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Mandukya Upanishad Chapter 1 Agama prakaranam

Talk 1 - General Introduction:
Having invoked Bhagavan Vighneshwara's grace, we are starting an important Upanishad called Mandukya Upanishad. Before entering into the text, we will see some introductory points. In our tradition, the body of knowledge is called shAstra. The word shAstra is derived from shas dhAtu, which means to teach shishyate anena iti shAstram - the text by which a person is taught is called shAstra. There are various forms of shAstram I) Vedas Rig veda, Yajur veda, Sama veda and Atharva veda. II) Sutra grantha-s like Jaimini sutras, Panini sutras III) SmRRiti grantha-s like Bhagavad Gita, Manu smRRiti and Puranas. iv) ItihAsa-s Mahabharata and Ramayana. All of them are called shAstram. Among these various forms of shAstram, Vedas are considered to be mUla shAstram i.e. fundamental scriptures. They are called fundamental scriptures because all other forms of scriptures are based on the Vedas. About the Vedas These Vedas are not authored by any particular human being. Veda Vyasa has just compiled them properly with the help of his disciples. No RRiShi claims the authorship of Vedas. We call the RRiShi-s mantra dRRiShtarah the seers of mantras. They are not the authors of mantras. The RRiShi had seen the mantra which was already there in the previous kalpa and in the previous kalpa other RRiShi-s or the same RRiShi had seen this mantra and that also was existent before. In our tradition the Vedas are considered to be nitya ie, eternal. They have always been there. The Vedas become manifest and unmanifest but they are not newly produced. These Vedas are divided into two sections, depending upon the subject matter, etc. i) Karma kANDa . It is the first portion of the Vedas. ii) J~nAna kANDa . It is also called Vedanta . It is the end portion of the Vedas . The four aspects called anubandha chatuShTaya are different for karma kANDa and JnAna kANDa . The four aspects are subject matter (viShaya), the qualified student (adhikArI ), purpose (prayojana,) , and connections (sambandhA) ViShaya or subject matter for karma kANDa consists of the various rituals or karma-s and their result. On the other hand the reality, which is the self or Atma ie, self-knowledge is the subject matter of J~nAna kANDa or Vedanta. The adhikArI or the qualified person is also different for both. The person who will be benefited is called adhikArI. For the karma kANDa, one who wants to gain a material result through karma and upAsana is the adhikArI. For J~nAna kANDa, one who is disinterested in the material result and who wants to have mokSha is the adhikArI. The prayojana, motive or purpose, is also different. The prayojana for karma kANDa is the attainment of a finite material result here or hereafter;

2 The prayojana for VedAntA is attaining limitlessness . The sambandhA connection or relationship between the text and the subject matter is also different. In karma kANDa there is chodya-chodaka sambandha ie, motivated-motivator relationship. A person is motivated to do something by Karma kANDa. The ritual or action is chodyam and shAstra itself is chodaka ie, motivator of the action. Thus between the text and the subject matter , there is chodya-chodaka sambandhA. On the other hand, in Vedanta there is bodhya-bodhaka sambandhA ie, revealer-revealed connection. Bodhya is that which is to be known; bodhaka is the revealer. ShAstra is just bodhaka. It is simply revealing the reality which is bodhyam. It does not ask you to do anything. Of course, for knowing, you should do whatever is required. But finally you have to know the reality. Thus the karma kANDa section is dealing with karmas. Only a limited result is possible through karmas; limitlessness cannot be the result of any finite karma. The finite cannot produce the infinite. In his commentary on kaThopaniShad-1.ii.16, Shankaracharyaji says: Param chet j~nAtavyam, aparam chet prAptavyam. The limitless is to be known and the finite is to be obtained. Aparam here means aparam Brahman, inferior Brahman which stands for any material result which is to be obtained through karma. On the other hand, param refers to the supreme Brahman which is limitlessness. The limitless is to be known only; it cannot be obtained. If this is clear that para brahman, the limitless reality, is gained through knowledge only, then we will have this question: How can we know para brahman ? Anything is known only through a pramANa ie, means of knowledge. There is no other way for knowing. PramANam or means of Knowledge There are six pramANa-s available to us. They are: i) pratyakSha - direct perception or direct means of knowledge. Eg: I see, I hear . This gives rise to perceptual knowledge. ii) anumAna Inference. Eg: Seeing the smoke, I infer fire. This gives rise to inferential knowledge. iii) ArthApatti presumption. Seeing something, I presume. iv) upamAna simile or comparison. Something is compared to something else. v) anupalabdhi - non cognition. It becomes the means for the cognition of the absence of something. Eg: absence of elephant in the room. vi) shabda pramANa - the means in the form of words. Through words also something can be revealed. This is just a brief description. Each of these can be elaborated further. For infinite Brahman, the first five means are not valid because they relate to the area of the finite. Only shabda pramANam is available in the form of Vedanta. So Vedanta is the pramANam for knowing the infinite. Approach to the study of Vedanta If this is clear then when I am understanding Vedanta, I am understanding the infinite. Understanding the infinite is attainment of infinite because there is no other attainment of limitlessness other than the recognition that one is Brahman. Brahman already is, it is not to be produced. Also it is not away from me. It is only to be acknowledged or discovered. So attainment of Brahman is really the understanding of Brahman. Understanding Brahman means understanding Vedanta.

