this spiritual knowledge to his mental sons, such as the Kumaras and Narada Muni, and they took charge of transmitting it all over the universe through the parampara system. The Muṇḍaka Upanisad is part of the Atharva Veda, which was spoken by Brahma to his son Atharva, and from him to Angira, then Satyavāha, and finally Angirasa.
Text 1.1.1
om brahmā devānām prathamaḥ sambabhūva
viśvasya 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, Śaṅkarācārya 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 of the karma-kanda section of the Vedas, the four Kumaras of 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 Muṇḍaka 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 Vishnu."
Text 1.1.2
atharvaṇe yām pravadeta brahmā
atharvā 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 Muṇḍaka 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.