Mandukya Upanishad - 2

 

Mantras 1, 2 & 3

Mantra 1

oṃ ityetadaksaraṃ idagṃ sarvaṃ tasyopavyakhyanaṃ

bhutaṃ bhavad bhavisyaditi sarvamonkara eva ।

yaccanyat trikalatitaṃ tadapyonkara eva ॥ 1॥

The syllable AUM is all this. (Now follows) a clear and complete exposition of that (syllable.) All this belonging to the past, the present, and the future is Omkara only. And anything else, which is beyond the three periods of time is also Omkara only. 

In the first Mantra, the Upanishad introduces Omkara-vichara, analysis of syllable AUM.  The Upanishad states that Omkara, the word or syllable AUM is everything in the creation and explains that everything belonging to the past, present and future, whether they are inert objects or sentient living beings, are all nothing but Omkara. Whatever the ultimate or absolute reality is, which is beyond past, present and future, is also Omkara. Thus what falls within time and what lies beyond time is nothing but Omkara.  Since Omkara is within time and beyond time, by analyzing Omkara, we are analyzing everything. Thus Omkara is a precious syllable. Omkara is everything and so understanding Omkara amounts to understanding everything within time and beyond time.

The pots that have come out of mud are sustained by mud and go back to mud when they are destroyed. Similarly, the visual world phenomena come out of Brahman, exist in Brahman, and return to Brahman when they are withdrawn from their manifestation.  That Brahman, the eternal, all-pervading principle of Consciousness is represented by the word-symbol AUM is the message of Mantra 1

Mantra 2

sarvaṃ hi etad brahma ayamatma brahma so'yamatma catuṣpat ॥ 2॥ 

All this is verily Brahman. This Athma is Brahman. This Athma has four quarters or Padas.

In this second Mantra Athma-vichara, Self-enquiry, is introduced.  We have three statements in this Mantra which are as under:

1. All this is verily Brahman.

2. This Athma is Brahman.

3. This Athma has four quarters or padas.

We shall now examine these statements.   It is stated in the first Mantra that Omkara is the sound representation of Brahman. Since Omkara is everything in creation, this is also true of Brahman and hence the first statement that all is verily Brahman.  The second statement is a Maha Vakhya that spells out Jiva-Brahma Ikyam.  Brahman which is everything in creation is also as Athma in Jiva making the inert body-mind complex sentient through its reflection in the mind, Chidabhasa.  Athma being one’s true Self, the enquiry into Athma is enquiry into Self i.e.Self-enquiry.  This is first taken up in verses 3 to 7, to be followed by Omkara-vichara in verses 8 to 12.  The enquiry is started with the third statement i.e. the Athma has four quarters or padas.

Here padas mean aspects or facets and not limbs like the four legs of a cow.  The Upanishad wants to say that Athma seems to possess four attributes or four aspects viz., the waking, the dream, the deep sleep and Turiya planes of Consciousness although the first three aspects devolve into the fourth in actuality.  The padas are discussed in the subsequent verses sequentially.

Mantra – 3

The waking state

jagaritasthano bahiṣprajnah saptanga ekonaviṃsatimukhah

sthula bhugvaisvanaraḥ prathamaḥ padaḥ ॥ 3॥

The first quarter (pada) is Vaisvanara, whose field of activity is the waking state, who is conscious of the external world of objects, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths, and who is the experiencer of gross material objects of the world. 

The waking consciousness is the first pada of the Athma,  the first aspect or phase of experience that Upanishad is studying and investigating. The waking Consciousness is jagaritasthanah, that consciousness which has its abode in the wakeful condition of the individual.  It is bahisprajnah, conscious only of the external world, not conscious of what is inside the body.  Virat is the name given to Consciousness as animating the physical universe.  Virat Purusha is the Cosmic Purusha whom Arjuna saw Lord Krishna as and described in the eleventh chapter of Bhagavad Gita.  Virat Purusha is called here Vaisvanara.  Vaisvanara is derived from the term visva-nara where visva means Comos and nara, man and together means the cosmic Purusha, Virat.  We have seen earlier that Athma is Brahman or the individual Self is Universal Self. On this basis the Upanishad is making use of the samashti term in the Mantra for discussing the waking state Consciousness namely Vaisvanara  instead of Vishwa, the vyashti term.  This is because in the waking state, the entire gross world is the field for the individual to interact with, not just one’s own individual body (Vishwa) which is the case in dream and deep sleep states, where the individual only is involved and not the external world.  The first pada is not the waking state itself but the Consciousness in association with the waking state, during which alone the total gross world can be experienced.  

The Upanishad uses both the microcosm and macrocosm in its description of the Consciousness associated with the waking state.   Thus we have the description that it has seven limbs and nineteen mouths. The nineteen mouths are associated with individual Self, Viswa, mouth representing the point of interaction with the external world and the seven limbs with the Universal Self, Virat, covering the entire Cosmos.   The nineteen mouths associated with individual Self, Viswa, are; the five Jnanendriyas i.e, Ear, Eye, Nose, Skin, Tongue; the five Karmendriyas i.e. Hands, Feet, Speech, Anus, Genitals; Panchapranas i.e. Prana, Apana, Vyana,Samana, Udana: and Anthakarana  i.e. Manas, Buddhi, Ahamkara and Chitham.  The seven limbs associated with the Universal Self, Virat, are; Heaven as Head; Sun and Moon as Eyes; Fire as Mouth; Air as Prana; Space as Body; Water as bladder; and Earth as Legs.  Thus Athma, the observer is appearing as Viswa and Virat in the waking state. So in the study of first pada, the waking Consciousness, the Upanishad is bringing about a harmony between the microcosm and macrocosm. 

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