Achieving the ultimate goal of life (Mundaka Upaniṣad #12)
By this fixed meditation we can attain the Lord, entering the spiritual sky, just as an arrow enters its target. The process of chanting should be practiced with fixed attention, and surrender.
Using the bow of the holy names, we should send our mind in the direction of the Lord, just as an arrow shot toward a target. This arrow of the mind should be sharpened by devotion to the Lord and not allowed to deviate to anything else. By this fixed meditation we can attain the Lord, entering the spiritual sky, just as an arrow enters its target. The process of chanting should be practiced with fixed attention, and the proper attitude of surrender.
What happens after entering the spiritual sky? We remain as individuals, and serve the Lord in one of the five types of transcendental relationships. The soul remains an individual even after entering the spiritual sky, just like a molecule of water entering the ocean or a bird entering a tree. There is no question of merging anywhere.
This process of chanting the holy names and serving the Lord with devotional attitude is the path of self realization for all ages, it is just practiced in different ways. We should thus give up other talks and forms of worship and fix our attention in this supreme process of worship of the Supreme Lord, the refuge of liberated souls.
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Text 2.2.3
dhanur gṛhītvaupaniṣadam mahāstram
śaram hy upāsāniśitam sandadhīta
āyamya tad bhāvagatena cetasā
lakṣyam tad evākṣaram saumya viddhi
Taking hold of the powerful bow of the holy name, and understanding the Supreme Lord as the supreme target to be hit, place into it the arrow of the mind, sharpened by devotion and fixed meditation. Withdrawing the mind from the sense objects, fix it in meditation on the Lord, making Him the ultimate goal of life.
Commentary: One of the meanings of the word veddhavyam (to be known or realized) is "that which is to be pierced or aimed at". The Lord should be the target of all our endeavors.
How can we hit this ultimate goal, the ultimate target of meditation? The verse answers: dhanur gṛhītvaupaniṣadam mahāstram. One should take the bow (dhanur), the great weapon (mahāstram) of the conclusion of the Upanisads (gṛhītvaupaniṣadam). What is this conclusion? The syllable Om, or the chanting of the holy names.
On this transcendental bow, one should place the arrow of his mind (śaram), fixing his meditation on the form, quality, and pastimes of the Lord (bhāvagatena cetasā), without letting it deviate to anything else. By this fixed meditation on the transcendental sound vibration, one is sure to attain the Lord.
The word "upāsā" means specifically "in devotion", and "to meditate" is just a secondary meaning. The word upāsāniśitam in the second line means thus that the arrow of the mind should be sharpened by devotion to the Lord. This directly connects this verse with the process of devotional service.
Meditation on the transcendental sound vibration is the eternal process prescribed in the Vedas for all ages. On Satya-yuga the chanting of the holy names is done through the vibration of the Praṇava, or omkāra, in Treta-yuga through mantras chanted during fire sacrifices, in Dvapara-yuga as part of deity worship, and in Kali-yuga directly through the congregational chanting of the Hare Krsna Maha-mantra. The process is thus the same, just the external manifestation changes according to the mentality of the inhabitants of each age.
Srila Prabhupada confirms that the Omkara and the Mahamantra are non-different in many passages, like in his purport to SB 7.15.31: "There is no difference between the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and omkāra because both of them are sound representations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. In all Vedic literatures, the sound vibration omkāra is the beginning. Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. The difference between chanting omkāra and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is that the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra may be chanted without consideration of the place or the sitting arrangements recommended in Bhagavad-gītā".
The conclusion of all the Upanisads is devotional service to the Lord, and the essence of devotional service is to always remember the Lord, through the constant chanting of His holy names. This is discussed in the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Adi 7.127-129):
‘praṇava’ se mahāvākya—vedera nidāna
īśvara-svarūpa praṇava sarva-viśva-dhāma
"The Vedic sound vibration omkāra, the principal word in the Vedic literatures, is the basis of all Vedic vibrations. Therefore one should accept omkāra as the sound representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the reservoir of the cosmic manifestation."
As Prabhupada explains in his purport:
On the basis of all the Upaniṣads, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that omkāra is the Supreme Absolute Truth and is accepted as such by all the ācāryas and authorities. Omkāra is beginningless, changeless, supreme and free from deterioration and external contamination. Omkāra is the origin, middle and end of everything, and any living entity who thus understands omkāra attains the perfection of spiritual identity in omkāra. Omkāra, being situated in everyone’s heart, is īśvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (Bg 18.61): īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati. Omkāra is as good as Viṣṇu because omkāra is as all-pervasive as Viṣṇu. One who knows omkāra and Lord Viṣṇu to be identical no longer has to lament or hanker. One who chants omkāra no longer remains a śūdra but immediately comes to the position of a brāhmaṇa. Simply by chanting omkāra one can understand the whole creation to be one unit, or an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Lord: idam hi viśvam bhagavān ivetaro yato jagat-sthāna-nirodha-sambhavāḥ. “The Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is Himself this cosmos, and still He is aloof from it. From Him only this cosmic manifestation has emanated, in Him it rests, and unto Him it enters after annihilation.” (Bhag. 1.5.20) Although one who does not understand concludes otherwise, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam states that the entire cosmic manifestation is but an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Realization of this is possible simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord, omkāra."
Sankaracarya, however, as part of his efforts to promote his philosophy and bring his followers back to the path of the Vedas, obscured this ultimate conclusion. Instead of the direct chanting of the holy names, he promoted the repetition of the mantra "tat tvam asi" as the supreme vibration of the Vedas. His followers interpret the words as meaning "you are that (Brahman)". Some gurus in the West even translate it as "I am God". However, this is not the correct interpretation.
Tat tvam asi is an instruction from the Chandogya Upanisad (6.10). In this passage, Uddālaka describes several characteristics of the Supreme Self to his son, Śvetaketu, and concludes each explanation with the words "tat tvam asi".
"Tat tvam asi" indicates similarity. For example, when we say "you are like him", pointing to another person, it doesn't mean that literally, you are him, but that although different individuals, you share similar qualities or characteristics. The soul is the same as the Lord in terms of quality but is different in terms of quantity. The soul is also a separate individual. It's thus incorrect to interpret tat tvam asi as "You are that". The correct translation is "You are like that", indicating that we are like the Lord, although eternally separated as different individuals. Prabhupada translates tat tvam asi as "You are the same spiritual identity" and as "You are as good as God."
Sankaracarya thus took a secondary instruction and promoted it as the principal Mahavakya, the supreme vibration, to trick his followers into accepting the authority of the Vedas, without revealing to them the true conclusion of the scriptures, the path of devotional service, which they were not prepared to accept.
Just like Lord Buddha made his followers stop killing animals and instead search for the end of all suffering in silent meditation, Sankaracarya tricked his followers into accepting the authority of the Vedas by promoting a philosophy similar to Buddhism that sounded attractive to them. Most of his followers are offenders of the Lord, as concluded by Mahaprabhu, and thus they are not capable of directly chanting the holy names. They were thus tricked into reciting a secondary instruction, aiming at impersonal liberation. If they eventually attain impersonal liberation, they become free from such contaminations, and after falling back into the material world, they have the chance of becoming devotees.
The fact that Sankaracarya intentionally covered the real conclusion of the Vedas, reveals his mission as part of the transcendental plan of the Lord for gradually revealing the real conclusion of the Vedas through a succession of acaryas, starting with Lord Buddha, then Sankaracarya, and then Ramanujacarya, Madhvacharya and the other great Vaishnava acaryas, culminating with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sankaracarya had the mission of revealing only part of the truth, taking his followers out of the path of Buddhism, and back into the Vedas, from where the sincere ones could pick up the ladder offered by Ramanujacarya and the following acaryas.
