Shhh… A Secret
Growing up, or even as adults, we must have either said or heard people say,
“Shh… I’ll tell you something I know. Don’t tell anyone — it’s a secret.”. This can go from one person to another, and it can easily end up becoming public news! This is the case with some ‘sensational’ and ‘interesting’ topics that are more materialistic or private.
However, that’s not the case with aspects of higher knowledge. In Sanskrit, some scriptures are called rahasya granthas – secret texts. However, “secret” in this context does not mean private, like what’s described above.
Here, a rahasya — a secret — is something that is so valuable that it must be known, yet it cannot be easily understood by merely looking at the surface. It remains unknown unless it is earnestly and deeply sought after.
Can you give an example of a rahasya?
Knowledge of invisible realities, such as the athma (soul) and Paramathma (God), is a rahasya! Meaning, knowledge about them is so valuable — it must be known.
But it cannot be known unless it is earnestly sought after from Elders.
Out of the 18 rahasyas, there is rahasya-thrayam (knowledge of three aspects of a rahasya), which is made available in the form of a scripture called Mumukshuppadi — a padi (step) for a mumukshu (one who desires liberation from ignorance and seeks to return eternally to their original blissful state).
The scripture was gifted to the world by Sri Pillai Lokacharya, and it is an explanation of three mantras:
- The Ashtakshari mantra (8-letter Narayana mantra which gives us the knowledge of ourselves, the Lord and the relationship between the both),
- The Dvaya mantra (25-letter mantra which tells us about the phala, the resulting state once we are liberated from ignorance), and
- The Charama shloka (32-letter shloka which tells us about sadhana, means for attaining the result and how we must hold onto it as we lead life).
A total of only 65 letters — encompassing the essence of the entire Vedic literature!
What is a manthra and who authored these three mantras?
manana:th thra:yathe: ithi manthraha
Mantra is that which protects the person meditating upon it
No one authored the mantras and thus free of all faults (categorized into four types – bhrama, vipralipsa, asakthaha, pramada). They are the governing sounds for the universe, eternally existing. Bhagavan, i.e. the supreme soul also has not written these or imagined these. He revealed it through recollection. He is the adi guru, the first teacher. He is the One who revealed all the three rahasyas.
Is there any eligibility criteria to learn these or any preconditions?
The scripturists state something called anubandha chathushtayam that one must understand before learning any scripture.
Adhikari - Authority
Do we have the right to learn this scripture? Anyone with a ruchi, interest / desire for moksha has the right.
Vishayam - Subject
What is the essential teaching of the scripture? It is the rahasya thrayam, knowledge of a rahasya containing three aspects – revealed through ashtakshari mantra, dwaya mantra and charama sloka.
Sambandham - Relation
What is the relation between what we desire and what is being taught? The relation is vishaya – vishayi (subject matter- scripture that’s revealing the subject matter) or prathipadya – prathipadaka (that which is to be established and that which establishes it)
Prayojanam - Result
What is the end goal or result that we desire? It is moksha, the liberation from all limitations that we experience today and attain eternal bliss. This is the ultimate goal. There is also an intermediate result that one gets in this process – it is jna:na, knowledge.
Let’s embrace this opportunity to learn. Let’s not just live (jivana), but live with awareness — ujjivana — the kind of life awakened by the sacred rahasya knowledge given by God.
– From the teachings of HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji
Mumukshuppadi,18th Aug 2025
– JIVA asram, Sri Ramnagar, Hyderabad, TS, India
