|| ōm̐ śrī gurubhyō namaḥ hariḥ ōm̐ ||
Mantra #19
The prayer that started in Mantra #15 continues. Following the prayer in the
previous mantras, here Parabrahman that is in praṇava, is prayed to.
उपनिषत् upaniṣat
ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतँ स्मर ।
ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतँ स्मर ॥ १९ ॥
oṃ kratō smara kr̥tam̐ smara |
oṃ kratō smara kr̥tam̐ smara || 19 ||
The Omni-presence, Omni-potence, Omniscience etc as having such qualities Parabrahman is denoted by praṇava “ōm”. kratō means One who is jñāna-rūpi. Addressing such a Parabrahman, the prayer is for His Blessing. The regular meaning of the word ‘smara’ is ‘remember’. So, God of Veda has knowledge that is constant. His knowledge is not something that is generated from memory. Therefore, it would not be proper to give ‘smara’ the usual meaning of remembering from impressions on the mind, memory etc. Instead, the proper meaning that is inline with this upanishadic mantra, as anugraha i.e., ‘grant me’. The upanishat repeating the mantra twice is for stressing on the importance of what is stated by the mantra.
These meanings of ‘kratu’ and ‘smara’ are actually given by śrī vēdavyāsa hinsekf elsewhere. Hence, associating any other meaning to these words would be not in accordance with Vedanta of śrī vēdavyāsa. Let us not forget that, śrī vēdavyāsa is the father of Vedanta.
Several points are to be noticed here:
1. To pray to God as “Be ready for granting”, there is the sacrifice of kartrtva-abhimāna on the part of the adhikārin. That kartrtva-abhimāna is in the form that “I have done this sādhana”. Its sacrifice is the implication of the knowledge of him being ever dependent on God.
2. The Brahma-svarūpa is jñāna which is nitya and pūrṇa. He is eka or there are no internal divisions in Brahman of Veda, even then there is the practice of considering Him as dharmi, and his jñāna as His property. The nature of identity is to include what is technically known as ‘viśēṣa’.
3. The adhikārin who has familiarized himself this much from this upanishat, if he thinks that he has nothing more to understand then it is not according to this upanishat. For mantrārtha, we need shāstra adhyayana. Without that shāstra-adhyayana, not a single idea that this upanishat talks about can be understood.
4. In every matter, there are several pratipaksha (opposing alternative positions) as given by several darshana thinkers. Without removing those pratipakshas, not a single item taught by this upanishat can be understood. The only tool available to remove all pratipakshas is the study of brahma-mīmāmsā-shāstra.
5. That is the reason behind stressing the study of shāstra again and again in these mantras of īshāvāsya. When it kindles an interest in the study of shāstra, only then the purpose of writing these articles in this magazine is served. Thus, by what is established so far, understanding the meaning of upanishatic mantras should eventually end in a study of shāstra. This is the intent behind this particular mantra #19.
6. What is printed as “kritagum smara” is a form of “kritam smara”. It is also said that “gum” is there to stress on the rule that the vastness of the implied meaning should be grasped. Thus, we find, “īshāvāsyamidagum sarvam”, “kritagum” etc. Some also say that “gum” need not be pronounced. In fact, some books print the upanishat without it altogether.
With this background, we study mantra #19.
उपनिषत् upaniṣat
ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतँ स्मर ।
ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतँ स्मर ॥ १९ ॥
oṃ kratō smara kr̥tam̐ smara |
oṃ kratō smara kr̥tam̐ smara || 19 ||
As having attributes such as Omni-presence, Omni-potence, Omniscience etc., and therefore denoted by ōm (ॐ ōm), Oh! Parabrahman who is jñāna-svarūpi (क्रतो kratō) become ready to grant me (स्मर smara) the dhyāna, karma etc that have been performed by me (कृतँ kr̥tagum) become ready to grant them as to be sādhana. (स्मर smara).
Repeating this a second time indicates what is called “abhyāsa” in shāstra which is to bring out the fact that upanishat wants to stress that this is the meaning it wants to teach us.
śri kriṣṇārpaṇamastu,
Jayakrishna Nelamangala
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