Mandukya Upanishad – 3

 

Mantras  4,5 & 6

Mantra 4

Dream State

Swapnasthano'ntahprajnaḥ saptanga ekonaviṃsatimukhah

praviviktabhuktaijaso dvitiyah padah ॥ 4॥

The second pada is Taijasa whose field is the dream state, whose consciousness is inward, who has seven limbs, who has nineteen mouths, and who is the experiencer of subtle (objects).

 The first pada of Athma, as the waking Consciousness, was discussed in the earlier Mantra 3.  Now the second pada of Athma, dream Consciousness, named Taijasa is taken up for discussion in this Mantra. The dream state is restricted to the individual mind only and not the senses and body.  As dream is its abode, Upanishad names Taijasa as swapnasthana.   Being aware of the internal only and not external it is also described as antaprajnah.  The dream-state experience consists of the impressions gained in the past in waking state manipulated by the mind unrestrained by the presence of body and these vasanas of past experience being subtle, Taijasa is called pravivikthabhuk, experiencer of the subtle.  For the dreamer the dream body available for interaction with the dream world is a total one and so Taijasa has nineteen mouths as Viswa, only these are subtle in the form of thoughts being parts of the subtle dream body which is of thought only.   The very same second pada when associated with the entire dream universe at the macro level is called Hiraṇyagarbha.  This Hiraṇyagarbha has seven dream limbs similar to Vaisvanara.

 From the stand-point of dreamer, dream objects are as gross and material as those experienced in the waking state, during the dream-time.  From the view point of waking state alone, one may infer that the dream objects are subtle, i.e., composed of mere impressions of the waking state, in as much as in the dream state no gross object exists at all.

Mantra 5

Deep Sleep State

yatra supto na kaschana kamaṃ kamayate na kaschana svapnaṃ pasyati

tat sushuptam । sushuptasthana ekibhutah prajnanaghana

evanandamayo hyanandabhuk cetomukhah prajnastrtiyaḥ padah ॥ 5॥

That is the state of deep sleep wherein the sleeper does not desire any objects nor does he see any dream. The third Pada is the Prajna whose field is the deep sleep, in whom all experiences become unified or undifferentiated, who is verily, a homogeneous mass of consciousness entire, who is full of bliss and who experiences bliss and who is the gateway to the experience of the two other states (of the waking and the dream).

This Mantra describes the third pada of Athma, sushupthi Consciousness named Prajna and is associated with the individual causal body. As Prajna’s field is deep sleep, Prajna is called sushupthisthana.  Sushupthi being the state of deep sleep without dreams, different from the waking and dream state, there is no external object desired, liked or disliked by the person as in the waking state, nor does one experience the internal projected world as in the dream state.  There is the experience of only one thing, namely a “homogenous mass of consciousness”, prajnanaghana.  There is absence of duality without the knowledge of non-duality in this state. The state of sushupthi is also a state of total bliss due to the absence of mind and samsara and is called anandamaya and so Prajna is called anandabhuk, experiencer of bliss.   But this bliss is not the bliss infinite of Athmananda and the state of bliss that one enjoys during deep sleep is temporary only and one realizes only on waking up that he had been in a state of bliss.  He is not conscious of the bliss during the time of deep sleep.  Deep sleep is simply a temporary state of experience of good rest as the desires, agitations and hidden tendencies that remain dormant in deep sleep, come back to rule over one’s mind on waking up.  This deep sleep state is the link between the waking and the dream states.  Through the deep sleep state alone, one goes to the other two states: waking – deep sleep – dream –deep sleep – waking.  Being the doorway to the experience of waking and dream states this state is called Cheto-mukhah, doorway of experience.  The universal causal Consciousness, Iswara will be discussed in the next Mantra 6.

Mantra 6

esa sarvesvarahesa sarvajna eṣo'ntaryamyesa yonih

sarvasya prabhavapyayau hi bhutanam ॥ 6॥

He is the lord of all. He is omniscient. He is the inner controller. He is the source of all, being the ground of origination and dissolution of beings. 

Consciousness associated with the universe at the total causal level is called Iswara. Though Prajna and Iswara are the Consciousness associated with the sleeper’s body and the sleeper’s world respectively, unlike Prajna,  Iswara is free from ignorance. On the contrary Iswara has omniscience, not just knowledge of one body and one mind but the knowledge contained in the total universe, the past, present and even the yet to be discovered future knowledge, all in potential condition.  The words ‘lord of all and omniscient’ mean the intelligent cause. The word ‘source’ means the material cause. Thus Iswara alone is both the intelligent and material cause of the entire universe.  Iswara is the source of origination of all things and beings and is the ground of resolution just as the ocean is the source of all the waves and the ground of the resolution of all the waves. So to summarise Iswara is described as:

i)             Sarvesvara –  Lord of all beings

ii)            Sarvajna – Omniscient

iii)           Antaryami – “inner controller” of all beings

iv)           Yonih – He is the source of all beings since from the causal state the whole subtle and gross Creation arises.

v)            Prabhava – Originator of all

vi)           Api Ayau – Dissolver of all

In the previous mantra, Athma was called Prajna.  In this mantra, Athma is called Iswara.   Prajna and Iswara put together is called the third pada of Athma.

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