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The Madhu vidya or the doctrine of mystic honey is found in the
5th chapter of the second book of the Bŗhadāraņyaka Upanishad
which is itself part of the Shatapatha Brāhmaņa. Often this
Upanishad is quoted by some monists to demonstrate this world to
be an, “utter illusion” and that world is irrelevant to the
attainment of the highest spiritual experience called as
nirguņa brahman. Such passages upholding the, “lofty
illusionism” are found in the maitreyi brāhmaņa of the same
Upanishad which precedes the Madhu Vidya chapter. Madhu Vidya
provides the required corrective and teaches us that the,
“diversity in creation is the manifestation of a secret delight,
that all things, however heterogeneous and warring they may
appear, are held together by a secret harmony effected in them by
the hidden creative self delight of the supreme who is the
effulgent self, immortal”. The Upanishad states, “This
earth is honey for all beings and all beings are honey for this
earth- and he who is in this earth the effulgent, immortal
puruşha and he who is within one's being, in the body, the
effulgent, immortal puruşha are indeed the same. He who is
this self, this immortal, this brahman, this all”. It gives
fourteen illustrations to reinforce the above statement. It
further adds that, “this self does not merely represent the basic
principle of madhu, the bliss that abides in the heart of
things but he is the master of all things and beings and holds
together all beings, all Gods, all worlds, all selves and all
lives”. Next the Upanishad quotes three verses of the Rigveda
Samhitā (1.116.2, 1.117.2, 6.47.18) stating that the doctrine
of mystic honey given here is not new, but was already revealed to
the sages of the Rigveda, specifically dadhyan
atharvan by Ashvins, the twin powers. Sri Sāyaņāchārya
explains these verses by using a legend in the Shatapatha Brāhmaņa
involving the God Indra, Dadhyan, son of Atharvan, and the
twin powers Ashvins. Sri Kapāli Sāstry explains that these verses
make much more sense if they are interpreted along esoteric lines,
using the clues supplied by the meanings of names of personages
like Dadhyan Atharvan. The two parts of the word Dadhyan, dadhi
and anc, gives us the meaning that, “it is a distinct
lustrous power moving in the yield of Light fixed in the
intellectual mind”. Dadhyan, like the Atharvan or the Angirasa, is
either a deified sage or humanized God. Ashvins are an inseparable
dual Godhead who always appears together. The Ashvins embody the
twin forces of harmony and beauty, health and joy. Their own
archetypical interdependence and harmony in the cosmic functioning
brings to bear on us the necessity of realizing the
interdependence of things and beings, the balance and harmony that
is preserved by a great unifying principle referred to as the
madhu. It is the delight of being in all existence which
explains and unfolds the necessity of diverse forms in the
manifest existence and gives them their value. The particular
chapter in the Upanishad closes with the following Rig Vedic
verse due to the sage Bhāradwāja RV (6.47.18), “To every form he
has remained the counter form: that is his form for us to face and
see. Indra by his creative conscious powers (māya powers)
moves on endowed with many forms; for yoked adore his thousand
steeds”. The purport is that just as we can make various objects
having different shapes by pouring the sugary syrup into various
moulds, all the different aspects of manifestation are made from
the vital force and the moulds which are represented by Indra
himself.
Madhu is interpreted by Shankara as the principle of mutual
aid. The beginning line, “This earth is like madhu honey to
all beings and all beings are like honey to this earth”, is
interpreted as follows by Shankara. “Honey is like effect; just as
a beehive is made by a great many bees, so this earth is made by
all beings. Thus all beings are the honey or effect of this
earth.”
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