Apyayantu .....

Om apyayantu mamangani vakpranascaksuh srotamatho balamindriyani ca sarvani | Sarvam

brahmaupanisadam | Maham brahma nirakuryam | Ma ma brahma nirakarot |
Anirakaranamastvanirakaranam me astu | Tadatmani nirate ye upanisatsu dharmaste mayi santu te mayi
santu | Om santih santih santih ||

Mam - my; angani - limbs; vak - speech; pranah - physiological system; caksuh sotram - eyes as
well as ears;atha- also; balam - capacity; sarvani - all ; indiyani - sense organs; ca - also; apyayantu
- be strong enough(efficient); sarvam - everything; aupanisadam - born from Upanisad; brahma-
Brahman; aham - I; brahma - Brahman; ma - not; nirakuryam - may not reject; brahma - Brahman;
ma - not; ma - me; nirakarot- may reject; anirakaranam - no rejection; astu - be there;anirakaranam-
no rejection ;astu-be there;me- of me; tadatmani - in that atma in the form of Brahman; nirate -
one who is committed; mayi - in me; ye- which; upanisatsu - mentioned in Upanisads; dharmah -
qualifications; te - those; santu - be there; te - those (qualifications); mayi - in me; santu - be
there.Om santih santih santih - let there be peace,peace,peace.

Let my limbs - speech, physiological system, eyes and ears, also the capacity(strength), and
all the sense organs grow(be efficient). Everything (the world) is Brahman which is known
through Upanisads. May I not reject the Brahman. May the Brahman not reject me. May the
Brahman not be rejected by me.May I not be rejected by Brahman. Let all those
qualifications mentioned in Upanisads be in me who is committed to the pursuit of knowledge
of the Brahman. Let these qualification be in me.

Let there be peace.

Apyayantu mamangani - 'Let all my limbs be strong enough'.' Let all of them work properly and co-
operate so that I can pursue this knowledge'. The prayer is ,'let there not be any problem from my
organs of perception, organs of action, the physiological system etc.'Vak in the mantra stands for all
the organs of action. Prana stands for the entire physiological system - respiration, digestion,
circulation, evacuation and ejection and health also. Caksu srotram 'eyes as well as ears' , stand
for all the five sense organs including the mind. The mind is also sense organ beause without the
mind the sense organs cannot function.

Sarvam Brahmaupanisadam - From the prayer itself it is clear that the one who is making this
prayer is a jijnasu, one desirous of knowledge. He is not a mere mumuksu, one seeking freedom.
He is not asking the Lord to give him moksa. He does not say "Oh Lord you know what is
moksa for me, what is good for me, you please decide and then give me that moksa". Here he knows
exactly what he wants. Therefore he says sarvam brahmopanisadam,'everything is
brahman that is born from upanisad'.But brahman is eternal, so it cannot be born. It is already
existent. It is not something subject to time and hence cannot be born. Then how it can be born of
upanisad ? Here upanisad means the knowledge contained in the upanisad. The upanisad is the
means of knowledge to know brahman, there is no other means of knowing brahman. That is
why brahman is called aupanisadam, one that is born of upanisad. Everything is already brahman,
you have to recognise this, then only you see it. It is not that one day you are going to come across
brahman or tumble upon it. If brahman were an object, one day someone suddenly can come across
it, but it is everything including "you" , the seer. Therefore you are not going to come across brahman,
either you know it or do not know it. This already existent brahman is known through the words
of upanisad alone. Brahman is the material cause of the world, so in the world nothing is
separate from brahman. From the stand point of the world its cause brahman is called the
parmesvara , the Lord. So sarvam brahmaupanisadam means the parmesvara, which is the cause of
this jagat and which is known thro' the words of upanisad.

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 Maham brahma nirakuryam -' May I not reject that brahman for lack of sraddha'. I do not
understand that everything is brahman therefore let me not say that brahman is not there. There are
people who say "anything I do not understand does not exist". So I may not reject brahman just
because I do not understand. May I not say ,'there is no brahman ', may I also not say, 'there is
something other than brahman'. Everything including me is brahman. Everything minus me is not
brahman . If everybody says everything minus me is brahman then nothing would be left of
brahman. So there is nothing separate from brahman, there is nothing more than brahman, there is
nothing besides brahman. Saying that there is something other than brahman is also rejecting
the brahman.

Ma ma brahma nirakarot - May the brahman , that is isvara not reject me. Let the grace of isvara be
upon me. When I address brahman it means that I address the parmesvara who alone can bless
not brahman, because I am already brahman. Therefore brahman cannot reject me, much less it
can bless me. But brahman as isvara can certainly bless me. So the prayer is "may I be the recipient of
his grace so that I will have no obstacles in gaining the knowledge". The obstacles are absence of
qualities like amanitvam etc., and sama, dama, uparati, titiksa, sraddha, samadhanam. Or the
qualities opposed to this can be an obstruction to me.Let me not have those qualities. All
these qualities we acquire only by prayer, with isvara's grace. That is why he says "O Lord let me
have all these qualities by your grace".

Tadatmani nirate ye upanisadsu dharma te mayi santu te mayi santu - In me who is committed
to the pursuit of the knowledge of brahman ,let there be all those qualities which are mentioned as
qualifications in the upanisads. I am totally committed to the pursuit of knowledge of brahman, totally
drowned in seeking that knowledge. So let these qualities which make the person qualified for the
pursuit of the knowledge of brahman, abide in me. This itself is an auto suggestion. When you say let
me have amanitvam then you will have amanitvam because it is natural. Manitvam is not natural. It
is something that we have to create. Similarly adhambhitvam is natural, dambhitvam is worked up.
So by this auto suggestion one can have this qualities. Here the prayer is not only for
knowledge but also for qualities necessary for gaining that knowledge. The repitition of te mayi
santu twice is for emphasis.