maunavaditareṣāmapyupadeśāt ..3.4.49..

SUTRA III. 4. 49.

 

मौनवदितरेषामप्युपदेशात्॥३.४.४९॥

maunavaditareṣāmapyupadeśāt ..3.4.49..

 

… Maunavat, just as silence. … Itaresham, of others. … Api, also. …. Upadeshat, because they are taught, or enjoined.

 

49. In the Upanishad other Ashramas have also been taught as leading to Mukti, just like (the condition of a Mauni who keeps) the vow of silence. — 478.

 

COMMENTARY

 

The last passage of the Chhandogya Upanishad follows the passage in which the Mauna has been taught In Chhandogya Upanishad, (VIII., 5. 1-2) we find all the three orders described as leading to Mukti:

«Now, that which the wise call Yajna (sacrifice, the characteristic mark of household order) is verily the Divine Wisdom; through Divine Wisdom the knower obtains the Lord. Similarly, that which the wise call Ishtam is also the Divine Wisdom. For having desired the Self, he obtains the Self.

«Now what the wise call Sattrayana is also Divine Wisdom, for through Divine Wisdom alone, he obtains from the True, the salvation of his self. Similarly, what the wise call (Mauna) the vow of silence is really Divine Wisdom, for through Divine Wisdom alone, one after knowing the Lord, becomes absorbed in meditation and becomes silent».

Note: These two verses show that Yajna, Sattrayana and Mauna are all equally means of salvation.

This fact, is referred to in a preceding passage also of the same Upanishad (Chh. Up., II., 23. 1):

«There are three branches of (the tree called) Dharma. Sacrifice, study and charity constitute one branch. Austerity is another, and to dwell as a Brahmacharin in the house of one’s preceptor, always mortifying the body while so dwelling, is the third. All these are blessed and obtain the worlds of the blessed. But the God-absorbed alone obtains immortality (Release)».

Similarly in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, (IV., 4. 22.) we find:

«Brahmanas seek to know him by the study of the Veda, by sacrifice, gifts, by penance, by fasting, and he who knows him, becomes a Muni. Wishing for that world (of Brahman) only, mendicants leave their homes».

The above texts show that the Upanishads teach that the highest end of man (namely. Release) can be realised in any of the four Ashramas, if the man discharges rightly the duties of his Ashrama. The Chhandogya Upanishad, therefore, when it winds up with the Grihastha Ashrama, refers to this particular Ashrama because it includes all the others.

Objection: The Sutra uses the word Itaresham in the plural number, while it ought to have used the word Itarayoh in the dual number: because two other Ashramas are only left and not more than two.

This objection is answered by the fact that as these two Ashramas contain many sub-divisions, so they are spoken of in the plural.

Note: Thus the Brahmachari Ashrama has four sub-divisions, called Savitra, Brahma, Prajapatya and Brihad. The Vanaprasthas have also four sub-divisions, viz:., Phenapa, Udambara, Vaikhanasa, and Valakhilya. The Sannyasa has also four sub-divisions, rishi Kutichaka, Bahudaka, Hamsa and Nishkriya.

The Chhandogya and other Upanishads mention the Brahmacharya and the Vanaprastha Ashramas also, in the same way as they mention the Sannyasa (Mauna) and the Grihastha Ashramas. A man can attain Mukti in any one of these four Ashramas. He may be a Naishtika Brahmachari who never marries. Or he may be a Svanishtha Grihastha or he may be a Vanaprastha or a Sannyasin, and get Mukti. Mukti is not the special privilege of any particular Ashrama.

Thus in the Jabala Upanishad the four Ashramas are ordained (and it is expressly taught therein that Mukti is attainable in any one of those stages).

Let a person after finishing studentship (Brahmacharya) become a householder; after finishing the householder stage let him become a hermit or forest-dweller, and after finishing the hermit’s stage, let him wander forth (become a Sannyasin). Or he may become a wanderer after finishing studentship (Brahmacharya) or after the householder’s life or after the forest-life (if he has excess of Vairagya). Or again whether he has taken a degree or not taken a degree, whether he is an unmarried graduate, or a solitary widower graduate, whether his household sacred fire has been extinguished, or he has never lit any sacred fire, the day he gets the world-weariness; let him on that very day wander forth renouncing the world.

This shows that all men of all Ashramas are entitled to enter the Sannyasa Ashrama. In a latter passage of tile same Jabala Upanishad, the Nirapekshas are also described in the sentence beginning with «Tatra paramahamsanam», etc., as given below:

Among the Paramahamsas are Samvartaka (Prajapati), Aruni, Shvetaketu, Durvasa, Ribhu, Nidagha, Jadabharata, Dattatreya, Raivataka and others who had no external marks of caste or Ashrama, who had no particular mode of conduct or discipline, whose conduct was opposed to caste rules, and who though not insane, acted as if they Were insane. Let a man, therefore, uttering the words Bhuh Svaha, throw into the water his staff, the Kamandalu, his vessels, his water-strainer, his sling for carrying the load, his sacred tuft of hair and his sacred thread. Having thrown all these caste-marks, let him go out in search of His Self. Wearing the form in which he was born (namely, perfectly nude), above all pairs of opposite (such as heat and cold, etc.), renouncing all books, studies, renouncing acceptance of alms, having obtained full knowledge of the true Brahman, pure in heart, begging alms only to maintain his life, only on fixed hours of the day in the vessel of his stomach (that is, keeping the food into no vessel but putting it into his stomach), constantly thinking «I am God», free from gain and loss, dwelling in empty temples or huts or an anthill or under a tree or where the cooking earthen vessels are thrown, or where the sacred fire is kept, on the bank of a river or in a mountain, forest or cave or in the hollow of a tree, or near a waterfall or on an open plateau. Without any house, or fixed residence, without any effort to collect anything, without the idea of proprietorship about anything, always meditating on the pure Brahman with his gaze turned inward, constantly trying to destroy past evil Karmas, he ends his life in Sannyasa, — such a man is called Paramahamsa.

Therefore, the Chhandogya Upanishad very rightly concludes with the household order, because in that Ashrama the duties to be performed are many: and it has been well said: «The day he gets the world-weariness, on that very day let him wander forth».

The above passage clearly shows that the moment one gets the world-weariness, he should renounce the world. The condition precedent for entering into the older of the Sannyasins is such world-weariness. The argument based upon the last Mantra of the Chhandogya Upanishad where it winds up with the household order, namely, that the condition precedent to entering the Sannyasa Ashram is the passing through the household Ashrama, therefore, falls to the ground.

The reason why a man enters into the household life is because he has unexhausted worldly propensities: the reason why he renounces the world is because such proclivities no longer exist in him and the world weariness takes their place This is the only criterion to judge whether a person is ready to take Sannyasa or not. Thus this also is established that, when a man is endowed with the qualifications of Shama (mind-control), Dama (sense-control), Uparati (tolerance), etc., whether he be in any Ashrama or in no Ashrama, Knowledge (Vidya) is sure to originate in him.

Adhikarana XIV — The divine knowledge should be