The Spirit of Mundaka Upanisad

"These names and forms are unreal, perishable. Only the nami' and rupi, that is the indwelling Reality in them is real, imperishable. This real nature, the svarupa of that imperishable, the Aksara as described by Sri Guru Angirasa out of his own experience, to the ardent disciple Shounaka, in reply to his intense question, alone is Para-vidya the supreme knowledge of the Mundaka Upanisad !"

In commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda we are indeed very happy to present to the readers this book entitled, "The Spirit of Mundaka Upanisad" translated into English. It was originally written in Marathi by Swami Shivatavananda (1919-1991) and published by Ramakrishna Math, Nagpur in the year1969.

Mundaka Upanisad is one important Upani,sad in which the supreme truths of life are expounded in a poetic and sweet language. In this book the dialogue between Sri Guru Angirasa and his disciple Shounaka is narrated wherein Angirasa explains to Shounaka, the nature and the very essence ofParc7-vidya. Self knowledge is the ultimate goal of human life and Para-vidyri helps in attaining Self knowledge i.e. the experience of the Lord abiding within, without and everywhere and when this takes place all crookedness of heart vanishes, ignorance gets totally destroyed and all doubts perish; indeed the fulfilment of human life lies in this supreme experience only. Those realised souls who are virtually established in this highest experience are called "atmakrida", "citmarati" in this Upanisad and they alone attain the supreme bliss, their lives alone are fulfilled in the true sense, as described in this Upanisad.

For the absolute fulfilment in life, along with atma-vidyc7, one-pointed mind, faith in Truth, celibacy, purity of mind and constant efforts and struggle are very essential. If scidhaka adopts these means it is certain that he will finally attain the goal of Self knowledge and liberate himself from all miseries and sins. This is the essence of the precept of Sri Guru Angirasa.

We hope and have faith that the readers will get new inspiration and vigour from this Upaniyad which brings positive progress and fulfilment in human life.

We express our thanks to Mr. Bhagbat Chakraborty of Meteor Books, Kolkata for helping us in publishing this book and Malti Prints of Aurangabad for their efficient work of printing.

** Sample Pages**