Saṃhitā (3): Madhuvidyā

Madhuvidyā has both a gross and a subtle meaning, portrayed as a highest secret or the esoteric vidyā. This secret knowledge was diligently guarded by Indra lest anybody gets the secret. The doctrine of madhuvidyā is found in the fifth section of the second chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyak Upaniṣad that constitutes a part of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. Most often it is quoted by some monotheists to exhibit this world as an absolute illusion. So the worldly matters are impertinent to realisation of the highest spiritual wisdom—nirguṇa brahman. Similar accounts, upholding the grand illusionism, are found in the Maitreyi Brāhmaṇa of the same Upaniṣad^[1] which precedes the madhuvidyā chapter.^[2]

As madhuvidyā, the all-pervasive ‘madhu’ is present in all, so all are united with the all-inclusive reality, the Self. When observed from a single view point as well as in totality, the essence of all is the Self, which is none other than the unconditional Brahman.^[3]

The first passage of the madhu brāhmaṇa considers the world as honey of all beings and all beings as honey of the world. Here honey is a symbol that indicates something which is achieved through much effort. As the honeybees collect honey from many flowers and store it in one place, likewise through arduous activities a thing of importance is achieved. This comprehensive vision of the mystic honey, madhuvidyā show that not only the things, but their mutual products and fulfilments all portray ‘honey’ or the Self, the sweetest of all, since it is the ultimate ‘Bliss’ or ānanda.

There are fourteen illustrations in the text to emphasize the above statement.^[4] Here self not only represents the basic principle of madhu in heart of things, but represent the entire world with all things, beings, lives and all gods as bliss. It is god, the Ruler of the universe, as Brahman is described as “sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ adhipati, sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ rājā” in this passage of Bṛhadāraṇyak Upaniṣad. The vision culminates in a higher consciousness, an insight of a higher order where the entire universe is contained within a vast boundless reality. ^[5]

Next the Upaniṣad quotes three verses of the Ṛgveda Saṃhitā^[6] stating that the doctrine of mystic honey is given here, which was already revealed to the sage Dadhyañc Ātharvan by Aśvins. Sāyaṇa describes the verses with the help of a legend regarding the Indra, Dadhyañc, and the Aśvins in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.

In the previous chapters of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, the madhuvidyā in its gross form is depicted along with the pravargya karma. According to Śaṅkara, the secret vidyā was indicated in the previous chapters and explicitly dealt with in the Bṛhadāraṇyak Upaniṣad. ^[7]

The honey or madhu contextual to self-knowledge defined in the Upaniṣad is none other than the Self, supreme Brahman, the indomitable source of bliss and knowledge.

Madhuvidyā the intuitive knowledge of madhu, as described in the Upaniṣad:

“Idaṃ vai tanmadhu dadhyaṅṅātharvaṇo’śvibhyāmuvāca/ tadetadṛṣiḥ paśyannavocat/ Puraścakre dvipadaḥ puraścakre catuṣpadaḥ/ Puraḥ sa pakṣī bhūtvā puraḥ puruṣa āviśaditi/ Sa vā ayaṃ puruṣaḥ sarvvāsu pūrṣu puri śayo nainena kiñcanānāvṛtaṃ nainena kiñcanāsaṃvṛtaṃ//”^[8]

Madhuvidyā ends with a famous quote from the Ṛgveda^[9] :

“He assumed one form and the other, thus becoming every form; Indra on account of his māyā (mysterious powers, his powers of knowledge or through superimposition as Saṅkara explains), is perceived as manifold, for to him are yoked tens and thousands of horses (infinite senses of the infinite living beings).”^[10]

The BU provides the hidden meaning of the mantra—

“He himself is the horses (the sense organs). He is verily the ‘tens’ and the ‘thousands’, many and infinite. This is Brahman, without prior or posterior, without interior or exterior. This is the Self, Brahman, the perceiver of everything. This is the teaching of the Upaniṣads.”^[11]

In the Saṃhitā part we observe the symbolic connection of the divine steed with the sun as well as find the mythical conception of the great Vedic seer Dadhyañc Ātharvan, the reason behind the beheading as transferring of secret knowledge madhuvidyā to the Aśvins which developed in the Brāhmaṇic part with some variations. In the Brāhmaṇic era we come across about the relevance of severed head in myths and rituals.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

BU, 2.4.

[2]:

ibid.,2.5.

[3]:

Śankara’s introduction to Madhu Brāhmaṇa of BU, 2.5.1.

[4]:

ibid.,2.5.1-14.

[5]:

“....tad yathā rathānābhau ca rathanemau cārāḥ sarvve samarpitā evamevāsminnātmani sarvvāṇi bhūtāni sarvve devāḥ sarvve lokāḥ sarvve prāṇāḥ sarvva eta ātmanaḥ samarpitāḥ//” BU, 2.5.15. “Just as the spokes are fixed in the nave and rim of a chariotwheel, so are all things, all gods, all worlds, all vital forces and all individual beings are fixed in the Self.

[6]:

The BU alludes to the Vedic upākhyāna by quoting a mantra from Ṛgveda, 1.116.12: “Idaṃ vai tanmadhu dadhyaṅṅātharvaṇo’śvibhyāmuvāca/ tadetadṛṣiḥ paśyannavocat/ Tadvānnarā sanaye daṃsa ugramāviṣkṛṇomi tanyaturna vṛṣṭiṃ / Dadhyañ ha yanmadhvātharvvaṇo vāmaśvasya śīrṣṇā pra yadīmuvāceti//” The next mantra quoted from the Ṛgveda (1.117.22) runs like this: “Idaṃ vai tanmadhu dadhyaṅṅātharvaṇo’śvibhyāmuvāca/ tadetadṛṣiḥ paśyannavocat/ Ātharvvaṇāyāśvinā dadhīce’śvyaṃśiraḥ pratyairayataṃ/ Sa vāṃ madhupravocadṛtāyan tvāṣṭraṃ yaddasrāvapi kakṣyaṃ vāmiti//” ibid.,2.5.17.

[7]:

Śaṅkara’s Commentary on BU, pp.603-604.

[8]:

BU, 2.5.18.

[9]:

“Rūpaṃ rūpaṃ pratirūpo vabhūva tadasya rūpaṃ praticakṣaṇāya/
Indro māyābhiḥ pururūpa īyate yuktā hyasya harayaḥ śatā daśa//” Ṛgveda, 6.47.18.

[10]:

“Idaṃ vai tanmadhu dadhyaṅṅātharvaṇo’śvibhyāmuvāca/ tadetadṛṣiḥ paśyannavocat/ Rūpaṃ rūpaṃ pratirūpo vabhūva tadasya rūpaṃ praticakṣaṇāya/Indro māyābhiḥ pururūpa īyate yuktā hyasya harayaḥ śatā daśeti/ Ayaṃ vai harayo’ayaṃ vai daśa ca sahasrāṇi vahūni cānantāni ca, tadetad brahmāpūrvvamanaparamanantaramavāhyamayamātmā brahma sarvvānubhūtityanuśāsanam//” BU, 2.5.19.

[11]:

Śaṅkara’s Commentary on BU, pp.694-696.