3 Therefore my approach towards Vedanta should be proper. Vedanta should not be studied like some other subject, for mere information. Our approach is not an academic approach. It is Life Science in the true sense it deals with my own life and it deals with the core issue. Feeling limited is the core issue and it deals with that. Vedanta deals with the infinite and attainment of the infinite is freedom from saMsAra. With this approach we should study shAstram. So, clear and firm understanding of Vedanta is very important. For that alone, j~nAna Yoga is prescribed in the form of shravaNam , mananam and nididhyAsanam . What is shravaNam, mananam and nididhyAsanam? shravaNam means listening. It does not mean passive listening or hearing. shravaNa means arriving at the tAtparyam (purport, intention) of all the Vedanta vAkya-s which is non-dual Brahman which is non-separate from myself and free from duality. This is shravaNam. Mananam means reflection. By this the doubts which are there are resolved. NidhidyAsanam means contemplation to resolve habitual errors. j~nAna yoga starts with shravaNam. The student goes to the teacher and studies some Vedanta shAstra. Initially, some introductory text like Tattva Bodha or Atma Bodha is studied, but finally the Upanishads are taught. How many Upanishads should you study? Bhagvan Ramachandra, while giving upadesha (instruction, teaching) to Hanumanji in the muktikopaniShad said: mANDUkyam ekameva alam mumukShUnam vimuktaye. The Mandukya alone is enough for a mumukShu to get liberated. This indicates how highly the Mandukya Upanishad is regarded. Moreover he says that if, after studying the Mandukya, you still dont seem to have attained the infinite, then study the following 10 major Upanishads: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, TaittirIya, Aitareya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka. (The ten includes the Mandukya, so study the other 9 Upanishads.) If the 10 also do not work, then study the principal 32 Upanishads. If you have more time, then study all 108 Upanishads and he gives a list of all the 108 Upanishads to study. So, if I am fit, then one Upanishad the Mandukya Upanishad is enough. Any Upanishad is enough, but the Mandukya is very, very profound and therefore glorified. General Information on the Upanishad : It is a small Upanishad with just 12 mantras, but very powerful. It is the smallest among the 10 Upanishads. Even the IshAvAsya has more -18 mantras. Nowadays, the I-pod and other digital recorders are very small, but they will have 1 GB, 2 GB, 3 GB while a big machine may have a few MBs only. Similarly the Mandukya Upanishad is a very profound Upanishad. That is why it is generally taught at the end, only after teaching some of the other Upanishads. The Mandukya Upanishad belongs to the atharvaNa Veda . It is called Mandukya Upanishad because the mantras of this Upanishad were supposed to have been visualized by a RRiShi called Manduka RRiShi . Manduka was his name and Manduka also means frog. The peculiarity of the frog is that when it wants to go to another place, the frog raises its hind leg first. This indicates that the journey is not outside but inward. Inner preparation is more important. So the Mandukya Upanishad is an inward journey and, since it was seen by Manduka RRiShi, it is called Mandukya Upanishad.

