THE MANDUKYA UPANISHAD -1 Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday, June 01, 2022. 19:00.

PREFACE 

1.INTRODUCTION :

POST-1.

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PREFACE :

The First Section of the discourses expounds the meaning 

of the great mystical symbol, Om, or Praṇava, as a 

connotation as well as denotation of the Absolute. 

The Second Section explains the nature of the Universal 

Being, Vaiśvānara, or Virāt, as delineated in the Upanishad. 

The Third Section propounds the mystery of Dream and 

Sleep, as also the cosmic counterpart of this state, namely, 

Hiraṇyagarbha, the Divine Immanent Being. 

The Fourth Section is an exposition of the profound 

significance of Sleep in the interpretation of the nature of the

Spirit in man. 

The Fifth Section is centred round the great theme, the 

nature of Īsvara, the Supreme God of the Universe. 

The Sixth Section concerns itself with the majestic 

character of Reality as such, the Absolute, as the Transcendent 

Presence. 

The Seventh Section is the concluding summary, devoted 

to an explanation of the harmony between the constituents of 

Om, or Praṇava, and the four states of Consciousness, which 

forms the subject of the Upanishad. 

Herein, the students of Philosophy and Spiritual Life will 

find presented the quintessence of the acme of thought and 

experience reached in ancient times – the Upanishad.

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1.INTRODUCTION :

The theme of the Mandukya Upanishad is an exposition 

of the Mystic Syllable, Om, with a view to training the mind 

in meditation, for the purpose of achieving freedom, 

gradually, so that the individual soul is attuned to the 

Ultimate Reality.

The basis of this meditation is explained in the Vidya 

(meditation), known as the Vaisvanara Vidya. This is the 

secret of the knowledge of the Universal Being, designated 

as Vaisvanara. Its simple form of understanding is a 

transference of human attributes to the Divine Existence, 

and vice versa. In this meditation, one contemplates the 

Cosmos as one's Body. Just as, for example, when one 

contemplates one's individual body, one simultaneously 

becomes conscious of the right eye, the left eye, the right 

hand, the left hand, the right leg, the left leg, the head, the 

heart, the stomach, and all the limbs of the body at one and 

the same time, and one does not regard the different limbs 

of the body as distinguished from one another in any 

manner, all limbs being only apparently different but really

connected to a single personality, so in this meditation, the 

consciousness is to be transferred to the Universal Being. 

Instead of one contemplating oneself as the individual 

body, one contemplates oneself as the Universal Body. 

Instead of the right eye, there is the sun. Instead of the left 

eye, there is the moon. Instead of the feet, there is the earth. 

Instead of the head, there is the heaven, and so on. The 

limbs of the Cosmic Person are identified with cosmic 

before you, you behold a part of your own Body. When you 

look at the sun, you behold your own eye. When you look 

above into the heavens, you are seeing your own head. 

When you see all people moving about, you behold the 

various parts of your own personality. The vast wind is 

your breath. All your actions are cosmic movements. 

Anything that moves, does so on account of your 

movement. Your breath is the Cosmic Vital Force. Your 

intelligence is the Cosmic Intelligence. Your existence is 

Cosmic Existence. Your happiness is Cosmic Bliss.

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 object, 

again, should become a part of the meditator's Body, 

cosmically. And, the moment the object that is conceived 

by the mind is identified with the Cosmic Body, the object 

ceases to agitate the mind any more; because that object is 

not any more outside; it becomes a part of the Body of the 

meditator. When an object becomes a part of our own 

body, it no more annoys us because it is not an object at all. 

It is a subject. The object has become the Cosmic Subject, in 

the Vaisvanara meditation.

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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.

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The Chhandogya Upanishad concludes this Vidya by 

saying that one who meditates in this manner on the 

Universal Personality of Oneself as the Vaisvanara, 

becomes the Source of sustenance for all beings. Just as

children sit round their mother, hungry, and asking for 

food, all beings in creation shall sit round this Person, 

craving for his blessings; and just as food consumed by the 

body sustains all the limbs of the body at once, this 

meditator, if he consumes food, shall immediately 

communicate his blessings to the whole cosmos, for his 

Being is, verily, All-Being.

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We may recall to our memory the famous story of Sri 

Krishna taking a particle of food from the hands of 

Draupadi, in the Kamyaka forest, when she called to Him 

for help, and with this little grain that he partook of, the 

whole universe was filled, and all people were satisfied, 

because Krishna stood there tuned up with the Universal 

Virat. So is also the case with any person who is in a 

position to meditate on the Virat, and assume the position 

of the Virat. The whole universe shall become friendly with 

this Person; all existence shall ask for sustenance and 

blessing from this Universal Being. This meditator is no 

more a human being; he is veritably, God Himself. The 

meditator on Vaisvanara is himself Vaisvanara, the 

Supreme Virat.

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NEXT - INVOCATION AND MANTRAS

To be continued ....

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