Mandukya Upanishad : ( 04/03/2013. )

16/12/2018 The Mandukya Upanishad - 4-1.8 Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-8. Om is imperishable. All name in this world is perishable, for it goes with the corresponding form. But this Universal Form is imperishable, this Universal Name also is imperishable, comprehends everything. Omityetadaksharam: Om is Akshara, and Akshara is imperishable. Tasyopavyakhyanam, bhutam, bhavat, bhavishyaditi sarvam Omkara eva; Yaccanyat trikalatitam tadapyomkara eva... All that was in the past, all that is now in the present, all that will be in the future, all this is Om, because Om has no past, present and future; the Universal has no .time. What a grand description of Om is given in the Mandukya Upanishad! Whatever is in time, as past, present and future, is Om. Not merely this; that which is above time, also, is Om. Om has a twofold nature, the temporal and the eternal: it is Sabda and Sabdatita. It is constituted of A, U, M, representing all creation; but it has also a fourth nature w

22/11/2018 The Mandukya Upanishad - 4-1.7 Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-7. When you recite Om properly, you enter into a meditative mood. You are not merely reciting a sound or a word or a phrase, you are creating a vibration. To point out once again; you are creating a vibration. What sort of vibration? Not a vibration which agitates you, irritates you, or creates a desire in your mind for a particular object, but a vibration which melts all other particular vibrations, puts an end to all desire, extinguishes all cravings and creates a desire for the Universal. As fire burns straw, this desire for the Universal burns up all other desires. A recitation of Om, even three times, correctly done, is enough to burn up all sins, to put a cessation to all desire and make you calm, quiet and satisfied within yourself. The test of a correct recitation or chant of Om is that you become calm in your mind and feel satisfied with what you are and what you have. When you come

30/10/2018 The Mandukya Upanishad - 4-1.6 Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-6. The Manusmriti, the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Upanishads describe the nature, the constitution, the structure and the glory of Om. With Om, Brahma created this cosmos, and from Om constituted of the three isolated letters A, U, M, the Vyahritis came forth : - Bhuh, Bhuvah, Svah. From these three Vyahritis, the three Padas of the Gayatri-Mantra emanated. From the three Padas of the Gayatri-Mantra, the meaning of the three sections of the Purusha-Sukta emerged, and from the meaning of the Purusha-Sukta, the meaning of the entire Vedas emanated, and from this vast meaning of the Vedas, Brahma created this cosmos, say the scriptures. So important is Om, not a chant uttered by Brahma, but a vibration that rose from the Supreme Being in the initial stage of creation – a comprehensive vibration. And when we chant Om, we also try to create within ourselves a sympathetic vibration, a vibration

12/10/2018 Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-5. This Upanishad, the Mandukya, suggests a very simple method for the establishment of Jiva in Isvara, to transfer the relation of the personality to the non-relation of Isvara and to achieve this by a direct method of invoking the presence of Isvara, or Brahman, into our being, summoning Isvara into our consciousness. Give Isvara a place in your heart. Instead of thinking of an object corresponding to a particular name, think of Isvara who is designated by a comprehensive Name. All the names of the world like mountain, river, etc. are particular names corresponding to particular forms. But Isvara is not a particular form; He is a Universal Form, and therefore you cannot call Him or summon Him by a particular name. You have to call Him by a Universal Name, because He is Universal Form. No particularised language can describe Isvara, because Isvara is not a particularised object. He is not a man or a woman or a human being; He

22/09/2018 Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-4. Now, we come from what we call Isvara-Srishti to Jiva-Srishti. Isvara-Srishti is the form corresponding to a name, as it is by its own right. Jiva-Srishti is the psychological connection that you have established between yourself and the corresponding form of a particular name. You are affected because of the Jiva-Srishti, and your understanding of the form corresponding to a name signifies merely Jiva-Srishti. We are now concerned not merely with Isvara-Srishti, but also Jiva-Srishti; perhaps with the latter we are more concerned than with the former because what binds us or liberates us is the nature of Jiva-Srishti, not so much the nature of Isvara-Srishti. Things as they are do not concern us very much. But things as they are to us mean very, much to us, and this meaning it is that binds us to what we call Samsara (earthly existence). Every name has a corresponding form, and the form is a content of Isvara-Srishti; the cre

01/09/2018 Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-3. The Supreme Absolute is the Rupa (Form) of Om which is the Nama (Name). As everything in the world is designated by a name, we designate Isvara, God, also, by a name. As we summon into our consciousness a form by calling out its name, remembering its name, so also we summon into our consciousness the Being or the Form of Isvara, God, by summoning His Name. And just as the name of a particular object is connected with that object by a description of the character of that object, Om also, as the Name of Isvara, describes Isvara, and by this unique description of it, it enables us to contemplate the form of Isvara. A mountain is a name, a river is a name, fire is a name, man is a name, woman is a name, Rama is a name, Krishna is a name; and so on, we have many names – Nama. These names correspond to particular forms which they connote and also denote. When you utter a name, the form corresponding to that name comes to your mind aut