4 The meaning of the word Upanishad : Different meanings have been given by different commentators. Upanishad primarily means brahma vidyA, i.e. the knowledge of Brahman. 1) The infinite is called Brahman. Why is brahma vidyA called Upanishad ? upaniShadati prapnoti brahmAtma bhAvah anayA iti upaniShad. (Vachaspatyam) That (self-knowledge) by which one attains oneness with Brahman is called Upanishad. Brahma vidyA is called Upanishad because, in the word Upanishad, there are 3 words : upa, ni and Shad and all 3 put together becomes upaniShadati which means prapnoti attains, accomplishes. What does a person attain ? brahmAtma bhAva - brahma eva Atma iti bhAva Attainment of oneness with Brahman is brahmAtma bhAva. The state of Atma being one with Brahman is brahmAtma bhAva. It is not a state, really it is j~nAnam which is called brahmAtma bhAva. ii) There is another meaning also derived from the word Upanishad. The word Upanishad has 3 components - upa, ni, and Sha. Upa and ni are upasarga-s or prepositions. upa means near; ni means nishchayena - steadfastly, determinedly and these two words upa and ni are indicative of the method of attainment of this knowledge. How brahma vidyA is attained is indicated by these 2 words, upa and ni. ShAstram gurum cha upagamya - by approaching the teacher and scripture, this vidyA is attained. By the word upa, shravaNam is indicated. This vidyA is gained by properly listening to the scripture taught by a competent teacher; i.e. through shravaNa. By the word ni , mananam and nidhidyAsanam are indicated. Ni means nischayena. This J~nAnam has to be clear. Clarity and firmness of j~nAnam are achieved by manana and nididhyAsana. So upa and ni together indicate the method to attain this vidyA which is in the form of shravaNam, mananam and nididhyAsanam. And when this vidyA is attained through these three methods, the result is indicated by the word Shad. The word Shad is originally a root. It has got several meanings. We will see two of them. i) One meaning of shad is visharaNam - destruction. That which destroys is called Shad. This brahma vidyA destroys ignorance, and ignorance-born problems which cause bondage. Therefore it is called Shad. ii) Another meaning of the word Shad is gamayati i.e. getting or reaching . MumukShum brahma gamayati - that which makes the seeker reach Brahman is called Shad. This brahma vidyA helps the person to attain Brahman and is therefore called Shad. The final meaning of the word Upanishad combing both meanings of shad is That which is gained by shravaNam, mananam and nididhyAsanam and which helps the seeker to attain Brahman and destroys ignorance and ignorance-born problems, is called Upanishad. This is the technical definition of Upanishad. The simple definition of the word Upanishad is brahma vidyA , the knowledge of infinite Brahman. Finally this is what Upanishad is. If you forget the details, it does not matter. But the final thing should remain with you. The vRRitti or thought that gives the knowledge of Brahman, that vRRitti alone is technically called Upanishad. But that which gives rise to that brahmakAra vRRitti ie, thought having Brahman is also called Upanishad.

5 Just as cash is called money, a check also is called money . That which gives you the check and cash is also called money. So the words of Vedanta, giving rise to brahmakAra vRRitti, are also Upanishad. And the book which is containing the words of the Upanishad is also called Upanishad. But all of them are gauNa prayoga figurative usage. Primarily, brahma vidyA is called Upanishad. If you have got the book but the words are not making sense to you, then you dont have Upanishad. Like one person working in an ashram book section said: Swamiji, all the Upanishads are known to me. What he meant was that he knows the price of all Upanishads ! Even if you have all the Upanishad books with you, that is not enough. Even if the words are there and you are familiar with them, still you have not got Upanishad. You only get Upanishad in the real sense when this j~nAnam the brahmakAra vRRitti arises in your mind. What sort of j~nAnam? The j~nAnam that I am Brahman. Nobody can steal this away. Other things like books, somebody can steal. But this brahmakAra vRRitti is your own. This is really Upanishad.

Talk 2 - ShAnti pAtha or chant for peace for this Upanishad

Every Upanishad will start with shAnti mantra . Every veda has its own shAnti pATha. The shAnThi patha for Mandukya Upanishad is from atharva veda to which it belongs. The mantras which bring composure or silence to the mind is called shAnti mantra or shAnti paTha. Generally it is chanted at the beginning of study of the Upanishad.

Why do we chant the shAnti mantra instead of going straight to the Upanishad?
The purpose of shAnti mantra is reduction of the obstacles. shreyAmsi bahUni vighnAni | When we are doing something good, there can be any number of obstacles. So to attain that ultimate shAnti called mokSha, there can be so many obstacles. E.g. When Bhagavan Ramachandra wanted to get Sita back, there were so many obstacles. The first obstacle was how to find where Sita was. Afterwards, when they found that she was in Lanka, the next problem was how to cross the sea to go to Lanka ? So Rama setu was constructed. After reaching Lanka, there were more problems. Rama and Lakshmana fainted during the war. All these obstacles can happen. In one Sanskrit composition, Sita stands for shAnti - shAnti videha suta sahachari.

