Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad Text 3 & 4

PART TWO

TEXT 3
जागरितस्थानो बहिःप्रज्ञः सप्ताङ्ग एकोनविंशतिमुखः स्थूलभुग्वैश्वानरः प्रथमः पादः ॥ ३ ॥

jāgarita-sthāno bahiṣ-prajñaḥ saptāṅga ekonaviṁśati-mukhaḥ sthūla-bhug-vaiśvānaraḥ prathamaḥ pādaḥ

The first aspect is Vaiśvānara, who represents the waking state where the jīva perceives external objects. He has seven limbs and nineteen faces and enjoys the physical objects of this world.

Commentary

Aniruddha is the Deity of the mind and senses *(1), and in this text, He is referred to as Vaiśvānara. On the macrocosmic level, Aniruddha/Vaiśvānara is known as Viraṭ, and He expands into Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. In the microcosmic realm, He enters the heart of each jīva as Paramātmā, the Supreme Consciousness, and oversees the preliminary waking state of human consciousness (known as vaiśvānara or jāgrata). *(2) This state is described as the wakeful stage because it manifests from the mode of goodness (sattva). The effect of goodness is that living beings are awake to everything they experience in the external world through the medium of the senses. In this phase, the jīva identifies with the gross body (sthūla-śarīra) and the surrounding sense-objects, while the mind creates impressions based on sensual perception

*(1) yad vidur hy aniruddhākhyaṁ hṛṣīkāṇām adhīśvaram
śāradendīvara-śyāmaṁ saṁrādhyaṁ yogibhiḥ śanaiḥ

Aniruddha, who is situated in the mind, is the supreme ruler of the senses. He has the complexion of a dark autumnal lotus and is systematically worshipped by yogīs. (Bhāgavatam 3.26.28)

*(2) Aniruddha is known as Vaiśvānara because He is the universal form (viśva + nara) and He sanctions the living beings to enjoy the world of matter.

Although this text describes Aniruddha/Vaiśvānara as having seven limbs and nineteen faces, this should not be taken literally. The first six ‘limbs’ of Vaiśvānara are described in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad as follows:

tasya ha vā etasyātmano vaiśvānarasya mūrdhaiva
sutejāś cakṣur viśva-rūpaḥ prāṇaḥ pṛthag-vartmā mā sandeho
bahulo bastir eva rayiḥ pṛthivy eva pādau

The celestial realm is the head of that Vaiśvānara, the sun is His eye, the wind is His life-air, the sky is His mid-section, the waters are His bladder, the earth is His feet. (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 5.18.2)

The seventh limb, according to Śrī Raṅga Rāmānuja, is the aggregate of those jīvas in the awakened state. However, we should not conclude from this verse that the body of Vaiśvānara is comprised of material components such as the sun, sky, wind etc. He is the creator of these elements and as such, Aniruddha/Vaiśvānara remains eternally transcendental to them. He is only represented by the material creation which is manifested temporarily. For those who find it difficult to conceive of the Supreme as a person, it is recommended that they meditate on the all-encompassing universal form of Vaiśvānara. When one begins such meditation, virtuous qualities manifest from within, and eventually, one may rise to the platform of pure bhakti.

yāvan na jāyeta parāvare’smin viśveśvare draṣṭari bhakti-yogaḥ
tāvat sthavīyaḥ puruṣasya rūpaḥ kriyāvasāne prayataḥ smareta

As long as bhakti-yoga unto the Supreme Lord, who is the witness of all beings and even greater than Brahmā, does not develop, one should meditate upon the universal form after performing one’s prescribed duties. (Bhāgavatam 2.2.14)

The nineteen faces mentioned in the text refer to the five knowledge-acquiring senses (jñānendriya), the five working senses (karmendriya), the five life-airs (pañca-prāṇa), and the four inner senses (antaḥkaraṇa). From this, we are reminded once again that Aniruddha operates both on the cosmic and individual levels – He creates the physical world as well as the various senses of living beings. *(3)

*(3) The five jñānendriyas are sound, touch, sight, taste and smell. The five karmendriyas are speech, hands, feet, anus and genitals. The pañca-prāṇa are prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, samāna and udāna. The four antaḥkaraṇa are mind, intelligence, false ego and memory.

