THE FOLLOWING IS THE EXPLANATION OF "SHREE TALAVAKARA-UPANISHAD" IN ACCORDANCE WITH SHREE MADHVACHARYA'S BHASHYA (SHREE MADHVA-VAISHNAVA-SAMPRADAYA) BY PROFESSOR K.T. PANDURANGI:
"This Upanisad belongs to Talavakara Brahmana of Samaveda. Therefore, it is called Talavakaropanisad. It is also called Kenopanisad as it commences with the question "Kena", by whom, and the answer to this question constitutes its central theme.
This Upanisad is in the form of a dialogue between
Chaturmukhabrahma and SadaShiva. Therefore, these two are the seers for this Upanisad. Vishnu is the deity. Tristup etc., are chandas.
THE CENTRAL THEME OF TALAVAKARA.
The Central theme of this Upanisad is to convey the doctrine that Bhagavan Shree Vishnu is the director of all. It is also the theme of this Upanisad that Lord Shree Vishnu cannot be comprehended fully by anyone as He is Infinite.
However, the knowledge to the best of one’s ability is sufficient to obtain the liberation. The topics discussed in this Upanisad may be listed as under:
(1) The three questions asked by SadaShiva in respect of the director of our mind senses and Mukhyaprana.
(2) The doctrine of Bhagavan Shree Vishnu being "Agamya" that is to say, the God being not comprehended fully by anyone.
(3) The episode of the deities Agni etc., being under the wrong impression that they won the battle against the asuras and the removal of this erroneous impression.
(4) The sources and the means of spiritual development and the achievement of liberation.
THE QUESTIONS RAISED BY SADASHIVA:
The Upanisad opens with the three questions raised by SadaShiva:
(1) Directed by whom the mind moves towards the objects good or bad?
(2) Directed by whom the Mukhyaprana, the supreme among the jivas, directs the other jivas?
(3) Who directs the senses, i.e. eye, ear and etc., towards the respective objects?
The mind being merely an instrument, it cannot move towards the objects on its own. Somebody has to move it.
The jiva himself cannot move it, because, it does not always move in the best interest of the jiva. Therefore, it must be moving by the direction of someone else.
Now, this someone else is Mukhyaprana. It is Mukhyaprana who directs the manas. This leads to the second question as to "Who directs Mukhyaprana?".
Evidently, Mukhyaprana is directed by Lord Shree Vishnu, the Supreme God.
This position is made clear by the answer to the third question. The third question is an elaboration of the first question. But it elicits the answer for all the three questions.
The third question asks as to "Who directs our senses viz., eye, ear and etc?".
The answer is He Who has given the power of seeing to the eye, the power of hearing to the ear, the power of thinking to the mind, and finally Who has given the power to Mukhyaprana to direct all these. Such a great personality is Lord Vishnu Himself.
Thus, this answers all the three questions. To know this one has to know that the capacity to know the God is very limited and none can know him completely.
THE GOD (BHAGAVAN SHREE VISHNU) CANNOT BE KNOWN COMPLETELY.
The God is beyond the words, beyond the mind, and beyond the senses. One cannot know how He directs the mind, the senses and etc.
Not that He remains altogether unknown but He is not known completely because of His Infinite Nature. He is Unique in nature:
नातिवेद्यो न चावेद्यः तस्मात् स परमेश्वरः ।
नेदं जीवस्वरूपं तत् ब्रह्म विष्ण्वाख्यमव्ययम् ।।
किन्तु यत्ते समीपस्थमास ते विनियामकम् ।। (त.भा.)
nAtivedyo na chAvedyaH tasmAt sa parameshvaraH |
nedaM jIvasvarUpaM tat brahma viShNvAkhyamavyayam ||
kintu yatte samIpasthamAsa te viniyAmakam || (ta.bhA.)
He is distinct and superior to all known things, all manifest and unmanifest things. He cannot be fully known but he knows all.
He is present in all jivas but He is not identical with the jiva. He directs the jivas being present in them.
Those who think that they know Bhagavan Shree Vishnu fully do not really know Him as they have failed to realize His Infinite Nature.
On the other hand those who think that they do not know Him fully, know Him, because, they have realised the infinite nature of Lord Shree Vishnu.
The inability to know Him completely does not come in the way of one's salvation. The knowledge of the God to the best of one’s capacity will enable one to obtain Lord Shree Vishnu's Grace and attain the salvation (Mukti).
This fact that the God cannot be known fully is illustrated by an episode here.
AGNI AND OTHER DEITIES REALIZE THEIR LIMITED POWER.
When the gods Agni etc., won the battle against the demons, they thought that they won it on their own strength. They did not realize that it was due to the power of Lord Shree Vishnu.
In order to remove their ignorance the Supreme God (Bhagavan Shree Vishnu) appeared in the form of a Yaksa along with Uma, Shiva and Chaturmukha-Brahma.
The gods wanted to know who this Yaksa was. They approached Him one by one. He asked them what was their special power.
Agni replied, that he can burn all things in the world. He was asked to burn a blade of grass, but he was not able to burn it. Thus Agni realised his inability.
Similarly, the Nasikya Vayu was not able to blow the blade of grass. Finally Indra appeared. The Yaksa disappeared and asked Uma Haimavati to teach lndra.
Shreemati Uma-Devi told Indra that the Yaksa was Lord Vishnu Himself. Then, Indra realised the limited power of the gods and they all realised that they won the battle against the asuras only by the Grace of Bhagavan Shree Vishnu".
Cited from
"Essentials of Upanishads according to Sri Madhvacharya's Bhasya"
by Prof. K.T. Pandurangi, 2010, from page 11 and further - #LINK TO PDF-SCAN