The purpose of shAnti paTha is

i) To neutralise obstacles. ii) To develop a prayerful mind. We should not forget that spiritual pursuit is a prayerful pursuit. The appreciation of Bhagavan's grace should be there. And for that also shAnti paTha is chanted. iii)To tune our mind to the study of the Upanishad.

Meaning of the Shanti mantra

1st part -

OM bhadraM karNebhiH shRRNuyAma devA bhadraM pashyemAkshabhiryajatrAH | sthirairaN^gaistushTuvA.nsastanUbhirvyashema devahitaM yadAyuH || O Gods! May we listen to what is auspicious. O protector of rituals! May we with our eyes always see divinity everywhere. With a healthy body and steady limbs, may we spend the life allotted to us by the Lord glorifying him.

2nd part

svasti na indro vRRddhashravAH, svastinaHpUshA vishvavedAH | svasti nastArkshyo ariShTanemiH, svasti no bRRihaspatirdadhAtu.|| Om shantih shantih shantih. May Lord Indra of great fame and who is ancient bless us with ultimate happiness. May the Sun god who nourishes everybody and who is omniscient, grant us happiness. May Garuda, the king of birds whose movements are not obstructed bless us (with unobstructed movement). May Brhaspati, the presiding deity of the intellect give us auspiciousness (in the form of moksha).
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Let there be peace (from natural forces), peace (in my surroundings) and peace (within myse

Meaning of the shAnti mantra:

This shAnti paTha is a prayer directed towards various gods. It has got two parts. The first part is the prayer for kArya kAraNa sa~NghAta yogyatA - a prayer for fitness of this body-mindcomplex for the pursuit of knowledge. The second part is the prayer for ma~Ngalam auspiciousness or for freedom from obstacles. These are the two parts of shAnti paTha. Anvaya or syntax of first part of the mantra: he yajatra karNebhiH bhadraM shRRiNuyAma, akshabhih bhadraM pashyema, Yad devahitam AyuH (tad) sthirairaN^gais tanubhih tushhTuvagumsah vyashema . Oh gods, may we hear auspicious words! May we hear is itself a prayer asking that we not lose our hearing capacity. badhriyam ma bhUt let there not be deafness . But it is not enough that we hear, what we hear should be bhadram. bhadra means ma~Ngalam . That which leads me to happiness and peace is ma~Ngalam or auspicious. And what is auspicious to hear? The shAstra vAkya-s are ma~Ngalam. So may we continue to hear ma~Ngala vakya-s. karNebhiH means through our ears. So O Gods, may we hear ma~Ngalam or auspicious things through our ears. Grammatically it should be karNaih, but here it is karNebhiH. It is called ChAndasam peculiar to the vedas. When the word is not in accordance with the grammar we know that word is called ChAndasam. (Note on chAndasam : There are so many types of grammar. There is not only one grammar. One grammar itself we dont know completely . We know Panini grammar, which is very popular now. It has got about 4000 sutras. It requires lot of dedication to study. But that alone is not the grammar. There is Chandra vyAkaraNnam (grammar) and so many other types of grammar. So, according to another grammar, this may be correct. Language comes first, grammar comes later. Language is more fundamental. Therefore, we cannot change these words of the Vedas based upon the grammar. Grammar is okay in its own place.) yajatra means the protectors of rituals, gods. Deva-s are called the protectors of ritual. They are called protectors of the ritual because they give the result of karma and thereby motivate the person to do the ritual, so that the tradition of performing the ritual will continue. To them we are praying.

