The Mandukya Upanishad - Swami Krishnananda
THE MĀNDŪKYAUPANISHADSWAMI KRISHNANANDAThe Divine Life SocietySivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, IndiaWebsite: www.swami-krishnananda.org
ABOUT THIS EDITIONThough this eBook edition is designed primarily fordigital readers and computers, it works well for print too.Page size dimensions are 5.5" x 8.5", or half a regular sizesheet, and can be printed for personal, non-commercialuse: two pages to one side of a sheet by adjusting yourprinter settings.2
CONTENTSPublishers’ Preface . .3Introduction 5Invocation and Verses .5The Pranava or Omkara .15The Individual and the Absolute .31The Universal Vaiśvānara .49The Mystery of Dream and Sleep .68Consciousness and Sleep . .86The God of the Universe . 92The Transcendent Presence 98The Atman as the Pranava 933
PUBLISHERS’ PREFACEThe present publication consists of the lectures, deliveredextempore, by the Swamiji, in the year 1968, on thephilosophy and teachings of the Māndūkya Upanishad.The First Section of the discourses expounds the meaningof the great mystical symbol, Om, or Praṇava, as aconnotation as well as denotation of the Absolute.The Second Section explains the nature of the UniversalBeing, Vaiśvānara, or Virāt, as delineated in the Upanishad.The Third Section propounds the mystery of Dream andSleep, as also the cosmic counterpart of this state, namely,Hiraṇyagarbha, the Divine Immanent Being.The Fourth Section is an exposition of the profoundsignificance of Sleep in the interpretation of the nature of theSpirit in man.The Fifth Section is centred round the great theme, thenature of Īsvara, the Supreme God of the Universe.The Sixth Section concerns itself with the majesticcharacter of Reality as such, the Absolute, as the TranscendentPresence.The Seventh Section is the concluding summary, devotedto an explanation of the harmony between the constituents ofOm, or Praṇava, and the four states of Consciousness, whichforms the subject of the Upanishad.Herein, the students of Philosophy and Spiritual Life willfind presented the quintessence of the acme of thought andexperience reached in ancient times – the Upanishads.—THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETYShivanandanagar16th November, 1996.
INTRODUCTIONThe theme of the Mandukya Upanishad is an expositionof the Mystic Syllable, Om, with a view to training the mindin meditation, for the purpose of achieving freedom,gradually, so that the individual soul is attuned to theUltimate Reality.The basis of this meditation is explained in the Vidya(meditation), known as the Vaisvanara Vidya. This is thesecret of the knowledge of the Universal Being, designatedas Vaisvanara. Its simple form of understanding is atransference of human attributes to the Divine Existence,and vice versa. In this meditation, one contemplates theCosmos as one's Body. Just as, for example, when onecontemplates one's individual body, one simultaneouslybecomes conscious of the right eye, the left eye, the righthand, the left hand, the right leg, the left leg, the head, theheart, the stomach, and all the limbs of the body at one andthe same time, and one does not regard the different limbsof the body as distinguished from one another in anymanner, all limbs being only apparently different but reallyconnected to a single personality, so in this meditation, theconsciousness is to be transferred to the Universal Being.Instead of one contemplating oneself as the individualbody, one contemplates oneself as the Universal Body.Instead of the right eye, there is the sun. Instead of the lefteye, there is the moon. Instead of the feet, there is the earth.Instead of the head, there is the heaven, and so on. Thelimbs of the Cosmic Person are identified with cosmicelements, and vice versa, so that there is nothing in thecosmos which does not form an organic part of the Body ofthe Virat, or Vaisvanara. When you see the vast world