In this text of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, Aniruddha/Vaiśvānara is referred to as sthūla-bhuk, the enjoyer of matter. The Lord is the Supreme Enjoyer – everything is meant for His pleasure because all things ultimately emanate from Him. However, it would be incorrect to assume that the bliss of the Supreme depends on anything material, as He finds bliss within Himself. In this regard, Śrī Madhva quotes the Brahma-tarka to explain this apparent contradiction:

pūrṇānanda svarūpasya krīḍa bhogo na cānyathā
yathādityasya dīpena viśeṣo’sti na kaścata

The Lord is full of bliss and simply enjoys gross and subtle objects as sport. It is not that they actually give Him any pleasure, in the same way that the light of the sun is not increased when one offers a lamp to it.

The living beings who remain in the state of material awakening believe that they are the enjoyers of everything they perceive. As a result, they exploit material nature and divorce it from the Supreme, thereby perpetuating their bondage in this world. Living beings can only be freed from the clutches of matter by offering everything to the Absolute. Although everything belongs to Him, when the Lord sees the living beings consciously offer their so-called possessions to Him, He is pleased, just as a father is charmed when his young child offers him his own belongings. This is the process of bhakti – selfless, conscious devotion to the Supreme Person.

The word bhuk is also interpreted as ‘one who experiences.’ Paramātmā, the in-dwelling Super Consciousness, causes the individual jīva to experience the world of matter, while residing within the same material body. This is confirmed in the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.1.1-2):

dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyāḥ samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte
tayor anyaḥ pippalaṁ svādv atty anaśnann anyo’bhicākaśéti

samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno ‘nīśāya śocati muhyamānaḥ
juṣṭaṁ yadā paśyati anyam īśam asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ

Two friendly birds sit together in the same tree. One of them relishes the tree’s berries, while the other refrains from eating and observes. Although they are in the same tree, that person who is not the Supreme, is immersed in anxiety and totally bewildered. But when he sees the other one, who is the Supreme Lord, and understands His greatness, he becomes free from misery.

One of the birds (the living being) enjoys the fruit (the objects of the senses), while his friend (the Super Consciousness) simply watches. While the individual jīva becomes ensnared by material nature due to direct contact, the Paramātmā experiences passively through the living being and does not become bewildered. Therefore, both can be referred to as sthūla-bhuk – ‘one who experiences matter.’

TEXT 4
स्वप्नस्थानोऽन्तःप्रज्ञः सप्ताङ्ग एकोनविंशतिमुखः प्रविविक्तभुक्तैजसो द्वितीयः पादः ॥ ४ ॥

svapna-sthāno’ntaḥ prajñāḥ saptāṅga ekonaviṁśati-mukhaḥ pravivikta-bhuk-taijaso dvitīyaḥ pādaḥ

The second aspect is Taijasa, who rules over the dream state where the jīva perceives internal objects. He has seven limbs, nineteen faces and enjoys the subtle objects of this world.

Commentary

Pradyumna is the presiding Deity of intelligence *(4), and in this text, He is referred to as Taijasa, who oversees the realm of dreams (svapna or taijasa). On the universal level, Pradyumna/Taijasa expands into Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who presides over the manifested material energy (vyakta-mahat-tattva). He is also known as Hiraṇyagarbha and acts as the Supreme Consciousness of each individual universe.

*(4) namo viśva-prabodhāya pradyumnāyāntar-ātmane

I offer my respects unto Pradyumna, the Deity of intelligence, who enlightens the universe. (Bhāgavatam 4.24.35)

Microcosmically, Pradyumna/Taijasa represents the subtle body (sūkṣma-śarīra) of the living entity. The term taijasa stems from the word tejas (light), because in this state, things are revealed without the aid of the physical senses. Taijasa is the juncture between viśva and prājña, and it is created by the mode of passion (rajas). In this dream state, the jīva no longer depends on perception through the gross senses but enjoys through the medium of the mind. Due to the influence of the mode of passion, the variegated and dynamic realm of taijasa constantly morphs and is not restricted by the limitations of the external senses. Everything perceived in taijasa consists of impressions experienced in the waking state, either in this life or in previous lives. If we dream of a horse, it is only because at some point during the waking state, our gross senses have perceived a horse.

