Mandukya Upanisad

Expressions researched:
"Mandukya Upanisad"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 5.10, Translation and Purport:

One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.

Here brahmaṇi means in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The material world is a sum total manifestation of the three modes of material nature, technically called the pradhāna. The Vedic hymns sarvaṁ hy etad brahma (Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 2), tasmād etad brahma nāma-rūpam annaṁ ca jāyate (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.10), and, in the Bhagavad-gītā (14.3), mama yonir mahad brahma indicate that everything in the material world is a manifestation of Brahman; and although the effects are differently manifested, they are nondifferent from the cause. In the Īśopaniṣad it is said that everything is related to the Supreme Brahman, or Kṛṣṇa, and thus everything belongs to Him only.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 7.122, Purport:

The example of misunderstanding a rope to be a snake is mentioned in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, but it is meant to explain the error of identifying the body with the soul. Since the soul is actually a spiritual particle, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke), it is due to illusion (vivarta-vāda) that a human being, like an animal, identifies the body with the self. This is a proper example of vivarta, or illusion. The verse atattvato ’nyathā-buddhir vivarta ity udāhṛtaḥ describes such an illusion.

CC Adi 7.128, Purport:

All potencies are invested in the holy vibration of the holy name of the Lord. There is no doubt that the holy name of the Lord, or oṁkāra, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. In other words, anyone who chants oṁkāra and the holy name of the Lord, Hare Kṛṣṇa, immediately meets the Supreme Lord directly in His sound form. In the Nārada-pañcarātra it is clearly said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead Nārāyaṇa personally appears before the chanter who engages in chanting the aṣṭākṣara, or eight-syllable mantra, oṁ namo nārāyaṇāya. A similar statement in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad declares that whatever one sees in the spiritual world is all an expansion of the spiritual potency of oṁkāra.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

Unintelligent persons who cannot understand this doctrine of byproducts cannot grasp how the cosmic manifestation and the living entity are simultaneously one and different from the Absolute Truth. Not understanding this, one concludes, out of fear, that this cosmic manifestation and the living entity are false. Śaṅkarācārya gives the example of a rope being mistaken for a snake, and sometimes the example of mistaking an oyster shell for gold is cited, but surely such arguments are ways of cheating. As mentioned in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, the rope for a snake and the oyster for gold examples have their different applications and can be understood as follows. The living entity in his original constitutional position is pure spirit. When a human being identifies himself with the material body, he may be said to be mistaking a rope for a snake, or an oyster shell for gold. The doctrine of transformation is accepted when one thing is mistaken for another.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

Oṁkāra is the reservoir of all the energies of the Supreme Lord. Śaṅkara is wrong in maintaining that the words tat tvam asi are the supreme vibrations of the Vedas, for tat tvam asi are secondary words only. tat tvam asi suggests only a partial representation. In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord has in many places given importance to oṁkāra, (Bg. 8.13, 9.17, 17.24). Similarly, oṁkāra is given importance in the Atharva Veda and the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. In his Bhagavat-sandarbha, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says: "Oṁkāra is the most confidential sound representation of the Supreme Lord." The sound representation or name of the Supreme Lord is as good as the Supreme Lord Himself. By vibrating the sound of oṁkāra, or of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, one can be delivered from the contamination of this material world.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

That the sound vibration of the Supreme Lord is identical with the Supreme Lord is a fact. This is confirmed in the Nārada-pañcarātra:

vyaktaṁ hi bhagavān eva

sākṣān-nārāyaṇaḥ svayam

aṣṭākṣara-svarūpena

mukheṣu parivartate

"When the transcendental sound vibration is practiced by a conditioned soul, the Supreme Lord is present on his tongue." In the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad it is said that when oṁkāra is chanted, whatever is seen as material is seen perfectly as spiritual. In the spiritual world or in spiritual vision there is nothing but oṁkāra, or the one alternate, om.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

Although He (oṁkāra) has no material form, He is unlimitedly expanded, and He has unlimited form. By understanding oṁkāra one can become free from the duality of the material world and attain absolute knowledge. Therefore oṁkāra is the most auspicious representation of the Supreme Lord. Such is the description given by Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. One should not foolishly interpret an Upaniṣadic description and say that because the Supreme Personality of Godhead "cannot" appear Himself in this material world in His own form, He sends His sound representation(oṁkāra) instead. Due to such a false interpretation, oṁkāra comes to be considered something material, and consequently oṁkāra is misunderstood and praised as being simply an exhibition or symbol of the Lord. Actually oṁkāra is as good as any other incarnation of the Supreme Lord.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:

Devotee: "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings. Nor in the future shall any of us cease to be (BG 2.12)." Purport: "In the Vedas, in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, as well as in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, it is said that..."

Prabhupāda: (correcting pronunciation) Śvetāśvatara. There are many Upaniṣads, they are called Vedas. Upaniṣads are the headlines of the Vedas. Just like in a chapter there is a headline, similarly these Upaniṣads are the headlines of the Vedas. There are 108 Upaniṣads, principal. Out of that, nine Upaniṣads are very important. So out of those nine Upaniṣads, Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, Taittireya Upaniṣad, Aitareya Upaniṣad, Īśopaniṣad, Īśa Upaniṣad, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, Kaṭhopaniṣad, these Upaniṣads are very important. And whenever there is argument on some point, one has to give reference from these Upaniṣads. If one can give reference from the Upaniṣads, then his argument is very strong.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 11 -- Los Angeles, May 16, 1970:

Vedas means knowledge. These Vedas means knowledge. Vetti veda vido jñāne. Veda, Veda means knowledge. So if you want real knowledge, then you have to take shelter of these Vedas, Vedic literature, just like Īśopaniṣad. There are 108 Upaniṣads, out of which, nine are very important. Out of that nine, this Īśopaniṣad stands first, then Taittirīya Upaniṣad, Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad. So the Upaniṣad... Upa, upa means nearing. So this knowledge will take you nearer to Kṛṣṇa. And amongst the learned society, ācāryas, the śruti-pramāṇa... Evidence is śruti. Śruti means these Vedas. They are not experimental knowledge. They are not knowledge established by the research work of contaminated, conditioned soul. Contaminated, conditioned soul, their senses are imperfect. They cannot see things as they are. Simply they theorize, "It may be like that." So much they can say. So "It may be like that," that is no knowledge. Knowledge definite. There is no mistake.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Professor J. F. Staal -- Los Angeles 30 January, 1970:

So I do not know how you can say "indisputable." And, if you want reference from the Vedas, I can give you many. In the Vedas the chief transcendental vibration Omkara is also Krishna. Pranaba Omkara is the divine substance of the Vedas. Following the Vedas means chanting the Vedic Mantras, and no Vedic Mantra is complete without Omkara. In the Mandukya Upanisad, Omkara is stated to be the most auspicious sound representation of the Supreme Lord. This is also confirmed again in the Atharva Veda. Omkara is the sound representation of the Supreme Lord and is therefore the principal word in the Vedas. In this connection, the Supreme Lord Krishna says, "Pranaba Sarva Vedesu" (B.G. 7:8)—"I am the syllable Om in all the Vedic Mantras."