before you, you behold a part of your own Body. When youlook at the sun, you behold your own eye. When you lookabove into the heavens, you are seeing your own head.When you see all people moving about, you behold thevarious parts of your own personality. The vast wind isyour breath. All your actions are cosmic movements.Anything that moves, does so on account of yourmovement. Your breath is the Cosmic Vital Force. Yourintelligence is the Cosmic Intelligence. Ycur existence isCosmic Existence. Your happiness is Cosmic Bliss.Though the Mandukya Upanishad gives certainsymbolic instances of identification of limbs with theCosmic Body, the meditator, in fact, can choose any symbolor symbols for such form of identification. The creationdoes not consist merely of the few parts that are mentionedin the Upanishad. There are many other things which maycome to our minds when we contemplate. So, we can startour meditation with any set of forms that may occur to ourminds. We may be sitting in our rooms, and the first thingsthat attract our attention may be the objects spread out inthe rooms. When we identify these objects with our Body,we will find that there are also objects outside these, in therooms. And, likewise, we can slowly expand ourconsciousness to the whole whole earth and, then, beyondthe earth, to the solar and stellar regions, so that, we reachas far as our minds can reach. Whatever our mind canthink, 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 conceivedby the mind is identified with the Cosmic Body, the object6
ceases to agitate the mind any more; because that object isnot any more outside; it becomes a part of the Body of themeditator. When an object becomes a part of our ownbody, it no more annoys us because it is not an object at all.It is a subject. The object has become the Cosmic Subject, inthe Vaisvanara meditation.The Vidya has its origin, actually, in the Rig-Veda, in afamous Sukta, or hymn, called the Purusha-Sukta. ThePurusha-Sukta of the Rig-Veda commences by saying thatall the heads, all the eyes, and all the feet that we see in thisworld are the heads, eyes, and feet of the Virat-Purusha, orthe Cosmic Being. With one head, the Virat nods in silence;with another face He smiles; with a third one, He frowns; inone 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 identifiedsimultaneously. When you think, you think all things at thesame time, in all the ten directions; nay, in every way.The Chhandogya Upanishad concludes this Vidya bysaying that one who meditates in this manner on theUniversal Personality of Oneself as the Vaisvanara,becomes the Source of sustenance for all beings. Just aschildren sit round their mother, hungry, and asking forfood, all beings in creation shall sit round this Person,craving for his blessings; and just as food consumed by thebody sustains all the limbs of the body at once, thismeditator, if he consumes food, shall immediately7
communicate his blessings to the whole cosmos, for hisBeing is, verily, All-Being.We may recall to our memory the famous story of SriKrishna taking a particle of food from the hands ofDraupadi, in the Kamyaka forest, when she called to Himfor help, and with this little grain that he partook of, thewhole universe was filled, and all people were satisfied,because Krishna stood there tuned up with the UniversalVirat. So is also the case with any person who is in aposition to meditate on the Virat, and assume the positionof the Virat. The whole universe shall become friendly withthis Person; all existence shall ask for sustenance andblessing from this Universal Being. This meditator is nomore a human being; he is veritably, God Himself. Themeditator on Vaisvanara is himself Vaisvanara, theSupreme Virat.8
INVOCATION AND VERSESOm! Bhadram karnebhih s’rnuyāma devāhbhadram sastanūbhirvyaśema devahitam yadāyuhsvasti na indro vriddhaśravāhsvasti nah pūṣhā Viśvavedāhsvasti nastārkṣhyo ariṣhtanemihsvasti no brihaspatirdadhātuOm śāntih; śāntih; śāntih“Om. Shining Ones! May we hear through our ears what isauspicious; Ye, fit to be worshipped! May we see with oureyes what is auspicious; May we, endowed with body strongwith limbs, offering praise, complete the full span of lifebestowed upon us by the divine beings; May Indra, ofenhanced fame, be auspicious unto us; May Pūshan, who isall-knowing, be auspicious unto us; May Tārkshya, who isthe destroyer of all evils, be auspicious unto us; MayBrihaspati bestow upon us auspiciousness!Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!9