7 akshabhih bhadraM pashyema - May we see auspicious things. First of all may we see; may we not lose our sight and then may what we see be ma~Ngalam. May we see ma~Ngalam everywhere. Let us not find fault, but see the beauty. They say that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Let us see the world with this understanding. Then everywhere we will see ma~Ngalam. In the Yajur Veda there is a beautiful prayer, where it is said mitrasya aham chakshushA sarvAni bhUtAni samIkshe O Lord, may I see the world through the eyes of a friend. This means may I have the eyes of a friend. How will a friend look at his friend ? There is love, there is care, there is understanding. So may I see the whole world with the eye of a friend. Further evolved I say, may I see the Lord everywhere. To begin with, a friend, afterwards I see the Lord everywhere. Even further evolved, I see myself everywhere. Then, Yad devahitam AyuH (tad) sthirairaN^gais tanubhih tushhTuvagumsah vyashema. May we spend our life span which is devahitam granted by the Lord. Bhagavan has granted me some lifespan. I dont have a say over how long this should be. It may be 100 years or it may be 60 years; I dont know. But my prayer is that whatever is granted to me, may I spend it tustuvamsah glorifying the Lord. With the help of tanubhih. i.e. with a body and with sthira angas ie, steady limbs. This means let all the parts of the body be healthy. With a healthy body, we may continue glorifying the Lord in prayer for the duration of the lifespan granted by the Lord. There should be no complaints about life. Whatever life Bhagavan has given me, may I spend it well by glorifying the Lord with steady, healthy limbs. Thus the fitness for this body was prayed for, fitness for the sense organs was prayed for, and thus the whole kArya- kAraNa sa~NghAtA is indicated. May I have fitness for this body-mind-complex. This is the first part of the prayer. Anvaya or syntax of the second part of the mantra : vRRiddhashravAH indro naH svasti (dadhAtu), vishvavedAH pushA naH svasti (dadhAtu)| ariShTanemiH tArkshyo naH svasti (dadhAtu), bRRihaspatiH naH svasti dadhAtu.|| Om shAntiH, shAntiH, shAntiH. Prayer is offered to other devata-s for auspiciousness. i) First prayer to Ruler of Gods Lord Indra- vRRiddhashravAH indrah svasti naH dadhAtu. shravAH means fame and vRRiddhashravAH means one who is very famous. May very famous Indra grant us (nah) svasti dadhAthu i.e. ma~Ngalam dadhAthu. dadhAthu is there at the end. But it can come after each svasti. dadhAtu means may he grant. May very famous Indra grant us ma~Ngalam. Here we have to be careful. nah does not mean not. Generally, na gachati means he does not go. na has got the meaning no. But here it is not na, it is naH. Grammatically it is nah, but because of the sandhi rule, naH has become na. So we should not think that it means O Indra dont give svasti (prosperity, success). Svasti is ma~Ngalam. And what is ma~Ngalam? Anything that leads to happiness and peace. And finally what leads us to happiness is brahma j~nAnam. So we are praying to Indra Devata to grant us the most auspicious thing which is brahma vidyA. Indra Devata cannot give brahma vidyA directly. But he can help us by removing the obstacles in the path of pursuit of knowledge. So we pray for the successful pursuit of knowledge. ii) Then prayer to Lord Sun svasti naH vishvavedAH pushA dadAtu pushA means the Lord Sun because he nourishes the whole world. puShati iti puShaH. or puShyati iti puShaH - One who nourishes the whole world is puShaH. Because of the sun we have warmth. So the Sun is called puShA, the nourisher. He is vishvavedaH - vishvam veti janati iti means sarvaj~na - all-knowing. May all knowing Surya devata grant us auspiciousness.

iii) Then prayer to the King of birds, Eagle - svasti nastArkshyo ariShTanemiH. tArkshayaH means garuda devata ie, king of birds. He is tarkshasya apatyam - the son of Tarksah. So may Garuda devata grant us svasti or ma~Ngalam. And here one adjective is used for tarksayah. ariShTanemiH nemih means the movement. riShTa means obstructed. So ariShTa means not obstructed. The one with unobstructed movement is called ariShTanemiH. So we are praying - O Garuda Devata, you whose movement cannot be obstructed by anyone because you are so powerful, may you make our movement also unobstructed. Just as, when we are going to collect a donation, we say O generous sethji (rich man)! At that time we should not say stingy sethji. Sethji means shreShtha, chief, best, most excellent. A rich man is called sethji. Or suppose we want to do something which requires lot of strength, a lot of heroism, then we have to adjure the person - Bahadur or hero, come, rise up and come with me. We have to invoke his heroism. Similarly we are addressing Garuda Devata you are ariShTanemiH - you have unobstructed movement. Please grant us this ma~Ngalam by removing all the obstacles in our spiritual sAdhana. iv) Then prayer to the teacher of all Gods - bRRihaspathihi svasti nah dadhAthu. Brihaspathi, who is the guru of all the devata-s is the presiding deity of buddhi. May Brihaspathi grant us auspiciousness. All the devata-s are great. Really speaking, God is one. It is only different aspects of the same God which are represented by different devata-s. Just as the one government has different ministries - home ministry, finance ministry etc. under the same government. Similarly, the Lord is one and the same; devata-s are different. We are invoking specific aspects because we want specific grace for the study of the shAstra. Finally shAntih, shAntih, shAntih. Three times shAnti. It should be chanted properly. The first 2 intonations are down and the last one is up. Also it is chanted differently from the 3 shAnti-s chanted after pUrNamadah. There all the three intonations are down. The 3 shAnti-s are chanted to remove all types of obstacles: i) Adhidaivika- obstacles from natural forces, like thunder, cyclone etc. ii) Adhi bhautika - obstacles from the surrounding and iii) AdhyAtmika obstacles from oneself; from ones own body-mind complex. There are 3 types of obstacles. To neutralize each one of these, shAnti is chanted three times. This is the shAnti paTha of the Mandukya Upanishad.

Talk 3 - Introduction Continued :

Unlike some of the other upanishads, MAndukya is not analysed in Brahma SutrA which is an analytical Vedantic text written by vyAsAchAryA. One reason is that sentences of this Upanishad are so clear, that it does not have any ambiguity and therefore it is not analysed. The Mandukya Upanishad is omkAra vichArarupa Upanishad - Upanishad which is in the form of inquiry with the help of omkAra. OM is considered to be a very important syllable in our tradition. OM is one name of Paramatma. The first chapter is for ascertaining the meaning of omkara to be parmatma.

9 The message given by this Upanishad is so profound, that many people find it difficult to relate to it. It is a very strong dosage in only 12 mantras. That is why it is considered to be a very advanced upanishad. We usually study this upanishad along with the kArikA.. What is a karika and who wrote the mAndukya kArikA ? KArikA is a commentary in verse form dealing with some part of the subject matter of the original text. This commentary will not explain every word of the upanishad. But it will be analysing a particular subject matter discussed in the original text. This commentary is authored by Gaudapadacharya, who is the grand-guru of Adi Shankaracharya, who is the great teacher of Advaita tradition. He was there 1200 years ago. His teacher was GovindapAdAchArya and his guru was GaudapAdAchArya. Nothing much of his personal history is known. In those days, people did not care, they just wrote. Now-a-days they will write asserting their copyright No part of this text should be reproduced without the written permission of the author, otherwise it will attract legal action. In those days, some of them did not even write their name at the end of the text. The text was taught to the disciples. That is how the sampradAya ie, tradition continued. We do not know much about GaudapAdAchArya, though there are some speculations of where he was from. But we do know that he was a great AchArya ie, teacher. He is considered to be either from the tradition of SukadevAchArya or his direct disciple. Sukadeva was the son of veda vyAsa who compiled the vedas and wrote the epic, MAhAbhAratA. We know of this connection from a verse, where we salute the lineage of teachers NArAyanam PadmaBhuvam vaShistam, Shaktimca tatputra parAsharanCa, vyAsam sukam gaudapadam mahAntam... Meaning of verse Tradition of teachers starting with Lord Narayana who taught his son VashishtA who taught his son shakti who taught his disciple ParAshara who taught it to VyAsa who taught it to his son suka, who taught it to his disciple the great gaudapAdAchArya. Chapters of the upanishad gaudapAdAchArya has written this commentary called kArikA and therefore it is called gaudapAda kArikA. Since it is a kArikA on the upanishad called Mandukya, therefore it is also called mAndukya kArikA. This kArikA has four chapters called prakaranam containing 215 slokas. i) ii) iii) iv) First chapter is called Agama prakaranam chapter on Upanishad. Second is called VaitaThya prakaranam - chapter on unreality. Third is called advaita prakaranam - chapter on non-duality. Fourth chapter is called alAtashAnthi prakaranam - chapter on quietening of the firebrand.

We will briefly see the ideas contained in every chapter. I) Agama prakaranam This chapter contains the 12 Upanishad mantras as the main part. The ideas contained in the mantras are elaborated by gaudapAdAchArya in 29 karikas. The layout of this chapter is First there are six mantras from the Upanishad, then some kArikAs or slokas will be there, then the 7th mantra, then some kArikAs, then again mantras and then some kArikAs. How this non-dual Brahman alone is reality is presented in this chapter.

