The Mandukya Upanishad : 8.1.- Swami Krishnananda

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Thursday, February 04, 2021. 11:25. AM.
Section 8: The Atman as the Pranava

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The Atman is the content of the meaning of Omkara, with which the Upanishad commenced. This Om, which is All, the all-comprehensive. Name designates this All, which is the Atman. The Atman is the designated; Om, Pranava, is the designator.

As there are three relative phases of the Atman, there are the three relative phases of Om. A, U, M, are the three constitive elements of Om. Just as waking, dream and sleep may be regarded as the constitutive elements of the manifested Form of the Atman, Om, in its three-syllabled constitution, is manifested. Pada matra, matrasca pada: The feet of the Atman are the Matras or the syllables of Om, and vice versa. The Matras or the syllables are A, U, M, Akara, Ukara, Makara iti. So 'yamatma-adhyaksharam: The Atman is the Overlord of this Akshara, imperishable Om. Adhimatram: It is also the Lord over the three syllables, A, U, M, which may be compared with the three states described of the Atman – Jagarita (waking), Svapna (dream), Sushupti (sleep). This Supreme Atman as the designated is comparable with Om with its Matras, A, U, M, and we have to learn now how these syllables are comparable with the three states. And, also, just as there is a fourth transcendent state beyond the three states of the Atman, there is a transcendent state of Om, too, beyond the three syllables, A, U, M. As there are four states of consciousness, there are four states of Omkara, each one, respectively, comparable with its corresponding counterpart.

What is the first state of the Atman? It is Vaisvanara. The Vaisvanara, or Visva, is the first manifestation of the Atman, which can be compared with the first manifestation of the three-syllabled Pranava, or Omkara. The Jagaritasthana, or the waking condition of the Vaisvanara, is the Prathamapada, or the first foot, of Pranava or Om. Jagaritasthano vaisvanar-okarah prathama matra: The Jagaritasthana, or the waking condition of the Atman, called the Visva, or Vaisvanara, is the first syllable of Om – Akara. Apteradimatvadva: 'A' is comparable, in a very peculiar way, with the first phase of the Atman. All states of consciousness, relatively speaking at least, begin with the waking state, in which the other states, viz. dream and sleep, may be said to be comprehended. 

From the point of view of the Jiva – not from the point of view of Isvara – the waking condition is the cause, and dream and sleep may be regarded as its effects. If dream is the effect of impressions of perceptions in the waking state, sleep is a condition in which all the unfulfilled impressions are wound up into a latent state, ready for manifestation, subsequently. In this sense, we may say that the waking state is the beginning of the other states. Likewise, 'A' is the beginning of all letters, the first syllable in the series of letters in the alphabet; and in this Akara all other word-formations are said to be contained, because the moment you open your mouth to speak, the sensation is towards the utterance of 'A'. And, thus, it is regarded by the Upanishad as the beginning of word-formation. 

This beginning of word-formation is compared with the beginning of experiences in consciousness, which is the waking state. This condition of the Atman in the waking state is comparable, therefore, with Akara, the first syllable of Omkara. And the Upanishad also says that by meditation on this harmony between Akara of Om and the waking state of the Atman, one achieves the fulfilment of all desires – Apnoti ha vai sarvan kaman. One becomes, also, the foremost among all persons, and almost the beginning of all things in the sense that everything comes to that person, even uncalled for – Adisca bhavati. 

This achievement of the Yogin by meditation is described, also, in the Chhandogya Upanishad in the context of the description of a technique called the Vaisvanara Vidya. Though the Mandukya Upanishad is very brief in its description of Vaisvanara, the Chhandogya Upanishad goes into great detail by way of a clarification of the Vidya, or meditation, on the Vaisvanara. By a meditation on this Cosmic State of the Atman, called Vaisvanara, the Yogin achieves a power which cannot be faced by anything else in the world, and everything comes to him without his asking for them. Real power is that which summons things even without expressing it in words. You do not tell a person, 'do it'; he simply does it. And that is the height of all power. 

This is achieved by meditation on the Vaisvanara. Ya evam veda: One who knows this secret of meditation on the harmony between Akara and the waking state of the Atman, who meditates on the Vaisvanara-Atman as designated by the first phase, or syllable of Omkara, becomes a master over all things, a perfected Siddha does he become, and he is an adept in Yoga. This is in relation to the waking state, Jagaritasthana which is Vaisvanara, Prathamapada, Akara, which brings about a result of this nature, when one resorts to meditation in this manner.

Now, the Upanishad proceeds further to a comparison of the second syllable of Omkara, namely 'U', with the second phase of the manifested Atman, namely, Taijasa.

To be continued ....

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