The Mandukya Upanishad - 4-1.8 : presented the quintessence of the acme of thought and experience reached in ancient times, – the Upanishads

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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 which transcends these distinctions of A, U, M.

It is called Amatra and Chaturtha-Bhava: The soundless form of Om is Amatra, the immeasurable, and it is not audible to the ears. This Amatra, or the immeasurable, eternal nature of Om is not a sound or even a mere vibration, but it is just existence, pure and simple, known as Satchidananda-Svarupa – Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.

That which is past, present and future is the temporal comprehension of the gamut of Om, and that which transcends time is the eternal nature of Om. To give the analogy of the river and the ocean: the river is the temporal form, the ocean is the permanent form.There is a name and a form for the river, but there is no such name and form of the river in the ocean, as all rivers become one in the ocean.

In the temporal form, Om may be said to designate all that is existent in creation; in its eternal form it cannot be said to constitute any kind of particular form, but it is formless, durationless and spaceless. Om, therefore, is name and form; form and the formless; vibration and Consciousness; creation and Satchidananda. All this is Om.

To be continued ..



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