5b. Mundakopanishad; Meditating on OM-AUM – Na tatra suryo bhati (Light of all Lights)

Summary:

Chapter 2, Section 2, Verse 3 & 4: Om derives from the Sanskrit root “av” meaning “to protect” and encompasses all possible sounds through its three components (a-u-m) plus silence, representing consciousness. This makes Om a complete sound symbol (pratīka) for invoking Īśvara.

Chapter 2, Section 2, Verse 7: Brahmā is both sarvajña (knowing everything in general as non-separate from itself) and sarvavit (knowing every detail without means of knowledge). The wise person attains sarvajña status but not sarvavit, as they still need perception and inference for details, while being free from primary ignorance.

Chapter 2, Section 2, Verse 9: Recognition of Brahman removes three kinds of binding: avidyā, kāma, and karma, all doubts about how to know truth and what is known are eliminated permanently, and all karmas are exhausted. Sañcita karma is disowned due to dissolved doership, prārabdha karma continues until the body's momentum ends, and āgāmi karmas have no consequences since sañcita is disowned through moksha.

Chapter 2, Section 2, Verse 11: Brahman is the consciousness that illuminates everything else without itself needing illumination. While physical objects require external light to be seen, and even the brightest lights like sun, moon, and fire need the light of consciousness to be known, consciousness itself is self-evident and self-luminous. The verse establishes that whatever can be illuminated is mithyā (apparent), while that which illuminates without being illuminated is satyam (real).

SECTION 2:

CH 2, SECTION 2, VERSE 3 & 4: Bow and Arrow – Meditating on OM

धनुः गृहीत्वा औपनिषदम् महा-अस्त्रम्
शरम् हि उपासा-निशितम् सन्धयीत
आयम्य तत् भावगतेन चेतसा
लक्ष्यम् तत् एव अक्षरम् सोम्य विद्धि (२.२.३)
dhanuḥ gṛhītvā aupaniṣadam mahā-astram
śaram hi upāsā-niśitam sandhayīta
āyamya tat bhāvagatena cetasā
lakṣyam tat eva akṣaram somya viddhi (2.2.3)

O pleasing one! May you take the great bow of Om that is revealed in the upaniṣads and fix the arrow of mind that is sharpened by meditation. Then may you strike the target of Brahman with a mind that is committed to the meaning of Om by pulling the string of the bow.

प्रणवः धनुः शरः हि आत्मा ब्रह्म तत् लक्ष्यम् उच्यते
अप्रमत्तेन वेद्धव्यम् शरवत् तत्-मयः भवेत् (२.२.४)
praṇavaḥ dhanuḥ śaraḥ hi ātmā brahma tat lakṣyam ucyate
apramattena veddhavyam śaravat tat-mayaḥ bhavet (2.2.4)

Oṁkāra is the bow, ātman (mind) is the arrow and Brahman is its target. It must be known without indifference. One should become one with that Brahman, like the arrow (with the target).

Linguistic Meaning – Om as Protector

Om derives from Sanskrit root “av” (to protect, to bless). Through precise grammatical transformation:

The root “av” + suffix “man”
Both “a” and “v” substitute to become “ū” = “ūman”
“ū” takes its guṇa form becoming “o-man”
Final syllable “an” drops off (ṭi-lopa)
Resulting in Om – the ultimate protector

Thus, Om linguistically means “that which protects or sustains” (Avati rakṣati iti Om).

Chanting Om invokes the grace of Īśvara (the Lord) in all His aspects, making it a general invocation, unlike mantras for specific deities.

Phonetic Meaning – Om as All Sound

It’s a word that transcends all languages yet encompasses all sounds.

“a” – the first sound when you open your mouth effortlessly
“m” – the only sound possible when you close your mouth completely
“u” – represents all sounds in between “a” and “m”

Every possible sound you can make falls within this spectrum. This is why your first word as an infant likely contained these elements (like “amma” for mother). By covering all sounds, Om symbolically covers all possible names and forms, thus serving as perfect sound/name for Īśvara.

Proper Chanting of Om

Some teacher’s, like Swami Dayananda, insist it’s OM. Other teacher’s insist it is AUM.

Andre says both are 100% technically correct according to Sanskrit grammar and pronunciation. Both are just sounds. Remember, all sounds are mithya, and their truth is the same. So can’t say one sound is more divine then another. What’s important is understanding the meaning of the sound, and the intention behind it. Even the word “love” can be damaging when intention behind it is impure.

Try both, feel into which one feels warmer, closer, or more comfortable for you.