Even during sleep, our mental functions continue due to the influence of the mode of passion. Modern studies in electroencephalograms (EEG, or the monitoring of electrical activity in the brain) have shown that Rapid Eye Movement (REM) is highly accentuated during dreaming, suggesting a significant amount of cerebral activity. However, the effect of the mode of passion is that it causes our mental impressions to clash, sometimes resulting in illogical dreams. For example, we may see a mountain and also see gold during our waking period, but in the dream state, these two images combine, and we may dream of a golden mountain.

In this verse, we are told that the dream stage also has exactly the same seven limbs and nineteen faces as the awakened stage of viśva; the only difference is that they are all experienced on the mental plane, rather than on the physical. For example, in dreams we feel pleasure and pain, we taste, see, hear, etc. We also find ourselves in different environments – some familiar and some foreign to us. We experience emotions such as happiness, anger, and fear, and sometimes these emotions from the dream-realm spill into our waking lives. If we have a pleasant dream, we may wake up feeling very content; similarly, when we experience a vivid nightmare, we may wake up feeling fearful.

In modern esoteric literature, prājña is popularly known as the ‘astral plane,’ and it is not uncommon to hear about astral travel, lucid dreaming, and OBEs (Out of Body Experiences). Astral travel generally describes the process of consciously separating the subtle body from the physical body, enabling one to travel across dimensions throughout time and space. Naturally, such an exercise sounds enticing, and people pay large sums of money to attend seminars to learn astral travel and ‘expand their consciousness.’ Yet, these feats were not unknown to the Vedic sages, who, by the power of their austerities, could leave their bodies at will, travel to other realms, or control their dream experiences. However, it would be a mistake to consider astral travel to be spiritual – it is solely concerned with the mental plane and has nothing to do with the ātmā. In fact, adventures on the astral plane can become an obstacle to real spirituality and even perilous to one’s mental well-being. Many subtle beings reside on the astral plane, and not all of them are friendly.

The previous ācāryas have stated that what we encounter in dreams is as real as occurrences in the waking state because they are based on real incidents, objects, people, etc. Furthermore, it is explained that although dreams are unique to each individual jīva, the jīvas themselves do not create their own dreams. Unlike the material body and mind, we have no control over our dreams. In this regard, the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad explains how the Supreme creates dreams and gives an example in which the dreamer dreams of chariots, horses, and roads:

na tatra rathāna ratha-yogā na panthāno bhavanty atha rathān ratha-yogān pathaḥ sṛjate
na tatrānandāämudaḥ pramudo bhavanty athānandān mudaḥ pramudaḥ sṛjate
na tatra veśantāḥ puṣkariṇyaḥ sravantyaḥ sṛjate sa hi kartāä

In that place (the mind), there are no actual chariots, horses, and roads. He (the Supreme) creates the chariots, horses and roads. In that place, there is no bliss, pleasure or joy. He creates bliss, pleasure and joy there. In that place there are no ponds, lakes full of lotuses or rivers. Indeed, He creates them. (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.10)

In their commentaries on the Vedānta-sūtras, both Rāmānuja and Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa explain that dreams are not random mental impressions, but a reality on the subtle plane created in the jīvas by the Supreme. The Paramātmā creates temporary objects based on the dreamer’s impressions during the waking state, allowing them to undergo the results of minor karmas. *(5) When we experience either good dreams (su-svapna) or bad dreams (dur-svapna), some portion of our karma is eradicated. In other words, our dreams are tailor-made from our own mental impressions due to our individual karma. It is for this reason that taijasa is referred to in this verse as pravivikta-bhuk (‘experienced individually’), and this occurs through the potency of Pradyumna.

*(5) Govinda-bhāṣya 3.2.1

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