Know, See, and Realize

Here we are with the Mundaka Upanishad of Atharva Veda. The name is interesting: Mundaka Upanishad. It is surmised that ‘muṇdaka’ comes from ‘muṇda’, and ‘muṇda’ points towards the shaven head of the Brahmins who would practice austerity, the disciples of old carrying bald heads. We have seen those images. So, that is called a muṇda. From there comes the name Mundaka.

This Upanishad throws light on the path of knowledge. We call the Upanishads as belonging to the path of knowledge, Jñānamārga, and then we say the Bhaktimārga is the mārga of love, the path of devotion is synonymous with love. One should refuse to buy that distinction. The Upanishads are overflowing with love. If love is real, it can’t be sans discrimination or knowledge. And if you really have knowledge, you would be a very loving person. It’s just that your love would not be of the type you see all around.

After reading Mundaka Upanishad one can say poets are at work here. In fact, the Upanishads several times call the Rishis as kavis, poets. Not without reason: they are bringing to words that which is very abstract, and that is what a poet does; they are giving a face to that which is very conceptual, that is what a painter does. And then, when you give it a face, obviously you also give it a name, and that becomes the name of a god. So, those gods don’t really exist. They are names of something virtuous within.

In this course we will explore following topics in-depth:

Where you miss Him is where you will find Him- Even to think you are getting Him soon is to ensure that you are not getting Him at all. Even to think that you have already received Him is to miss receiving Him. The only way that works is the way of a high consciousness that is so much in love and so much in suffering that it just cannot forget to be attentive.

Know, see, realize, but don’t interfere- Be your best at all times, with all people, at all places. And that does not mean putting on your best manners; that means being at the highest point you can be internally. Be your best at all times, with all people, at all places. Don’t switch off the sun, ever.

That which the self-knowers know- The self-knower comes to know the non-existence of the self, so the self-knower does not remain existent anymore. The self-knower in fact loses his confidence in all that he knew about the self till now.