Talk:Muktikopanisad
By Swami Harshananda
Origin of Muktikopaniṣad[edit]
Muktikopaniṣad is a well-known minor Upaniṣad assigned to the Śukla Yajurveda. It is often referred to by others since it gives a long list of 108 Upaniṣads. It is in two adhyāyas or chapters containing 134 mantras mostly in the anuṣṭubh metre, the rest being in prose. It is cast in the form of a dialogue between Hanumān and Śrī Rāma the emperor,[1] at Ayodhyā, the capital from where he ruled.
Content of Muktikopaniṣad[edit]
First Section[edit]
Hanumān asks Srī Rāma as to his greatness and the way of attaining liberation without much effort. Śrī Rāma replies that by the true knowledge of Vedānta, one can get the mukti or liberation known as sāyujya, absorption into him. Incidentally he gives the several divisions of the Vedas[2] and the Upaniṣads. In answer to another question by Hanumān about the various descriptions of mukti given by others, Śrī Rāma delineates four kinds of mukti. They are:
- Sālokya - attaining his world
- Sāmīpya - living near him
- Sārupya - having a form similar to his
- Sāyujya - unity in him
He also praises the greatness of the tārakamantra[3] uttered by Śiva, the Lord of Kāśī, in the ears of persons dying there. However, he also stresses that only a knowledge of the Upaniṣads can give liberation. Then he proceeds to give the names of 108 Upaniṣads.[4]
Then comes the method of giving the knowledge of these Upaniṣads to worthy seekers. People unfit to receive this knowledge are:
- Atheists
- Ungrateful ones
- Persons of evil character
- Persons who lack devotion to God
- Those who have no love for the guru
On the other hand, the disciples devoted to the service of the guru, those who are of good character and devoted to God should be given this knowledge after testing them.
This section ends by giving the Śāntimantras[5] for the various Upaniṣads. They are decided as per the Veda to which the Upaniṣad belongs:
- Vāñ me manasi for the Upaniṣads of the Rgveda like Aitareya and Kausitaki
- Purnamadah for the Upaniṣads of the Śukla Yajurveda like īśāvāsya and Brhadāranyaka
- Saha nā vavatu for the Upaniṣads of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda like Kathā and Taittiriya
- Āpyāyantu for the Upaniṣads of the Sāmaveda like Kena and Chāndogya
- Bhadrarh karnebhih for the Upaniṣads of the Atharvanaveda like Praśna and Mundaka
Second Chapter[edit]
The Second chapter deals mainly with jīvanmukti[6] and videhamukti.[7] It is the vāsanās[8] that are responsible for bondage. Hence, in order to get liberation, the seeker has to practice simultaneously vijñāna,[9] vāsanākṣaya[10] and manonāśa.[11]
References[edit]
- ↑ He was considered as an incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu Himself.
- ↑ These divisions of Vedas are produced by his breath as it were.
- ↑ Tārakamantra is ‘Rāma’.
- ↑ All these are now available in print, with the commentary of Upaniṣad brahma Yogīndra.
- ↑ Śāntimantras means peace-invocations.
- ↑ Jīvanmukti means the liberation while living in the body.
- ↑ Videhamukti means the liberation from future transmigration after death.
- ↑ Vāsanās means the tendencies and impressions in the mind carried over from previous lives.
- ↑ Vijñāna means the knowledge about the ātman or the true Self.
- ↑ Vāsanākṣaya means the attenuation and destruction of the vāsanās.
- ↑ Manonāśa means the destruction of the tendencies in the mind that arise involuntarily.
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore