धनुर्गृहीत्वौपनिषदं महास्त्रं शरं ह्युपासानिशितं संधयीत ।आयम्य तद्भावगतेन चेतसा लक्ष्यं तदेवाक्षरं सोम्य विद्धि ॥ ३ ॥
In plain words
Take up the great Upaniṣadic weapon as a bow, set upon it the arrow sharpened by upāsanā, and draw it with Cetas absorbed in its nature. That very target is Akṣara, gentle one—pierce it.
The commentators
Muṇḍakopaniṣadbhāṣyam
कथ वेद्धव्यमिति, उच्यते—
धनु इष्वासन गृहीत्वा आदाय औपनिषदम् उपनिषत्सु भव प्रसिद्ध महास्त्र महच्च तदस्त्र च महास्त्र धनु , तस्मिन् शरम्, किंविशिष्टमित्याह— उपासानिशित सततताभिध्यानेन तनूकृतम् , संस्कृतमित्येतत् , सदधीत सधान कुर्यात् । सधाय च आयम्य आकृष्य सेन्द्रि- यमन्त करण स्वविषयाद्विनिवर्त्य लक्ष्य एवावर्जित कृत्वे- त्यर्थ । न हि हस्तेनेव धनुष आयमनमिह संभवति । तद्भावगतेन तस्मिन्ब्रह्मण्यक्षरे लक्ष्ये भावना भाव तद्गतेन चेतसा, लक्ष्य तदेव यथोक्तलक्षणम अक्षर सोम्य, विद्धि ॥
In plain words
How is the target to be hit? Here is the answer—
The word “bow” means an instrument for casting an arrow. Here it is the great Upaniṣadic weapon, the bow made known in the Upaniṣads. Set an arrow upon it—but what kind of arrow? One “sharpened by upāsanā”: constant contemplation has made it slender, keen, and fit for its work. To draw this bow, pull the Antaḥkaraṇa and all the senses back from their objects and turn them entirely toward the target. No physical drawing with the hands is meant. Let Cetas enter tadbhāva, the state of the target itself: let contemplation be wholly absorbed in Brahman, the Akṣara. Then, dear one, pierce that Akṣara whose nature has already been described.
Close to the Sanskrit
How is it to be pierced? It is said—
“Bow” means the arrow-caster. “Take it” means take up the great Upaniṣadic weapon, well known in the Upaniṣads: this bow, both great and a weapon, is the “great weapon.” Upon it one should place an arrow. Of what kind? “Sharpened by upāsanā”: made thin and refined through constant meditation. One should set it upon the bow. Having set it, one should draw: withdraw the Antaḥkaraṇa together with the indriyas from their own objects and turn it only toward the target. Drawing a bow here with the hands is not possible. “With Cetas gone into that state” means with awareness whose bhāvanā, whose contemplative state, has entered the target, Brahman, the Akṣara. Dear one, pierce that very Akṣara, bearing the marks already stated, as the target.