Thirty Minor Upanishads: 1. Mukṭikopanishaḍ o... | Internet Sacred Text Archive

Hinduism

MUKṬIKOPANISHAḌ

of

ŚUKLA-YAJURVEḌA

Aḍhyāya I

Addressing with devotion and obedience Śrī-Rāma—the Lord Hari, at the end of His Samāḍhi, who being Himself changeless is the witness of the thousands of changes of Buḍḍhi, and who ever rests in Swarapa-Ḍhyāna (the meditation on Reality) while seated under the bejewelled dome of the palace in the lovely city of Ayoḍhyā, in the midst of Sīṭā, Bharaṭa and Soumiṭri (Lakshmaṇa) Śaṭrughna and others, eulogised day and night by Sanaka and other hosts of Munis, as well as by Vasishtha, Śuka, and other devotees of Vishṇu—Hanūmān, after praising them, asked: "O Rāma, Thou art Paramāṭmā of the nature of Sachchiḍānanḍa. O foremost of the family of Raghu, I make prostrations to Thee again and again. O Rāma, I wish to know for the sake of emancipation, Thy nature as it really is. O Rāma, be Thou gracious enough to tell me that by which I shall be easily released from the bondage of mundane existence and by which I shall attain salvation."

(Śrī-Rāma replied:) "O mighty-armed one, well asked: hearken then to the truth uttered by Me. I am well established in Veḍānṭa (or the end of Veḍas or knowledge). Have thou recourse to Veḍānṭa well."

(Hanūmān again asked:) "O foremost of Raghus, what are Veḍānṭas? where do they abide? Pray enlighten me." (Śrī-Rama replied:) "O Hanūmān, listen to Me. I shall truly describe

to you the nature of Veḍānṭa. Through the expiratory breath of Myself—Vishṇu, the Veḍas were generated as many. Like the oil in the sesamum seeds, Veḍānṭa is well established (or latent) in the Veḍas."

(Hanūmān asked again:) "O Rāma, how many are the Veḍas and their branches? O Rāghava, what are the Upanishaḍs? Please, through Thy grace, tell me truly."

(Śrī-Rāma said:) "Through the divisions of Ṛgveḍa and others, the Veḍas are said to be four in number. Their branches are many. So also the Upanishaḍs. In Ṛgveḍa, there are branches, 21 in number. O son of Vāyu, there are 109 branches in Yajurveḍa. O conqueror of enemies, there are 1,000 branches in Sāmaveḍa. O best of Monkeys, there are 50 branches in Aṭharvaṇaveḍa. In each branch, there is one Upanishaḍ. Whoever with devotion to Me studies even one of the Ṛks (hymns) in these, attains the state of absorption, rare for the Munis to attain."