06/08/2018 Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-2. Om ityetadaksharam idam sarvam, tasyopavyakhyanam bhutam bhavat bhavishyaditi sarvam omkara eva. The Imperishable is OM, and it is 'all this'. Everything else, whatever be of the past, present or future, is like an exposition, explanation or commentary on the meaning of this great Truth – the Imperishable Om. Sarvam Omkara eva: Everything is Om, indeed. This is how the Upanishad begins. Om itiyetadaksharam idam sarvam: All this, whatever is visible, whatever is cognizable, whatever can come within the purview of sense-perception, inference or verbal testimony, whatever can be comprehended under the single term, creation – all this is Om. We have been reciting 'Om' many a time, and it is a custom with most of us to greet one another with Om, to recite anything with Om and start Japa of any Mantra with the chanting of Om. The implication is that Om comprehends all things and it makes also a very auspicious beginn

08/07/2018 Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-1. The Vedas, in their form as the Samhitas, constitute an introduction to the subject dealt with in the Vedanta or the Upanishads. The Upanishads are secret teachings containing wisdom beyond the realm of the earth and revealing proclamations of the great sages of yore on the nature of Reality. Among the Upanishads, the Mandukya may be regarded as the most important, and it is aptly said, Mandukyam ekam eva alam mumukshunam vimuktaye - for the liberation of the Mumukshu or seeker the Mandukya alone is enough; and if you are able to understand the true meaning of this single Upanishad, there may not be a necessity to study any other Upanishad, not even the Chhandogya or the Brihadaranyaka, because the theme of the Mandukya Upanishad is a direct approach to the depths of human nature. It does not give analogies, tell stories or make comparisons. It states bare facts in respect of man in general and Reality in its essential cha

18/06/2018 3. Invocation Om! Bhadram karnebhih s'rnuyama devah bhadram pasyem-akshabhir-yajatrah, sthirair-angais-tushtuvam-sastanubhir vyasema devahitam yadayuh. svasti na indro vriddha-sravah svasti nah pusha visva-vedah, svasti nas-tarkshyo arishta-nemih svasti no brihaspatir-dadhatu. Om santih ! santih !!  santih !!! "Om. Shining Ones! May we hear through our ears what is auspicious; Ye, fit to be worshipped! May we see with our eyes what is auspicious; May we, endowed with body strong with limbs, offering praise, complete the full span of life bestowed upon us by the divine beings; May Indra, of enhanced fame, be auspicious unto us; May Pushan, who is all-knowing, be auspicious unto us; May Tarkshya, who is the destroyer of all evils, be auspicious unto us; May Brihaspati bestow upon us auspiciousness! Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!

30/05/2018 2. Introduction-3. The Vidya has its origin, actually, in the Rig-Veda, in a famous Sukta, or hymn, called the Purusha-Sukta. The Purusha-Sukta of the Rig-Veda commences by saying that all the heads, all the eyes, and all the feet that we see in this world are the heads, eyes, and feet of the Virat-Purusha, or the Cosmic Being. With one head, the Virat nods in silence; with another face He smiles; with a third one, He frowns; in one form, He sits; in another form, He moves; in one form, He is near; in another form, He is distant. So, all the forms, whatever they be, and all the movements and actions, processes and relations, become parts of the Cosmic Body, with which the Consciousness should be identified simultaneously. When you think, you think all things at the same time, in all the ten directions; nay, in every way. The Chhandogya Upanishad concludes this Vidya by saying that one who meditates in this manner on the Universal Personality of Oneself as the Va

18/04/2018 2. Introduction-2. Though the Mandukya Upanishad gives certain symbolic instances of identification of limbs with the Cosmic Body, the meditator, in fact, can choose any symbol or symbols for such form of identification. The creation does not consist merely of the few parts that are mentioned in the Upanishad. There are many other things which may come to our minds when we contemplate. So, we can start our meditation with any set of forms that may occur to our minds. We may be sitting in our rooms, and the first things that attract our attention may be the objects spread out in the rooms. When we identify these objects with our Body, we will find that there are also objects outside these, in the rooms. And, likewise, we can slowly expand our consciousness to the whole whole earth and, then, beyond the earth, to the solar and stellar regions, so that, we reach as far as our minds can reach. Whatever our mind can think, becomes an object for the mind; and that obje

26/03/2018 1. Preface :- The present blog consists of the lectures, delivered extempore, by the Swamiji, in the year 1968, on the philosophy and teachings of the Mandukya Upanishad. The First Section of the discourses expounds the meaning of the great mystical symbol, Om, or Pranava, as a connotation as well as denotation of the Absolute. The Second Section explains the nature of the individual and the Absolute, and that everything is Brahman. The Third Section explains the nature of the Universal Being, Vaisvanara, as delineated in the Upanishad. The Fourth Section propounds the mystery of Dream and Sleep, as also the cosmic counterpart of this state, namely, Hiranyagarbha, the Divine Immanent Being. The Fifth Section is an exposition of the profound significance of Sleep in the interpretation of the nature of the Spirit in man. The Sixth Section is centred round the great theme, the nature of Ishvara, the Supreme God of the Universe. The Seventh Section concerns