Eduard Roer suggests that this root is unclear, and the word as title of the Upanishad possibly refers to "knowledge that shaves, or liberates, one of errors and ignorance".

[5][6] The chapters of the Mundaka Upanishad are also sequentially referred to as "Mundakam" in ancient and medieval texts, for unclear etymological reasons.

[7] Paul Deussen considers Mundaka Upanishad to be composed in a period where poetic expression of ideas became a feature of ancient Indian literary works.

[17] Charles Johnston suggests that this announces the Vedic tradition of teacher-student responsibility to transfer knowledge across the generations, in unbroken succession.

[18] Johnston further states that the names recited are metaphors, such as the One who Illuminates, Keeper of Truth, Planetary Spirit, mythological messenger between Gods and Men among others, suggesting the divine nature and the responsibility of man to continue the tradition of knowledge sharing across human generations.

[19] Some manuscripts of Manduka Upanishad expand the list of lower knowledge to include logic, history, Puranas and Dharma.

It is the knowledge of Brahman - the one which cannot be seen, seized, has no origin, varna,[21] eyes, ears, hands, or feet; it is the eternal, all-pervading, infinitesimal, imperishable, indestructible.

[22][17] In verse 1.1.7, the Upanishad uses the analogy of a spider to illustrate the relationship between the manifest and unmanifest aspects of existence and to recognize the imperishable as the source and essence of all that is:[23] Just as a spider spins out and holds (the threads of the web) just as the plants sprout forth out of the earth, just as hair grow on the head and body of a man who lives,

similarly everything that is here arises out of the imperishable one.The first seven mantras of second khanda of first Mundakam explain how man has been called upon, promised benefits for, scared unto and misled into performing sacrifices, oblations and pious works.

[24][25] But frail, in truth, are those boats, the sacrifices, the eighteen, in which these ceremonies have been told, Fools who praise this as the highest good, are subject again and again to old age and death.

The section expands this idea as follows:[19][29] The sky is his head, his eyes the sun and the moon, the quarters his ears, his speech the Vedas disclosed, the wind his breath, his heart the universe, from his feet came the earth, he is indeed the inner Self of all things.

From him, too, gods are manifold produced, the celestials, the men, the cattle, the birds, the breathing, the rice, the corn, the meditation, the Shraddha (faith), the Satya (truth), the Brahmacharya, and the Vidhi (law).

[31] It asserts that Brahman is beyond sensory perception, known through intellect purified by spiritual knowledge and meditation, not mere reading of Vedas.

The poetic verse is structured as a teacher-pupil conversation, where the teacher calls the pupil as a friend, as follows: That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle, on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants - That is the indestructible Brahman.

Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad, one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation, Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That, Penetrate[35] that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.

On the same tree man sits grieving, drowned (in sorrow), bewildered, feeling helpless,[40] But when he sees the other Isa (lord) content, knows his glory, his grief passes away.

When the seer sees the brilliant maker and Isa as the Purusha who has his source in Brahman, then he is wise, he shakes off good and evil, stainless he reaches the highest oneness.

Mathur states that this metaphor of the birds sitting on the same tree refers to one being the empirical self and the other as the eternal and transcendental self.

The theosophist Charles Johnston[42] explains the theistic view, not only in terms of schools of Hinduism, but as a mirroring the theism found in Christianity and other scriptures around the world.

[43] Shankara explains the non-dualistic view as follows: "By meditation and different paths of Yoga, man finds the other, not subject to the bondage of Samsara, unaffected by grief, ignorance, decay and death.

Through continuous pursuit of Satya (truthfulness), Tapas (perseverance, austerity), Samyajñāna (correct knowledge), and Brahmacharya, one attains Atman (Self).Through ethical practices combined with meditation, must a man know his Self.

[45][46] In the second section of the third Mundakam, the Upanishad asserts, "the Self cannot be realized by those who lack inner strength, nor by the careless or heedless, nor by devotion or false notions of austerity, nor by knowledge of the empirical.

[48] The Mundaka Upanishad has been widely translated,[1] as well as commented upon in Bhasya by ancient and medieval era Indian scholars such as Shankara and Anandagiri.

[53] Ross, in his chapters on "meaning of life in Hinduism", frequently cites Mundaka Upanishad, and states it to be an example of ancient efforts in India to refine tools and discipline of realizing liberation or Moksha.

[54] Johnston states that the ancient message in Mundaka Upanishad is relevant to the modern age where "search for and application of Truth" alone often predominates the fields of science.