The Mandukya Upanishad : 8.4.- Swami Krishnananda.

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Tuesday, March 09, 2021. 10:44. AM.
Section 8: The Atman as the Pranavam-4.
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This Om, in its fourth or transcendent state, is Atman itself. There is a soundless state of Pranava that is Existence itself. All sounds and vibrations merge into Existence, and Existence is One. We may call it Pranava in its Amatra state or as Atman in its indescribable state of Being. Pure Existence is the merging together of Pranava and the Atman. Amatrascaturthah avyavaharyah: The fourth state of Pranava is that with which we cannot have any dealings, as with objects, words or sounds, such as in connection with usages in language. Prapancopasamah: All the world of sound ceases here in this soundless state of Pranava. Sivo'dvaitah: It is most auspicious, blessed and non-dual like the Atman, because it is The Atman. Omkara atmaiva: This Omkara which is soundless, transcendent, is the Atman itself. It is another name for the Atman. Creation and the Creator become one here. The merger of Om in the Atman is the merger of creation in the Absolute. There is no creatorship also, because there is no created. There is no sound that is supposed to be the first vibration of creation. Sound reaches the soundless state. It becomes, then, relationless. Samvisatyatmanatmanam: One who knows this secret, by deep meditation, enters the Atman by the Atman. We do not enter the Atman by a gate, we enter the Atman by the Atman. We do not enter the Atman; the Atman enters the Atman. We do not exist. We evaporate into the Atman, and the Atman becomes the Atman. Sounds merge in Pranava; it becomes the Atman. The Atman alone is. When the Atman becomes the Atman through the Atman, it is called Atma-sakshatkara – realisation of the Atman. It is also Brahma-sakshatkara – realisation of Brahman. From the point of view of the Atman animating the individual states, we call this achievement Atma-sakshatkara. From the standpoint of this very same Atman animating the whole cosmos, we call it Brahma-sakshatkara. It is Self-realisation and God-realisation at one and the same time. It is Existence, it is Consciousness, it is Power, it is Bliss, it is Perfection, it is Immortality, it is Moksha, it is Kaivalya. This is the Goal of life, the path to which is beautifully described in the Mandukya Upanishad.

The Mandukya is the essence of all the Upanishads, a study and assimilation of which, alone, is sufficient to lead one to emancipation, Mandukyamekamevalam mumukshunam vimuktaye: For the liberation of the seeker, the Mandukya Upanishad, alone, is adequate, if it is properly digested into experience. You should not merely listen to it, and then forget it. You have listened to an exposition of the glorious meaning of the Mandukya Upanishad, and I wish that you absorb it into your minds and make it a part of your practical life. Let this knowledge which is so rare, so difficult to acquire, not go to waste. Do not throw it to the winds or to the wilderness. Even if you cry aloud, it would be hard for you to gain this knowledge. It is such a rare asset in this world; and when you get it, do not lose it, and do not forget that you have it. Imbibe it by deep reflection, make it a practical means of your living in this world, so that your life may be converted into Divine Life, so that you may become veritable divinities walking on this earth, spreading peace everywhere by your very existence, so that you may become Bhudevas, gods on earth. He is a real Brahmana who knows this secret, who has this knowledge, who lives this knowledge, and to whom this knowledge is practice, to whom action is not different from having this knowledge where Karma and Jnana come together in a fraternal embrace, where there is no friction between work and contemplation, where life becomes realisation, where work becomes worship and God-consciousness, where one's very existence becomes a blessedness to all earth, where one's life on earth becomes a teaching, where example becomes a precept, and where one becomes a representative of Isvara in this world. This is the grand Gospel of the Mandukya Upanishad, and my prayer to the Almighty is that He may bless you all with a remembrance of this knowledge, that you may not forget it throughout your daily living, a wonderful knowledge, as the Chhandogya Upanishad says, which should not be equated with even the treasures of the whole earth. This knowledge is greater than the wealth of all the world, a saviour of humanity from the thraldom of finite life, a direct means to Moksha, Immortal Existence, the great Goal of your lives.

End.

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