Text 2.2.4
praṇavo dhanuḥ śaro hy ātmā brahma tal-laksyam ucyate
apramattena vedhavyam śaravat tanmayo bhavet
Know that the praṇava is the bow and ātmā is the arrow aimed at Him. Fully concentrated on the goal, you should attain the Lord, just as an arrow enters the target.
Commentary: This verse clarifies the analogy of the previous verse. "Praṇavo dhanuḥ" makes clear that the bow is the omkāra, the transcendental sound vibration. "Saro hy ātmā" explains that the arrow is the self, which can be interpreted as both directly the soul, or as the mind being used as a medium for the soul to become fixed in meditation of the Lord. "Brahma tal-laksyam" indicates that the Supreme Brahman is the target. With fixed attention (apramattena), one should hit this target (vendhayam), and thus join the transcendental reality, just like an arrow hitting the target (śaravat tanmayo bhavet).
One could question the word "tanmayaḥ" (becoming one with it). In his commentary, Sankaracarya interprets it as meaning becoming one with Brahman, just like an arrow becoming one with the target. However, we can see that an arrow remains a distinct object even after hitting a target. "Becoming one with it" in this case is just metaphorical, just like it's sometimes said that a couple "become one" during the sexual act. The soul continues being an individual even after becoming free from material designations and entering the spiritual reality, just like a molecule of water entering the ocean or a bird entering a tree.
When a green bird enters a tree, a foolish person may have the impression that it merged into the tree, but one with a higher understanding will see that the bird remains an individual and is just living inside the tree. Similarly, attaining Brahman does not mean that one merges into the Lord. Rather, a devotee pierces the impersonal effulgence and joins the Lord in His pastimes on one of the transcendental planets. Although the Lord and the jiva are the same in quality, they are separate individuals, and there is thus no question of merging at any state. Even if one achieves impersonal liberation, he remains a separate spark in the effulgence of the Lord. The proof of that is that one may fall back from the impersonal brahmajyoti back into material existence. If the soul would seamlessly merge into the brahmajyoti, this fall would not be possible.
Text 2.2.5
yasmin dyauḥ pṛthivī cāntarikṣam
otam manaḥ saha prāṇaiś ca sarvaiḥ
tam evaikamjānatha ātmānam
anyā vāco vimuñcathāmrṭasyaiṣa setuḥ
The Lord is the supreme ātmā, in whom the heavens, earth, sky, the mind, and all senses are interwoven. Give up other talks and forms of worship. He is the bridge to immortality, the refuge of the liberated souls.
Commentary: The word "ātmā" is often used in the sense of the soul, but this is the secondary meaning. Primarily, ātmā refers to the Lord. The Lord is the supreme self, and the jivas are subordinate to him. Similarly, everything else emanates and is connected with the Lord, He is thus the center of everything, and one who attains the Lord attains everything. He is the bridge that allows us to cross the ocean of birth and death and attain immortality.
Text 2.2.6
arā iva ratha-nābhau samhatā yatra nāḍyaḥ
sa eṣo ’ntaś carate bahudhājāyamānaḥ
om ity evam dhyāyatha ātmānam
svasti vaḥ pārāya tamasaḥ parastāt
All the nāḍis of the body are fixed to the heart, like spokes to the central hub of a chariot wheel. The Lord moves about within, manifesting in many ways. Meditate on this transcendental Lord through the transcendental sound vibration and by His mercy, cross beyond the darkness of ignorance. May you be blessed.
Commentary: The nāḍis are subtle energetic pathways, through which the vital airs flow. There are thousands of nāḍis in the body, and they intersect in the chakras. Because they are very subtle pathways, the nāḍis are not understood in modern medicine, which is limited to the study of the nerves and the circulatory system. However, the nāḍis receive great importance in the Vedic sciences.
