Meditation According to the Upanishads-7. Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday, February 02,  2023. 06:30.

(Spoken on January 14th, 1973)

Post-7.

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While that is the stunning super-cosmic meditation of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chhandogya Upanishad gives us a more sympathetic view suited to our own weaknesses because we cannot get rid of the idea that there is a world in front of us. Therefore, the Chhandogya Upanishad tells us to contemplate the universe as unified in the Supreme Being. Both lead to the same goal.

The study of the Upanishads is a very difficult thing. It requires a good philosophical background because they tell everything, for the matter of that. There is no school of thought which is not touched upon in some Upanishad.

In connection with the meditations of the Mandukya Upanishad, special mention has to be made of a beautiful blend that it has brought about between meditation and the recitation of Pranava, or Omkara. The chant of Om, and the understanding of its relation to the three states of consciousness, are regarded as necessary for the practice of this meditation. The chant of Om is said to be constituted of three syllables, three morae, as they call it, three stresses of intonation. These three stresses of intonation of the chant of Om are identified with the three states of consciousness: waking, dream and sleep. Just as there are three states of consciousness, there are three stresses of Om chanting: A-U-M. When they are put together and chanted in a blend, they become a single compound, Om, in the same way as the three states of consciousness, waking, dream and sleep, when contemplated together become the Creator of the Universe, Ishvara. Tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ (Y.S. 1.27): The name of God is Om. Just as everything that is indicated has an indicator, Om is said to be a cosmic indicator of the Cosmic Being. While individual names particularise individual form, the Cosmic Being is denoted by the cosmic vibration of Om.

The Om that is referred to in the Mandukya Upanishad is not merely a linguistic chant. It is not a sound that we make through the vocal cords. It is a vibration that is set up. The Upanishad wants to tell us that the universe is nothing but a bundle of vibrations. It is not made up of things, objects, substances, etc. Today people are slowly realising how vibrations are ultimately the essential constituents of even solid things. Light can be converted into matter; matter can be converted into light. We do not say that light is an object like a stone, but that which we call a stone, or a heavy material, is only a concretisation of vibrations of force. Energy continuum is the universe. Om is not merely a sound; it is not a chant, not a language, not a word, not a syllable, but a vibration. So when we chant Om, we are not merely making a syllabic sound, but are setting up a vibration in the system which harmonises the cellular constituents of our personality so that our body and our personality as a whole are set in tune with the object outside.

The whole problem of life is a problem of the harmony of consciousness with objects, and this harmony is to be brought about somehow or other, by some means. This is done by meditation. Various kinds of meditation are prescribed. One of them is the chant of Om, wherein a rhythmic vibration is produced in the system to set the mind in tune with its object so that when such harmony is established, the three states of consciousness slowly dwindle into a single state. The amatra of Om, its soundless form, becomes turiya, which means that the chanting of Om is a help in meditation. Any mantra is a help in meditation, but Om is said to be the mother of all mantras. All vibrations are contained within it. All the letters of the alphabet can be located in it.

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To be continued

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