This chapter explores the nature of consciousness and its relationship with the objects it illuminates. The speaker compares consciousness to light shining on different types of water - whether pure or polluted, the light remains unaffected. The chapter also highlights how consciousness is like space, as it does not resist or reject any experience, but rather gives room for everything.
Swami Sarvapriyananda teaches the Mundaka Upanishad which one of the major Upanishads belonging to the Atharva Veda. Mundaka means ''shaved'' like a shaved head. The teachings revealed in this Upanishad are meant to leave the student clean, or shaved of the veil of ignorance. Indeed, the study of this Upanishad has been traditionally confined to the shaven-heads, or the sannyasins, who have renounced everything and devoted themselves exclusively to contemplation. The book consists of 64 Mantras (verses) split across Mundakas (parts) and Khandas (sections) as follows:
Mundaka 1 - Khanda 1 - 9 mantras (1.1.1 - 1.1.9)
Mundaka 1 - Khanda 2 - 13 mantras (1.2.1 - 1.2.13)
Mundaka 2 - Khanda 1 - 10 mantras (2.1.1 - 2.1.10)
Mundaka 2 - Khanda 2 - 11 mantras (2.2.1 - 2.2.11)
Mundaka 3 - Khanda 1 - 10 mantras (3.1.1 - 3.1.10)
Mundaka 3 - Khanda 2 - 11 mantras (3.2.1 - 3.2.11)
Reference books:
1. Mundaka Upanisad translated by Swami Gambhirananda - https://www.vedanta.com/store/mundaka-upanisad-with-the-commentary-of-sankaracarya_moreinfo.html (or)
2. Eight Upanisads Vol. 2 translated by Swami Gambhirananda - https://www.vedanta.com/store/Eight-Upanishads-Commentary-by-Shankara_moreinfo.html