All the nāḍis are connected to the heart, and the reason they are connected to there, and not some other part of the body, is because the Lord is there, as Paramatma. Because the ātmā (the Lord) is inside the heart, together with the other ātmā (the spirit soul), the heart is the center of energy for the whole body. The Lord permeates the whole body, just like He permeates everything with His potency, and that's how the body can function. Because the potencies of the Lord circulate through the whole body maintaining all the organs, etc. it is said that the Lord moves (antaś carate) inside the body.
The word bahudhā means "in various forms". The potency of the Lord manifests in the different states of consciousness: viśva (the awakened state), taijasa (the dream state), and prājña (deep sleep). In the viśva state, the consciousness of the soul is connected with the senses, and one becomes aware of the outside world, free to perform activities according to his desires. In the taijasa state, the consciousness is disconnected from the external senses, but still acts through the mind, in dreams, while in the prājña state, the consciousness fully retracts to inside the heart and merges into Paramamatma. The soul then rests from material activity. All these states of consciousness emanate from the Lord and are thus connected with Him.
By the transcendental vibration, the omkāra, or the mahā-mantra, we can focus our meditation on the transcendental Lord, and thus gradually recover our original consciousness that has been for so long covered by false material identification. By doing so, one can attain the state of turīya, the fourth state of consciousness, where the soul reattains his original, transcendental consciousness.
These four states of consciousness are described in the Mandukya Upanisad, which is the shortest of the Upanisads. It was spoken by Varuna, who assumed the form of a frog (maṇḍuka).
Mayavadis gives a monistic interpretation of these verses, with the individual soul being the cause of the different states of consciousness and the ultimate stage as merging into Brahman. This is however not what the verses speak about. The Lord is the source of the different stages of consciousness experienced by the soul, and ultimately He is their supreme enjoyer. In fact, each of the four stages is a manifestation of the Lord. Turīya is thus simultaneously a state of consciousness and a form of the Lord, the same for Taijasa and so on, just like Vāsudeva is an expansion of the Lord, the source of consciousness, and also a state of consciousness. The ultimate goal is to revive one's original consciousness as an eternal servant of the Supreme Lord, beyond all material contamination.
Here are the verses with a translation from the Vaishnava perspective:
1- Om-ity-etad-akṣaram-idam sarvam, tasyopavyākhyānam bhūtam bhavad bhaviṣyad iti sarvam-omkāra eva, yac ca anyat trikālātītam tad api omkāra eva.
Om. Indeed, this imperishable syllable is everything. All that is material exists under the purview of past, present, and future, and all of that is Om. And everything that transcends space and time (the spiritual realm) is also Om. There is nothing apart from the Lord.
2- sarvam hyetad brahma ayam-ātmā brahma so’yam-ātmā catushpat
All of this is indeed Brahman. This Supreme Self (the Supreme ātma) is Brahman and manifests in the body in four states of consciousness, experienced by the conditioned soul (the minute ātma).
3- jāgarita-sthāno bahiḥ-prajñaḥ saptānga ekonavimśatimukhaḥ sthūla-bhug vaiśvānaraḥ prathamaḥ pādaḥ
The first state is the waking state (viśva), where consciousness is directed outward, connected with the seven limbs and the nineteen faculties (the five sense organs, the five organs of action, the five vital airs, and the four internal senses; mind, intelligence, ego, and material consciousness). In this state, the soul becomes the enjoyer of the objects of the senses that are part of this world, called Vaisvanara, the universal form of the Lord.
4- svapna-sthāno’ntah-prajñaḥ saptānga ekonavimśatimukhaḥ praviviktabhuk taijaso dvitīyaḥ pādaḥ
The second is the dreaming state, where consciousness is turned inwards. In this state, called taijasa, the seven limbs and nineteen faculties contact subtle sense objects in dreams. In this way, the soul enjoys dreamy experiences, enabled by the Taijasa, the luminous Lord.
