तदेतत्सत्यं यथा सुदीप्तात्पावकाद्विस्फुलिङ्गाः सहस्रशः प्रभवन्ते सरूपाः ।तथाक्षराद्विविधाः सोम्य भावाः प्रजायन्ते तत्र चैवापियन्ति ॥ १ ॥
In plain words
This is truth: as sparks by the thousand, all of the same form, spring from a well-kindled fire, so, gentle one, manifold beings are born from Akṣara and return into it.
The commentators
Muṇḍakopaniṣadbhāṣyam
अपरविद्याया सर्वं कार्यमुक्तम् । स च संसारो यत्सारो यस्मान्मूलादक्षरात्संभवति यस्मिंश्च प्रलीयते, तदक्षरं पुरुषाख्यं सत्यम् । यस्मिन्विज्ञाते सर्वमिदं विज्ञातं भवति, तत्परस्या ब्रह्मविद्याया विषय । स वक्तव्य इत्युत्तरो ग्रन्थ आरभ्यते—
यदपरविद्याविषयं कर्मफललक्षणम्, सत्य तदापेक्षिकम् । इद तु परविद्याविषयम्, परमार्थसल्लक्षणत्वात् । तदेतत् सत्य यथाभूतं विद्याविषयम्, अविद्याविषयत्वाच्च अनृतमितरत् ।
अत्यन्तपरोक्षत्वात्कथ नाम प्रत्यक्षवत्सत्यमक्षरं प्रतिपद्येर- न्निति दृष्टान्तमाह-- यथा सुदीप्तात् सुष्ठु दीप्ताद्विद्धात् पावकात् अग्ने विस्फुलिङ्गा अग्न्यवयवा सहस्रश अने कश प्रभवन्ते निर्गच्छन्ति सरूपा अग्निलक्षणा एव, तथा उक्तलक्षणात् अक्षरात् विविधा नानादेहोपाधिभे- दमनुविधीयमानत्वाद्विविधा हे सोम्य, भावा जीवा आकाशादिवद्घटादिपरिच्छिन्ना सुषिरभेदा घटाद्युपाधि प्रभेदमनु भवन्ति, एव नानानारूपकृतदेहोपाधिप्रभव मनु प्रजायन्ते तत्र चैव तस्मिन्नेव चाक्षरे अपियन्ति देहो पाधिविलयमनु विलीयन्ते घटादिविलयमन्विव सुषिरभेदा । यथाकाशस्य सुषिरभेदोत्पत्तिप्रलयनिमित्तत्व घटाद्युपाधि- कृतमेव, तद्वदक्षरस्यापि नामरूपकृतदेहोपाधिनिमित्तमेव जी- वोत्पत्तिप्रलयनिमित्तत्वम् ॥
In plain words
Everything produced by lower vidyā has now been told. The following passage turns to the true Akṣara called Puruṣa, the root from which saṃsāra arises and into which it dissolves. To know this is to know all; it is the object of higher Brahmavidyā.
The realm of lower vidyā, with its fruits of karma, is true only in relation to something else. Here the higher vidyā concerns what is ultimately real. This is truth as it is, known through vidyā; what is known through avidyā—ignorance—is unreal.
The Akṣara lies wholly beyond the senses, so how can it be grasped as plainly as something before the eyes? The text answers with an image. Thousands of sparks fly from a blazing fire, each bearing the nature of fire. In the same way, dear one, many kinds of bhāva—the Jīvas—appear from the Akṣara. Their differences follow the many Upādhis of body, just as the spaces inside different pots seem divided by the pots that enclose them. Names and forms produce these bodily Upādhis, and with them the Jīvas appear to be born. When the Upādhis dissolve, the Jīvas return into the Akṣara, just as the separate pot-spaces vanish when the pots break. Space itself never truly divides or rejoins; the pot alone creates that appearance. So too the birth and dissolution attributed to Jīvas arise only through body-Upādhis made of name and form, never through a change in the Akṣara itself.
Close to the Sanskrit
The entire effect of lower vidyā has been stated. And the root from which that saṃsāra arises and into which it dissolves is the true Akṣara called Puruṣa. When that is known, all this becomes known; it is the object of higher Brahmavidyā. It must be explained, and so the following text begins—
What is the object of lower vidyā, marked by the fruit of karma, is satya only relatively. But this is the object of higher vidyā, since it is marked by ultimate Being. This is that satya—the object of vidyā as it truly is; the other, being the object of avidyā, is anṛta, unreal.
Because the Akṣara is utterly beyond perception, how could they grasp that true Akṣara as if it were directly seen? Therefore he gives an example. Just as thousands of sparks, parts of fire and bearing the very character of fire, come forth from a well-kindled, brightly burning fire, so, dear one, manifold bhāvas—the Jīvas—come forth from the Akṣara already described. They are manifold because they follow the distinctions of many body-Upādhis. Just as divisions of enclosed space, delimited by pots and the like, follow the distinctions of the pot-Upādhis, so the Jīvas are born following the arising of body-Upādhis fashioned by many names and forms. And they return into that very Akṣara following the dissolution of the body-Upādhis, as divisions of enclosed space disappear when pots and the like dissolve. The production and dissolution of divisions in space are caused only by Upādhis such as pots. In the same way, the Akṣara appears to be the ground of the production and dissolution of Jīvas only because of body-Upādhis fashioned by name and form.