Practice:

About: Om isn't just a sound; it's a pratīka (sound symbol) that represents the entire reality. When the texts say Om is everything, they mean Brahman is everything.

Om’s Four Layers:

1. ‘A’ (Waking State): Can symbolize viśva (individual waker), or virāṭ (total physical universe), or past.
2. ‘U’ (Dream State): Can symbolize taijasa (individual dreamer), or hiraṇyagarbha (total subtle universe), or present.
3. ‘M’ (Deep Sleep): Can symbolize prājña (individual sleeper), or anna/māyā (total causal or unmanifest in form of knowledge-power), or future.
4. The silence (amātrā) that follows, represents fourth (turīya), which is consciousness (caitanya ātman) from which everything manifests and into which everything resolves.

What’s the difference between (Hiranyagarbha) and (māyā / annam)?

Both refer to “intelligence”, or blueprint for creation. Hiranyagarbha refers to intelligence that is manifesting right now in this very moment, but excludes unmanifest (what is yet to come), and the past causes.

While maya/annam refers to intelligence that’s manifesting right now, but also possibilities yet to be collapsed in the future, and all the things that happened from the past which are yet to fructify.

So maya/Ishvara includes past-present-future, while Hiranyagarbha is only present.

Archery Metaphor

The verses use archery as a practical metaphor for meditation:

Om is your bow (dhanuḥ), a great weapon (mahāstram) from the Upanishads
Your mind is the arrow (śaram)
Brahman is the target (lakṣyam)

NEXT VERSE: Other things to consider while contemplating…

CH 2, SECTION 2, VERSE 7: Sarvajna & Sarvavit

यः सर्वज्ञः सर्ववित् यस्य एष महिमा भुवि
दिव्ये ब्रह्म-पुरे हि एष व्योम्नि आत्मा प्रतिष्ठितः (२.२.७)
yaḥ sarvajñaḥ sarvavit yasya eṣa mahimā bhuvi
divye brahma-pure hi eṣa vyomni ātmā pratiṣṭhitaḥ (2.2.7)

This self is all-knowledge in general and knows everything in detail. It is his glory in the world. The self-evident self abides in the space in the buddhi, which is conscious.

मनोमयः प्राण शरीर-नेता
प्रतिष्ठितः अन्ने हृदयम् सन्निधाय
तत् विज्ञानेन परिपश्यन्ति धीराः
आनन्द-रूपम् अमृतम् यत् विभाति (२.२.८)
manomayaḥ prāṇa śarīra-netā
pratiṣṭhitaḥ anne hṛdayam sannidhāya
tat vijñānena paripaśyanti dhīrāḥ
ānanda-rūpam amṛtam yat vibhāti (2.2.8)

The self has the mind as upādhi, leads the subtle body; it is the basis for the buddhi and abides in the physical body. By knowing that self the discriminative people clearly recognise that immortal Brahman which is of the nature of ānanda and which shines always.

“The self is sarvajñaḥ (knows everything in general) and sarvavit (knows everything in detail).”

Brahmā (Ishvara) is sarvajñaḥ because he knows everything as non-separate from himself — all is Brahman. He is also sarvavit, the one who knows every detail without needing any means of knowledge.

You, as a wise person, are sarvajñaḥ, but not sarvavit — because you still rely on perception and inference to learn new things, which means you still have tūlāvidyā (secondary ignorance) about details. But you are free from mūlāvidyā, the primary ignorance of not knowing truth of all that is.

“It is his glory in the world.”

The glory (mahimā) of this all-knowing self is visible in the sun, moon, oceans, seasons, your body, senses, thoughts — all functioning in perfect order.

“This self abides in the shining city of Brahman (brahma-pura), in the buddhi.”

Consciousness “shows up” in your buddhi (referred to as a “city”) as every thought, and as the space between thoughts, and the witness (sākṣin) of both.

CH 2, SECTION 2, VERSE 9: The Knower of Brahman

भिद्यते हृदय-ग्रन्थिः छिद्यन्ते सर्व-संशयाः
क्षीयन्ते च अस्य कर्माणि तस्मिन् दृष्टे परावरे (२.२.९)
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiḥ chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante ca asya karmāṇi tasmin dṛṣṭe parāvare (2.2.9)

When that Brahman, which is in the form of cause and effect is recognised, the knot of ignorance of heart resolves, all doubts go away and all his karmas get exhausted.

When brahman is recognized, three major transformations occur…

1. The knot of the heart is resolved (bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiḥ)

Knot causes threefold binding:

Avidyā (ignorance) – before you saw yourself as an ornament, now you know the ornament’s truth is gold – the substance of self is the same substance of all observed things.
Kāma (desire) – Your desire to be somebody vanishes. Empirical desires to navigate the world continue.
Karma (action) – you no longer think, “I must do some action to complete myself”.

