Mandukya Upanishad

01Twelve mantras of the Atharvaveda

The Mandukya is the shortest of the principal Upanishads, twelve prose mantras of the Atharvaveda, and it carries the Atharvavedic shanti mantra bhadram karnebhih. In the Muktika Upanishad Shri Rama tells Hanuman that for one who seeks liberation the Mandukya alone is enough; only if knowledge does not dawn from it need he go on to the ten, the thirty-two and the hundred and eight. Teachers of Advaita say the same in their own way: everything the other Upanishads teach about the Self is here, pressed into a single page.

02Om, the four quarters, the three sounds

The twelve mantras fall into three groups. The first two declare that Om is all this, past, present, future and what is beyond time, and that this Self is Brahman, with four quarters. Mantras three to seven describe the quarters one by one: waking, dream, deep sleep, and the fourth. Mantras eight to twelve lay the same four over the sounds of Om, so that A, U and M answer to the first three and the silence after them to the fourth. The structure is the teaching. To chant Om with attention is to pass, in one breath, through every state of the Self.

03All this is Om

Om iti etad aksharam idam sarvam. Om is all this: past, present and future, and whatever is beyond the three times. The second mantra gives one of the four mahavakyas, ayam atma brahma, this Self is Brahman. Then the Self is shown as having four quarters, matched to the sounds of Om. A, U and M are waking, dream and sleep. The silence after the M is the fourth.

04Vaishvanara, Taijasa, Prajna, Turiya

In waking the Self is Vaishvanara, knowing outward things with nineteen instruments. In dream it is Taijasa, the shining one, knowing inner images. In deep sleep it is Prajna, a mass of knowing, full of bliss, desiring nothing and seeing no dream. Turiya is described only by negation: not inward-knowing, not outward-knowing, not a mass of knowing, unseen, ungraspable, peaceful, auspicious, one without a second. That is the Atman, the Upanishad says; that is to be known.

05Lord of all, in deep sleep

After describing Prajna, the Self in dreamless sleep, the sixth mantra says something that surprises first-time readers: this is the lord of all, the knower of all, the inner controller, the source of all, the place where beings arise and dissolve. Sleep, which looks like blankness, is where the Upanishad finds the cause of the whole world resting in seed form. Waking is Vaishvanara, with seven limbs and nineteen mouths, enjoying gross things. Dream is Taijasa, enjoying subtle things. Deep sleep is Prajna, enjoying bliss with awareness as its doorway. The fourth is none of these enjoyers.

06A, U, M and the silence

The last five mantras explain each sound. A is the waking Vaishvanara, because it pervades all speech (apti) and comes first (adimattva); whoever knows this gains every desire and becomes first. U is the dreaming Taijasa, because it is exalted (utkarsha) and stands between the two; whoever knows this raises the stream of knowledge, and no one in his line will be ignorant of Brahman. M is the sleeping Prajna, because it measures (miti) and absorbs (apiti); whoever knows this measures the world and absorbs it into himself. The fourth has no measure. It cannot be spoken of, it ends the world of appearance, it is auspicious and without a second. Om is the Self.

07Gaudapada's Karika

Acharya Gaudapada, the guru of Shankara's guru Govinda Bhagavatpada, wrote 215 karikas on the Mandukya in four prakaranas: on the Agama (the Upanishad itself), on unreality (vaitathya), on non-duality (advaita) and on the quenching of the firebrand (alatashanti), where the world is compared to the circle a whirled torch seems to draw. Shankara commented on Upanishad and Karika together. The Advaita sampradaya counts this as the first systematic work of Advaita Vedanta.

08The schools read the fourth

For the Advaita sampradaya, read through Gaudapada and Shankara, the fourth is the Self alone, and waking, dream and sleep are appearances upon it, as the circle is an appearance of the whirled torch. Madhvacharya wrote his own Mandukya bhashya and reads the four quarters as four forms of Shri Vishnu, called Vishva, Taijasa, Prajna and Turiya, each ruling over one state of the jiva while staying distinct from it. Madhva also treats the verses of Gaudapada's first prakarana as part of the Shruti. Rangaramanuja Muni explained the Upanishad for the Vishishtadvaita school, where the Lord in deep sleep, the sarveshvara of the sixth mantra, is the inner controller of the soul.

09In every Om

No mantra is chanted in Bharat without Om before it, and the Mandukya is the Upanishad that explains what that syllable holds. The Bhagavad Gita (8.13) says that one who leaves the body uttering Om, the one-syllabled Brahman, and remembering the Lord, reaches the highest goal, and Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (1.27) calls the pranava the word that names Ishvara. Teachers of meditation in every sampradaya use the Mandukya's sequence, letting the A, the U and the M dissolve into the silence that follows. The word turiya, the fourth, has passed from this text into the ordinary vocabulary of Hindu spiritual life.

What it contains

1. 1
   Mantras 1–2

   Om is all this: past, present and future, and whatever lies beyond the three times. All this is Brahman; this Self is Brahman, and it has four quarters.

2. 2
   Mantras 3–6

   The first three quarters: Vaishvanara in waking, knowing outward things; Taijasa in dream, knowing inner ones; Prajna in deep sleep, a single mass of awareness made of bliss. The sixth mantra names Prajna the lord of all, the all-knowing, the inner controller and the source of beings.

3. 3
   Mantra 7

   The fourth, Turiya, described by negation: not inward-knowing, not outward-knowing, not both, not a mass of knowing. Unseen and ungraspable, it ends the world of appearance and is peaceful, auspicious and one without a second. That is the Self, and that is to be known.

4. 4
   Mantras 8–12

   The quarters are matched to the measures of Om: A to waking, U to dream, M to deep sleep, with the fruit of knowing each. The measureless fourth is the Self itself. Whoever knows this enters the Self by the Self.

Famous verses

ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्वं तस्योपव्याख्यानं भूतं भवद्भविष्यदिति सर्वमोङ्कार एव। यच्चान्यत्त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव॥

Om, this syllable, is all this. Its explanation: past, present and future, all is Om alone. And whatever else lies beyond the three times, that too is Om alone.Mandukya Upanishad 1

सर्वं ह्येतद् ब्रह्मायमात्मा ब्रह्म सोऽयमात्मा चतुष्पात्॥

All this is Brahman. This Self is Brahman. This Self has four quarters.Mandukya Upanishad 2

प्रपञ्चोपशमं शान्तं शिवमद्वैतं चतुर्थं मन्यन्ते स आत्मा स विज्ञेयः॥

The ending of the world of appearance, peaceful, auspicious, without a second: this they hold to be the fourth. That is the Self; that is to be known.Mandukya Upanishad 7 (closing words)

अमात्रश्चतुर्थोऽव्यवहार्यः प्रपञ्चोपशमः शिवोऽद्वैत एवमोङ्कार आत्मैव संविशत्यात्मनाऽऽत्मानं य एवं वेद॥

The fourth is without measure, beyond all dealings, the ending of appearance, auspicious, without a second. Thus Om is the Self itself. Whoever knows this enters the Self by the Self.Mandukya Upanishad 12