Mandukya Upanishad - Sri ‘M’

Part II

No Upanishad, no religious teacher has said that we must renounce the world and live in isolation. It is so difficult in this Kaliyuga for a person to go away, sit in a cave and meditate. It is impossible because we carry our mind with us; we are not free of the mind – the mind goes with us wherever we go. Even if we do go away, how do we find out whether we have progressed spiritually, sitting alone out there? Suppose one lives in isolation for three months and feels one has conquered anger. How can one know it for a fact? There is nobody to get angry with out there – only the walls of the cave. It is only when one comes out of the ‘cave’ and tries to get into a crowded bus and somebody gives him a painful shove – only then can one know whether one is really free of anger or not! So, these things can be tested only in society, in the midst of other people.

Of course, when one has performed all one’s life work and discharged one’s responsibilities, then one is free to go. But there is no point in running away prematurely, for trivial reasons. That is what is called ‘the vairagya of the monkey’. I get upset with my wife; we have a big quarrel – so I renounce everything and go off to Benaras. This is not vairagya! Vairagya is something that comes from within after a great deal of introspection and maturity, and is very rare. One has to be very mature to be free; then one can physically go away somewhere. For most of us the ideal thing would be to live here and also to understand.

As was said in the beginning, the Upanishads are part of the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana Vedas. The Mandukya Upanishad belongs to the Atharvana Veda, the last of the four Vedas. It deals basically with the significance of AUM. It begins with the description of what AUM is, and then goes on to describe the basic experience of all human beings, no matter what caste, creed or religion they belong to.

(to be continued in December , 2006 issue)

© "Wisdom of the Rishis" by Sri ‘M’, published by The Satsang Foundation, 151, Jewellers Street, Bangalore 560 001. Part I of this article appeared in Splendour, October 2006 issue. Reprinted with permission.

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