aum ity etad akṣaram idam sarvam, tasyopavyākhyānambhūtam bhavad bhaviṣyad iti sarvam auṁkāra evayac cānyat trikālātītaṁ tad apy auṁkāra eva.1. OM! This Imperishable Word is the whole of thisvisible universe. Its explanation is as follows: What hasbecome, what is becoming, what will become – verily,all of this is OM. And what is beyond these three statesof the world of time – that too, verily, is OM.sarvaṁ hy etad brahma, ayam ātmā brahma,so’yam ātmā catuṣ-pāt.2. All this, verily, is Brahman. The Self is Brahman. ThisSelf has four quarters.jāgarita sthāno bahiṣ-prajñaḥ saptāṅgaekonaviṁśati-mukhaḥ sthūla-bhug Vaiśvānaraḥprathamaḥ pādah.3. The first quarter is Vaiśvānara. Its field is the wakingstate. Its consciousness is outward-turned. It is sevenlimbed and nineteen-mouthed. It enjoys gross objects.10
svapna-sthāno’ntaḥ-prajñaḥ saptāṅga ekonavimśatimukhaḥpravivikta-bhuk taijaso dvītiyaḥ pādah.4. The second quarter is taijasa. Its field is the dream state.Its consciousness is inward-turned. It is seven-limbedand nineteen-mouthed. It enjoys subtle objects.yatra supto na kaṁ cana kāmaṁ kāmayatena kaṁ cana svapnam paśyati tat suṣuptamsuṣupta-sthāna ekī-bhūtaḥ prajñānā-ghana evānandamayohy ānanda-bhuk ceto-mukhaḥ prājñas tṛtīyaḥ pādah.5. The third quarter is prājña, where one asleep neitherdesires anything nor beholds any dream: that is deepsleep. In this field of dreamless sleep, one becomesundivided, an undifferentiated mass of consciousness,consisting of bliss and feeding on bliss. His mouth isconsciousness.eṣa sarveśvaraḥ eṣa sarvajñaḥ, eṣo’ntāryamieṣa yoniḥ sarvasya prabhavāpyayau hi bhūtānām.11
6. This is the Lord of All; the Omniscient; the IndwellingController; the Source of All. This is the beginning andend of all beings.nāntaḥ-prajñam, na bahiṣ prajñam, nobhayataḥ-prajñam,na prajnañā-ghanam, na prajñam, nāprajñam;adṛṣtam, avyavahārayam, agrāhyam, alakṣaṇam,acintyam, avyapadeśyam, ekātma-pratyaya-sāram,prapañcopaśamam, śāntam, śivam, advaitam,caturtham manyante, sa ātmā, sa vijñeyaḥ.7. That is known as the fourth quarter: neither inwardturned nor outward-turned consciousness, nor the twotogether; not an indifferentiated mass of consciousness;neither knowing, nor unknowing; invisible, ineffable,intangible, devoid of characteristics, inconceivable,indefinable, its sole essence being the consciousness ofits own Self; the coming to rest of all relative existence;utterly quiet; peaceful; blissful: without a second: this isthe Ātman, the Self; this is to be realised.so’yam ātmādhyakṣaram auṁkaro’dhimātram pādā mātrāmātrāś ca pādā akāra ukāra makāra iti.12
8. This identical Ātman, or Self, in the realm of sound isthe syllable OM, the above described four quarters ofthe Self being identical with the components of thesyllable, and the components of the syllable beingidentical with the four quarters of the Self. Thecomponents of the Syllable are A, U, M.jāgarita-sthāno vaiśvānaro’kāraḥ prathamāmātrā’pter ādimattvād vā’pnoti ha vaisarvān kāmān ādiś ca bhavati ya evaṁ veda.9. Vaiśvānara, whose field is the waking state, is the firstsound, A, because this encompasses all, and because it isthe first. He who knows thus, encompasses all desirableobjects; he becomes the first.svapna-sthānas taijasa ukāro dvitīyāmātrotkarṣāt ubhayatvādvotkarṣati ha vaijñāna-saṁtatiṁ samānaś ca bhavatināsyābrahma-vit-kule bhavati ya evam veda.10. Taijasa, whose field is the dream state, is the secondsound, U, because this is an excellence, and contains thequalities of the other two. He who knows thus, exalts13
the flow of knowledge and becomes equalised; in hisfamily there will be born no one ignorant of Brahman.suṣupta-sthānaḥ prājño makāras tṛtīya mātrāmiter apīter vā minoti ha vā idaṁsarvam apītiś ca bhavati ya evaṁ veda.11. Prājña, whose field is deep sleep, is the third sound, M,because this is the measure, and that into which allenters. He who knows thus, measures all and becomesall.amātraś caturtho’vyavahāryaḥ prapañcopaśamaḥsivo’dvaitaevam auṁkāra ātmaiva, saṁviśaty ātmanā’tmānaṁ yaevaṁveda ya evaṁ veda.12. The fourth is soundless: unutterable, a quieting down ofall relative manifestations, blissful, peaceful, non-dual.Thus, OM is the Ātman, verily. He who knows thus,merges his self in the Self – yea, he who knows thus.Om śantih; śantih; śantihOm Peace! Peace! Peace!14