2. Two types of doubts are removed (chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ)

Doubts about HOW to know the truth (pramāṇa-gata-saṁśaya): How to know is not through experience alone, but through knowledge keeping with what-is (found in scriptures). By bringing out implied meaning of the words.
Doubts about WHAT is known (prameya-gata-saṁśaya): “I am the whole” is doubtless. Can’t be improved, and has no degrees. No more lights going on/off. Can’t go back to ignorance and rebirth, even if get dementia/Alzheimer’s – as both are at level of mind/brain – and your identity is Awareness which is free of attributes of the mind/brain.

3. All karmas are exhausted (kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi)

Sañcita-karma (well-collected): Is like unspent money in a bank. Collection of all unseen punya/papa, waiting to come out in future births, is disowned. Because the notion of doership (kartṛtva) dissolves. EG: The waker was never responsible for the dreamer’s actions and results.
Prārabdha-karma (portion that’s already started):
- It's like the clean/black money withdrawn from your sancita bank, and being spent now.
- Metaphor showing why prarabdha can't be willfully stopped: When you stop pressing the vehicle’s accelerator (no longer identified with the doer), effects of previous pressing (actions) continue until momentum dissipates. Or once you're on a train that’s departed, you can’t stop it or get off randomly as it’s governed by authority (Ishvara). Must wait for the train (your body) to come to the next stop.
Āgāmi-karmas (future karmas): Is like future earnings yet to come. While alive, your choices create new causes, which go back to sañcita-karma. Since sancita is disowned due to moksha, present actions have no consequences to Me.

NEXT VERSE: Talks about nature of Self (Brahman)…

CH 2, SECTION 2, VERSE 11: Light of all Lights

न तत्र सूर्यः भाति न चन्द्र-तारकम्
न इमाः विद्युतः भान्ति कुतः अयम् अग्निः
तम् एव भान्तम् अनुभाति सर्वम्
तस्य भासा सर्वम् इदम् विभाति (२.२.११)
na tatra sūryaḥ bhāti na candra-tārakam
na imāḥ vidyutaḥ bhānti kutaḥ ayam agniḥ
tam eva bhāntam anubhāti sarvam
tasya bhāsā sarvam idam vibhāti (2.2.11)

The sun does not light up that Brahman. The moon and the stars do not light it. These flashes of lightning do not light it. How can this fire light it? Everything shines after that self alone which is light of all lights. By its light all this shines.

“The sun does not light up Brahman, nor the moon or stars (Na tatra sūryo bhāti, na candratārakaṁ)”

Sun can’t light up consciousness, but sun exists because of consciousness.

“Brahman is the light of all lights (Jyotiṣāṁ Jyotiḥ)”

Brahman is a special kind of “light”, that lights up things physical light can’t.

For example…

The light of the sun can't enter your dream/memories, but the light of awareness makes your dream/memories visible.
No lamp can reveal your sadness, but the light of awareness knows it instantly.
Your body is seen in physical light, but your desires and opinions is known only in the light of consciousness.

“Everything shines after that self alone.”

The text establishes a hierarchy of illumination:

Physical objects shine after physical light (like the sun)
Physical lights (sun, moon, stars, fire) shine because of the light in one's eyes. Sounds shine after the ears. Smells shine after the nose, etc.
Senses shine after the mind. For instance, when the mind is elsewhere, the senses fail to register their objects, even when stimuli are present.
The mind or the knower (pramātā, jñātā, draṣṭā) shines because of consciousness. Meaning the mind itself is not self-luminous. If it were, there would be no such thing as sleep. Consciousness alone never sleeps throughout waking/dreaming/sleep.

Another way of interpreting: Everything that shines after = mithya.

Meaning at Individual Level:

The sun represents eyesight (as the presiding deity for the eyes)
The moon represents the mind (as the presiding deity for the mind)
Fire represents speech (as the presiding deity for speech)

None of these can illumine Brahman. Rather, Brahman is:

That which speech cannot express, but because of which speech is possible
That which the mind cannot comprehend, but because of which the mind thinks
That which the eyes cannot see, but because of which the eyes see

“By its light all this shines.”

The world is mithyā (dependent), but brahman is satyam (real). Satya-mithya is revisited in next verse…

Priests chant this mantra during temple worship:

When priests chant this verse during temple rituals while holding a flame, they acknowledge: “This flame light cannot reveal you Lord (Awareness). But I am illuminating my body-mind and you and this ritual”.