THE MANDUKYA UPANISHAD
translation substantially that of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan & Charles
A. Moore (1957) and Thomas E. Wood (1990) with modifications, dictionary
citations from Arthur MacDonell (1929)
this translation and notes by Kelley
L. Ross, Ph.D.
1. Om: this syllable is all this. A further exposition of it
is: what was, what is, and what will be--all is only Om. And whatever
else is beyond the three times, that also is only Om.
2. All this, indeed, is Brahman. This
Self is Brahman[1]. This Self itself has four
quarters.
3. The waking state, outwardly cognitive, having seven limbs, having
nineteen mouths[2], enjoying the gross[3],
the worldly (vaishvânara)[4], is the
first quarter.[5]
4. The dreaming state, inwardly cognitive, having seven limbs, having
nineteen mouths, enjoying the exquisite, the brilliant (taijasa),
is the second quarter.[6]
5. Where one, asleep, does not desire any desire whatever, sees no dream
whatever, this is deep sleep. The sleeping state, which has become one,
just pure cognition[7], made of bliss (ânanda)[8],
verily an enjoyer of bliss, whose mouth is thought, the cognitional (prâjña)[9],
is the third quarter.[10]
6. This is the lord (îshvara)
of all; this is the knower of all; this is the inner controller; this is
the source of all, indeed the origin as well as the end of all beings.[11]
7. Not inwardly cognitive, not outwardly cognitive, not cognitive both
ways, not pure cognition, neither cognitive nor non-cognitive, unseen,
beyond speech, ungraspable, without any distinctive marks, unthinkable,
undesignatable, the essence of the knowledge of the one Self, the cessation
of the phenomenal world, quiescent, auspicious, nondual (advaita)--[such]
they think, is the fourth. He is the Self. He is to be known.[12]
8. This is the Self with regard to the syllable
"Om"[13], with regard to the elements: the
quarters are the elements and the elements are the quarters: the letter
a,
the letter u, the letter m.
9. Vaishvânara (the worldly) is the waking state, the letter
a,
the first element, either from "âpti" (obtaining) or from
"âdimattva" (being first). Verily, he obtains (âpnoti)
all desires and becomes first (âdi)--he who knows this.
10. Taijasa (the brilliant) is the dreaming state, the letter
u,
the second element, either from "utkars.a" (exaltation) or from
"ubhayatva" (intermediateness). Verily, he exalts the stream of
knowledge and becomes equal-minded; no one ignorant of Brahman is
born in the family of him who knows this.
11. Prâjña (the cognitional) is the sleeping state,
the letter m, the third element, either from "miti" (erecting)[14]
or from "apîti" (merging). Verily, he erects (minoti)
this all and he becomes its merging--he who knows this.
12. The fourth is what is without an element, what cannot be dealt with
or spoken of, the cessation of the phenomenal world, auspicious, nondual.
Thus Om is the very Self. He enters the Self with the Self--he who
knows this.
NOTE 1 -- ayam âtmâ brahma:
the mahâvakya, "great sentence," of the Atharva Veda.
The four "great sentences," one from each Veda, express the fundamental
teaching of the Upanis.ads. The other three are: tat tvam asi, "thou
art that," aham brahmâsmi, "I am Brahman," and sarvam khalu
idam brahma, "all this indeed is Brahman."
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NOTE 2 -- Five senses (sight, hearing, touch,
taste, smell), five organs of action (speech, hands, feet, genitals, anus),
five vital principles (prân.a,
apâna,
samâna,
udâna,
vyâna),
and the "sensorium" (manas) reason (buddhi) ego (ahamkâra)
and apperception (citta).
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NOTE 3 -- sthûla, "thick, bulky,
big, large, stout, massive; coarse, gross; dull, stupid; material, tangible
(phil.)..."
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NOTE 4 -- "belonging to all men; universal, dwelling
or worshipped everywhere, generally known....consisting of all men...intellect
conditioned by the aggregate (Vedânta phil.)..."
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NOTE 5 -- This the first state of the jîva,
or the individual phenomenal self. The physical body accompanies the waking
state.
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NOTE 6 -- This is the second state of the jîva.
The dreaming or "astral" body accompanies the dreaming state. Much has
been made recently of "astral projection," where real journeys can supposedly
be made in the separated astral body.
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NOTE 7 -- "Pure" cognition which is neither inner
nor outer seems to be cognition without an object altogether. This is what
we call "unconsciousness," but there is no unconsciousness in âtman
or Brahman. Instead, the "pure" cognition seems to be a subject
without an object, Knower with a Known (see note 11).
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NOTE 8 -- Since Brahman is defined as sac-cid-ânanda,
"existence-consciousness-bliss," this strongly suggests that deep
sleep is closer to Brahman than the previous two states, a hierarchy
rejected by those opposed to the Monistic interpretation of Vedânta
(see note 11).
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NOTE 9 -- "Intelligence associated with individuality
(phil.)"; "Intensely Conscious Being or Conscious Intensity."
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NOTE 10 -- This is the third state of the jîva.
The causal body (kâran.asharîra) or karmic body (kârman.asharîra)
accompanies the third state. For the Jains this simply consists of one's
karma
and is responsible for the existence and circumstances of life in the phenomenal
world.
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NOTE 11 -- Does this verse go with verse #5,
and so with deep sleep, or with verse #7, and so with the âtman?
"Îshvara" is traditionally interpreted to mean God in a personal
sense, which in #5 would be merely part of Mâyâ, "Illusion,"
(as in monistic Advaita Vedânta) or in #7 would be identical with
Brahman
(as in theistic schools of Vedânta). Verse #6 sytlistically does
seem to go with verse #7, but "îshvara" may not be used here
in the loaded sense of meaning a personal God--the difference may not be
conceived as clearly in this Upanis.ad as it would be in later Vedânta,
and we might regard the causal principle in the third state as no more
than the causal body.
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NOTE 12 -- The fourth state leaves the jîva
behind and now is the pure Self, the âtman.
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NOTE 13 -- Om was originally pronounced
aum;
and this is remembered here, where Om is analyzed into three parts,
with an intangible fourth part.
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NOTE 14 --
"Miti" can also be translated "measuring"--the translation preferred
by those who see "îshvara" as a creative God to be identified with
the fourth state. A third state which "erects" the world does not require
that kind of function in the fourth.
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