Mundaka 1.1.2 Trans & Comms

Atharvaṇe yāṁ pravadeta brahmā atharvā tāṁ purovācāṅgire brahmavidyām. Sa bhāradvājāya satya-vahāya prāha bhāradvājo‘ṅgirase parāvarām. (1.1.2)

purā – in the beginning; yām – which; brahmā – Brahmaji; atharvaṇe – to Atharvā; pravadeta – taught; tām – that; brahmavidyām – knowledge of Brahman; atharvā – Atharvā; aṅgire – to Aṅgir; uvāca – taught; saḥ – he (Aṅgir); satyavahāya – to Satyavaha; bhāradvājāya – one who was born in the family of Bharadvāja; prāha – taught; bhāradvājaḥ – Bhāradvāja; parāvarām – that which comes through a teacher and then a student; aṅgirase – (taught) Aṅgiras

In the beginning, Atharvā taught to Aṅgir that very same brahma-vidyā given by Brahmaji to him. Aṅgir taught it to Satyavaha who was born in the family of Bharadvāja. Satyavaha handed down this knowledge, that passes from the higher to the lower, to Aṅgiras.

~Dayananda

2. The very Knowledge which Brahmā taught to Atharvā, he taught it to Aṅgi in ancient days and he taught it to Ṛṣi Satyavaha – of the Bhāradvāja clan and Satyavaha taught it to Aṅgirā – the knowledge was so handed down from the greater (Teacher) to the lesser (disciple).

When the kindly Masters tried to guide their disciples, they did not claim this knowledge as their own but only quoted, in their turn, their own Masters. Thus, the purity of the scriptures had been kept up by this tradition of a ‘divine-copyright’.

We have, here, an entire line of Guru-śiṣya paramparā (Teacher-taught family tree) giving us the details of who taught whom. In this mantra the family tree of knowledge has been traced out to Aṅgirā and in the following mantras you will find how he is the Guru to whom a disciple approaches with a transcendental question. The answer given to the seeker by Maharṣi Aṅgirā is the contents of the Muṇḍakopaniṣad.

~Chinmayananda

The Knowledge of Brahman about which Brahma told Atharva, Atharva, in olden times, told Angir. Angir taught it to Satyavaha, belonging to the clan of Bharadvaja, and the latter taught it, in succession, to Angiras.

The Knowledge of Brahman was first revealed by the Lord to Brahm.ii, who transmitted it to His eldest son. Therefore this Knowledge is not of human origin and is free from human imperfections.

~Nikhilananda