The Mandukya Upanishad - 4-1.9 : presented the quintessence of the acme of thought and experience reached in ancient times, – the Upanishads

11/01/2019
The Mandukya Upanishad - 4-1.9
Section 1: The Pranava or Omkara :-9.

9.1
How to chant Om? This doubt may arise in your mind. We have tried to understand something about the magnificence of Om, but how are we to recite Om? Are we to think anything when we recite Om?

The usual procedure prescribed is that the recitation of Om should neither be too short nor too long. There is a short, middling and elongated pronunciation, no doubt, but for all practical purposes of meditation, I would suggest that you may take to the middling duration of the recitation of Om. There is what is called a Matra or a measure, and you may regard one Matra as the time taken by the fist of the hand to go round your knee, in leisure, neither too fast nor too slow, and to snap the fingers. Take your hand once round your knee.

This is the time taken for the measure called one Matra. Bring the hand round your knee once and make a snap of your fingers. How much time have you taken? This is one Matra. Bring it twice, these are two Matras; bring it thrice, these are three Matras. Now, when it is once, it is a short Matra. When it is twice, it is a middling Matra. When it is thrice, it is the elongated Matra. You may choose whichever Matra is convenient to you. There is no compulsion as to the measure. Whichever is convenient, practicable and agreeable to your temperament and capacity may be chosen by you as the required Matra for the recitation of Om.

9.2
What have you to think when you recite Om? You are the ocean, and all the rivers of objects enter you. Remember the Sloka of the Gita: Apuryamanam acalapratishtham. . . etc. You are the ocean into which all the rivers of objects rush. There are, then, no rivers, no objects, you are the ocean. Imagine your feeling at that time, a feeling that I cannot describe.

Each one of you should feel it for himself or herself. Chant Om, and entertain this feeling in your mind for even five minutes continuously, and record your experience in your diary, and tell me whether it has made any difference to you or not. Definitely, it will make a difference, and if God blesses you with the time and patience necessary to do this practice for even half an hour daily, you should regard yourself as a thrice-blessed seeker.

The world enters you; and where is the world, then, to agitate you! Samsara is a network of agitations, and all these are like currents of rivers rushing into your universal being. You have swallowed them up in the bosom of universality; and the roar of the river ceases when it enters the calmness of the ocean. The vexations of the world cease when they enter the solemn existence of your universality.

To be continued ..