Mundaka Upanishad with Shankara’s Commentary
by S. Sitarama Sastri | 1905 | 19,662 words
The Mundaka Upanishad is a collection of philosophical poems used to teach meditation and spiritual knowledge regarding the true nature of Brahma and the Self (Atman). It is composed of the three main parts (mundakas): 1) The first of three parts expounds the science of higher and lower knowledge. 2) The second part describes the true nature of t...
Verse 1.2.10
इष्टापूर्तṁ मन्यमाना वरिष्ठं नान्यच्छ्रेयो वेदयन्ते प्रमूढाः ।
नाकस्य पृष्ठे ते सुकृतेऽनुभूत्वेमं लोकं हीनतरं वा विशन्ति ॥ १० ॥iṣṭāpūrtaṁ manyamānā variṣṭhaṃ nānyacchreyo vedayante pramūḍhāḥ |
nākasya pṛṣṭhe te sukṛte'nubhūtvemaṃ lokaṃ hīnataraṃ vā viśanti || 10 ||10. These ignorant men regarding sacrificial and charitable acts as most important, do not know any other help to bliss; having enjoyed in the heights of Heaven the abode of pleasures, they enter again into this or even inferior world.
Shankara’s Commentary:
Com.—“Ishtam” karma enjoined by the Srutis as sacrifices, etc. “Purtam” karma enjoined by Smritis such as the digging of pools, wells, tanks, etc. Regarding these alone as the most important aids to the attainment of human objects, these ignorant men, being infatuated with attachment to their sons, cattle and relatives, do not know the other called ‘knowledge of self’ which is the help to bliss. Having enjoyed in the top of heaven—the place of pleasures—the fruits of their karma, they enter again into this world of men or even inferior world, such as the world of horizontal beings, hell, etc., according to the residue of their karma.