| Mundaka | |
|---|---|
 Mundaka Upanishad verses 3.2.8 to 3.2.10 (Sanskrit, Devanagari script) | |
| Devanagari | मुण्डक |
| IAST | Muṇḍaka |
| Date | 1st millennium BCE |
| Type | Mukhya Upanishad |
| Linked Veda | Atharvaveda |
| Commented by | Adi Shankara, Madhvacharya |
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The Mundaka Upanishad (Sanskrit: मुण्डकोपनिषद्, Muṇḍakopaniṣad) is an ancient Sanskrit Vedic text, embedded inside Atharva Veda.[1] It is a Mukhya (primary) Upanishad, and is listed as number 5 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads of Hinduism. It is among the most widely translated Upanishads.[1]
It is presented as a dialogue between sage Saunaka and sage Angiras. It is a poetic verse style Upanishad, with 64 verses, written in the form of mantras. However, these mantras are not used in rituals, rather they are used for teaching and meditation on spiritual knowledge.[1]
The Mundaka Upanishad contains three Mundakams (parts), each with two khandas (sections).[2] The first Mundakam, states Roer,[2] defines the science of "Higher Knowledge" and "Lower Knowledge", and then asserts that acts of oblations and pious gifts are foolish, and do nothing to reduce unhappiness in current life or next, rather it is knowledge that frees. The second Mundakam describes the nature of the Brahman, the Self, the relation between the empirical world and the Brahman, and the path to know Brahman. The third Mundakam expands the ideas in the second Mundakam and then asserts that the state of knowing Brahman is one of freedom, fearlessness, complete liberation, self-sufficiency and bliss.[2]
Some scholars[3] suggest that passages in the Mundaka Upanishad present the pantheism theory.
In some historic Indian literature and commentaries, the Mundaka Upanishad is included in the canon of several verse-structured Upanishads that are collectively referred to as "Mantra Upanishad" or "Mantropanishad".[4]
- ^ a b c Max Muller (1962), The Upanishads - Part II, Dover Publications, ISBN 978-0486209937, pages xxvi–xxvii.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
eroerfullwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Norman Geisler and William D. Watkins (2003), Worlds Apart: A Handbook on World Views, Second Edition, Wipf, ISBN 978-1592441266, pages 75–81.
- ^ Introduction to the Upanishads Max Muller, Volume XV, Oxford University Press, page xliii.