5- yatra supto na kancana kāmam kāmayate na kancana svapnam paśyati tat sushuptam, sushupta-sthāna ekībhūtaḥ prajñānaghana evānandamayo hyānandabhuk cetomukhaḥ prajñaḥ tritīyaḥ pādaḥ
The third is the state of deep sleep, called prājña, where one does not desire anything nor see any dreams. In this state, the soul experiences a blissful state of union with the Prajñānaghana (the Lord, the undivided source of consciousness) through the gateway of pure consciousness.
6- eṣa sarveśvara eṣa sarvajña eṣo’ntaryāmī eṣa yoniḥ sarvasya prabhavāpyayau hi bhūtānām
This Supreme Self, the Lord of all, the Supreme Lord, is omniscient and all-knowing (sarvajñaḥ), the inner controller (antaryāmī), the source of everything. Indeed, He is the origin and dissolution of all beings.
7- nāntaḥ-prajñam na bahiḥ-prajñam nobhayataḥ-prajñam na prajñāna-ghanam na prajñam nāprajñam adṛṣṭam-avyavahāryam-agrahyam-alakṣaṇam-acintyam-avyapadeśyam-ekātma-pratyaya-sāram prapañcopaśamam śāntam śivam advaitam caturtham manyante sa ātmā sa vijñeyaḥ
In the fourth state, the individual soul re-attains his original state of consciousness. This consciousness is not connected with a material body in any way. It is not turned to the outside, nor the inside, it is not materially conscious or unconscious. It is also not a state of unconscious contact with the Lord. This original state of consciousness is beyond the perception of the senses, beyond the comprehension of the mind, beyond the speculations of intelligence, and the perception of material consciousness. This ultimate state consists of the spiritual awareness of the soul, beyond the material manifestation. This state, beyond material duality and fully auspicious, is called turīya. It should be realized as the ultimate knowledge (vijñeyaḥ).
8- so’yam-ātmā adhyakṣaram omkāro’dhimātram pādā mātrā mātrāś ca pādāḥ akāraḥ ukāraḥ makāra iti
This Supreme Self, indeed, is the syllable Om, which encompasses all measures. The states of consciousness are represented in the constituent phonemes of the syllable, the letters A (akāraḥ) U (ukāraḥ), and M (makāraḥ).
9- jāgarita-sthāno vaiśvānaro'kāraḥ prathama mātrā apterādimatvād-vāpnoti ha vai sarvān kāmān ādiś ca bhavati ya evam veda
The waking state, connected with Vaiśvānara, the universal form of the Lord, is associated with the letter A, the first part of the syllable Om, because it is associated with the all-encompassing and primordial nature of the Lord. One who knows this attains all his desires and becomes foremost.
10- svapna-sthānas taijasa ukāro dvitīyā mātrā utkārṣād-ubhayatvād-utkṛṣyati ha vai jñāna-santatim samānaś ca bhavati na syābrahmavit kule bhavati ya evam veda
The dream state, taijasa, is associated with the letter U, the second part of the syllable Om, because of its excellence and its position in the middle, drawing the soul from the outward state, into the interior world. One who knows this attains an unbroken flow of consciousness and becomes free from material contamination. None of his descendants will lack spiritual knowledge.
11- suṣupta-sthānaḥ prājño makāras tṛtīyā mātrā miter-apiter vā minoti ha vā idam sarvam-apitiś ca bhavati ya evam veda
The state of deep sleep, prajña, is associated with the letter M, the third part of the syllable Om because it is connected with the all-encompassing and all-absorbing nature of the Lord as the creator and destroyer of everything, including all external consciousness. One who knows this fully understands this material manifestation.
12- amātras-caturtho’vyavahāryaḥ prapañcopaśamaḥ śivo’dvaitaḥ evam omkāra ātmaiva samviśaty-ātmānam ātmānām ya evam veda
The fourth state, turīya, is beyond sound, beyond actions and interactions. It is the cessation of all material phenomena, beyond material duality and fully auspicious. This Omkāra is indeed the Supreme Self. One who knows this attains the Supreme Self, entering into the spiritual nature.