THE PRANAVA OR OMKARAThe Vedas, in their form as the Samhitās, constitute anintroduction to the subject dealt with in the Vedānta or theUpanishads. The Upanishads are secret teachingscontaining wisdom beyond the realm of the earth andrevealing proclamations of the great sages of yore on thenature of Reality. Among the Upanishads, the Māndūkyamay be regarded as the most important, and it is aptly said– māndūkyam ekam eva alam mumukshūnām vimuktaye for the liberation of the mumukṣhū or seeker the Māndūkyaalone is enough; and if you are able to understand the truemeaning of this single Upanishad, there may not be anecessity to study any other Upanishad, not even theChhāndogya or the Brihadāranyaka, because the theme ofthe Māndūkya Upanishad is a direct approach to the depthsof human nature. It does not give analogies, tell stories ormake comparisons. It states bare facts in respect of man ingeneral and Reality in its essential character. A verycomprehensive Upanishad is this, containing only twelvestatements called mantras, in which the whole wisdom orknowledge of the Upanishads is packed into a nutshell. TheUpanishad commences with a prayer. All Upanishads startwith a prayer – prayer to the guardians of the quarters, thedeities or the manifestations of God, who rule the whole ofcreation, that we be blessed with health and understandingin order to go into the secrets of the Upanishads, tomeditate upon them and to realise the Truth proclaimed inthem.The Māndūkya Upanishad is attributed to the revelationof a great sage called Māndūka. That which pertains to
Māndūka is Māndūkya. The Upanishad or the secretteaching revealed to the sage Māndūka is the MāndūkyaUpanishad. It commences with a solemn declaration:Ōmityetadakṣharamidam sarvam, tasyopavyākhyanam,bhūtam bhavatbhaviṣhyaditi sarvamomkāra eva;yaccānyat trikālātītam tadapyomkāra eva.The Imperishable is OM, and it is ‘all this’. Everythingelse, whatever be of the past, present or future, is like anexposition, explanation or commentary on the meaning ofthis great Truth – the Imperishable Om. Sarvam Omkāraeva: Everything is Om, indeed. This is how the Upanishadbegins. Ōm ityetadakṣharam idam sarvam: All this,whatever is visible, whatever is cognizable, whatever cancome within the purview of sense-perception, inference orverbal testimony, whatever can be comprehended under thesingle term, creation – all this is Om.We have been reciting ‘Om’ many a time, and it is acustom with most of us to greet one another with Om, torecite anything with Om and start japa of any mantra withthe chanting of Om. The implication is that Omcomprehends all things and it makes also a very auspiciousbeginning to everything. OM and Atha are supposed to betwo auspicious terms: ‘Om, Atha; Om, Atha; Om, Atha;Om;’ do we recite daily. In the beginning, Om is supposedto have been the first vibratory sound that emanated as theseed of creation. Om is Praṇava. It is a bīja-mantra for allthe other mantras, whether vaidika or tāntrika. In therecitation of Om we comprehend not merely all meaningbut also all language. All verbal implication as well asobjective reference is included in Om. Om is both nāma16
and rūpa, name as well as form. It is not merely a sound,though it is also a sound, and a very important aspect ofOm that you have to bear in mind is that Om is not merelya chant or a recitation, a word or a part of human languagebut it is something more than all this. It is something whichexists by its own right, something which is usually calledvastu tantra, as distinguished from puruṣha tantra – thatwhich exists not because it has a reference to anything elsebut because it is something by itself. We do not create Omby a chanting of it, but we only produce a vibrationsympathetic with the vibration that is already there by itsown right and which is called Om. Om is a cosmicvibration. It is not a chant made by us, created by us orinitiated by us. Why do we chant Om? To establish aconnection between ourselves and that which exists by itsown right and which manifests itself as a sound-vibrationin the form of Om.The Supreme Absolute is the rūpa (Form) of Om whichis the nāma (Name). As everything in the world isdesignated by a name, we designate Īsvara, God, also, by aname. As we summon into our consciousness a form bycalling out its name, remembering its name, so also wesummon into our consciousness the Being or the Form ofĪsvara, God, by summoning His Name. And just as thename of a particular object is connected with that object bya description of the character of that object, Om also, as theName of Īsvara, describes Īsvara, and by this uniquedescription of it, it enables us to contemplate the form ofĪsvara. A mountain is a name, a river is a name, fire is aname, man is a name, woman is a name, Rāma is a name,17
Kriṣhna is a name; and so on, we have many names – nāma.These names correspond to particular forms which theyconnote and also denote. When you utter a name, the formcorresponding to that name comes to your mindautomatically, spontaneously as it were, because of apermanent connection that has been established betweenthe particular name and its corresponding form. Howmuch we are influenced by a name, every one of you knowsvery well. If you are called by a particular name, you may bepleased or displeased. There are names, by which you maybe called, which may annoy you, put you out of yourbalance, because of the reason that you have created apermanent association in your mind between a particularnāma and its corresponding rūpa. For example, if you areaddressed as ‘mahārāj’, you are pleased; but if you areaddressed as an ‘ass’, you are displeased. The reason is theassociation that you have established in your mind andfeeling between the name ‘mahārāj’ and its correspondingsignificance, or the name ‘ass’ and its correspondingsignificance. Names create vibrations within us. Supposeone of you suddenly cries out, ‘snake! snake!’ just now, youwill all get up suddenly, and listen to nothing that I say.What sort of vibration it creates in your mind – the wordsnake! You have established a contact in your psychologicalbeing between the name ‘snake’ and its correspondingmeaning or significance, and its connection with you. Whatit means, you know very well. Every name in the world hasa form and a meaning attached to it. Every form is notmerely a counterpart of the name with which it isconnected, but it has a relation with other forms, as well.18
Now, we come from what we call Īsvara-sriṣhti to jīvasriṣhti. Īsvara-sriṣhti is the form corresponding to a name,as it is by its own right. jīva-sriṣhti is the psychologicalconnection that you have established between yourself andthe correspondin
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 ViratPurusha, or - the Cosmic Being. With one head, the Virat nods in silence; with another face He smiles; with a third one, He frowns; in
Oct 06, 2018 · 1. Mandukya Upanishad 12 2. Isavasya Upanishad 18 3. Amrthabindu Upanishad 22 4. Kaivalya Upanishad 25 5. Aitareya Upanishad 33 6. Kena Upanishad 35 7. Taittriya Upanishad 52 8. Mundak Upanishad 65 9. Prasno Upanishad 67 10. Svetasvataro Upanishad 113 11. Katho Upanishad 119 12. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 434 13. Chandogya Upanishad 627
Oct 14, 2018 · Rig Veda Suklya Yajur Veda Krishna Yajur Veda Sama Veda Atharva Veda 6. Shaiva Upanishads (14) Akshamalika Upanishad (86) Pancha brahma Upanishad (89) Jabala (Sama) Upanishad (87) Atharva sira Upanishad (94) Kaivalya Upanishad (90) Rudraksha jabala Upanishad (88) Atharva sikha Upanishad (95)
Upanishad. The Katha Upanishad is such an esoteric, mystical, spiritual exposition appended to a Brahmana of the Krishna- Yajur-Veda. This Upanishad has within it implanted the wisdom of the entire life of man woven into a story of a great seeker of Reality we know as Nachiketas. This is the story of a great aspirant called Nachiketas; how
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[Mantra 2] - Atharvana Veda Anusandhana Vakya - Aham Brahma Asmi - I am Brahman - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad [I – IV – 10] - Yajur Veda 12 . 12 Upanishads . Rig Veda 1 Upanishad - Aitareya Upanishad 13 . 14 . 4 Prakaranams (Chapters) Agama Vaitatya - Falsify, unreality of multiplicity.
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