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Traditional knowledge is Agama. Upanishad is called Agama as it is not authored by a particular person at a particular time. It is handed over to the disciple by the teacher. guru shisya paramparayA Agatah iti Agama - That which has come down through the tradition of guru and shishya is called Agama. Since the first chapter is having agama as its predominant part, it is called agama prakaranam. Here the upanishad is highly emphasised, yukti or reasoning is secondary. This chapter is Agama sAstra pradhAna ie, mainly scripture-based. It is sravana pradhAna ie,mainly based on listening to the scriptures. That is why certain things which are told may not look scientific or even logical, but we have to go along the way shown by the Upanishad. The logical aspects will be shown later. The rest of the three chapters concentrate on clarifying the two words which come in the Upanishad mantra prapancopashamah and advaita. 2) vaitathya prakaranam The second chapter has 38 karikas of gaudapAdAchArya. vaitathyam means unreality or unreal status. Vitatha means unreal. Vitathasya bhAvah vaitathyam - the state of being unreal is called vaitathyam. In this chapter, the unreal nature of this duality is established through reasoning. The chapter dealing with the unreal nature of the world is called vaitathya prakarnam In the second chapter, what has been said by sruti is substantiated by reasoning. It is established how dvaita or duality is unreal. Advaita or non duality can be established only when experiential duality is negated. Otherwise there will be a particular doubt - How can you say Brahman is non-dual, when there is experience of duality ? A particular doubt is answered in this chapter, by giving yukti or logic. Logic itself is not the pramAnam ie, the means of knowledge of non-duality of Brahman. But yukti helps us to clarify the doubts regarding what has been said by the scripture. That is why the second chapter is manana pradhAna ie mainly reflection based. Mananam is resolving the doubts of how this experience of duality is unreal. Therefore the second chapter resolves doubt about the unreality of duality. And the logic given is how duality is just assumed without enquiry. Whatever assumptions we have are shattered. 3) advaita prakaranam The third chapter has 48 kakas of gaudapAdAchArya. Here somebody may have a doubt that if duality is unreal, then why cannot non-duality also be unreal. Both can be dismissed. Sometime we have got this mentality. I lose, but my enemy also should lose. Similarly the opponent may say this is OK. My dvaitam is mithyA, but your advaita also is mithyA. Whatever logic you have given to dismiss dvaitam can be applied to advaita also. So dvaitam is dismissed and advaitam also is dismissed. What will remain is sunya vAdah - zero is the reality. This is the contention of one part of Baudhas who say both the seen and the seer are unreal. There is no reality at all. That particular contention is dismissed in this chapter, by means of reasoning to establish advaita. 4) alAtashAnti prakaranam The fourth chapter has 100 karikas of Gaudapadacharya. In this chapter the contentions of various opponents are dismissed and it is established that advaita alone is reality. And then to establish advaita and to explain the experience of dvaita, the example given is alAta or fire brand. ShAnti means quietening or ceasing.

11 When the firebrand is moved fast, you see various shapes - round, square, etc. But really there is no object, but you have an experience of shape. You can draw a circle or any animal. But reality of the shapes is alAta or fire brand. Similarly the reality of this world is ParamAtma alone, but ParamAtma not understood is appearing as this world. Understanding takes place when your vision is only on Brahman like that firebrand. Then really the world is not there. So the world which is like the movement of this alAta gets dismissed or ceases on the wake of knowledge. That is established in this chapter. The four chapters together add upto 215 slokas. This is the development of the text. It is not like a 2020 cricket match. It is like a test match - A long inning.. Shankaracharyaji in his commentary on this text introduces the Upanishad and the kArikA by saying VedAntArtha sArasangrahbhutam idam prakarana chatustayam omiti etat akSharam ityAdi Arabhyate; meaning This text consisting of 4 chapters is in the form of collection of essence of the subject matter of all Vedantas. In Vedanta or Upanishads so many topics are dealt with. Here only the essential part is given which is Non- dual Brahman. Upanishad by itself is not a prakaranam. But the text along with upanishad is considered to be prakaranam ie, dealing with one part of the original sAstram. In Vedanta so many topics are discussed. Here one topic is discussed elaborately. Therefore this text can be considered to be prakaranam because it contains the essence of all Vedantas. And this text, begins with the upanishad mantras. When I refer to the word text, what is meant is upanishad plus kArikA. We start with the first chapter - Agama prakaranam.