Mandukya
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, a mukhya Upaniṣad of the Atharva Veda, is exceptionally brief (12 mantras) yet philosophically dense. It takes Oṁ (praṇava) as a comprehensive symbol of Brahman/Ātman and uses it as a disciplined framework for analyzing consciousness. By examining waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, it articulates four “quarters” (pāda) of the Self: Vaiśvānara, Taijasa, Prājña, and Turīya. Turīya is not merely a fourth state but the ever-present witness-consciousness—peaceful, auspicious, and non-dual (advaita)—that underlies and illumines all experience. Meditation on Oṁ—A-U-M and the “soundless” remainder beyond phonemes—guides the seeker toward direct recognition of Ātman–Brahman identity, presenting liberation (mokṣa) as immediate knowledge rather than a produced result.
Start ReadingKey Teachings
- Oṁ (praṇava) as the comprehensive symbol and “name” of Brahman/Ātman
- Four pādas of the Self: waking (vaiśvānara)
dream (taijasa)
deep sleep (prājña)
and turīya
- Turīya as non-dual reality: śānta (peaceful)
śiva (auspicious)
advaita (non-dual)
- Apophatic method: ultimate reality is not an object of cognition; it is the ground of cognition
- Correlation of A-U-M and the “soundless” remainder with the fourfold analysis of consciousness
- Distinction between empirical experience and the ever-present witness (sākṣin)
- Mokṣa as recognition/knowledge of Ātman-Brahman identity
not a produced attainment
Verses of the Mandukya
12 verses with Sanskrit text, transliteration, and translation.
Verse 1
ॐ इत्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्वं तस्योपव्याख्यानं भूतं भवद् भविष्यदिति सर्वमोङ्कार एव । यच्चान्यत् त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव ॥१॥
“Oṃ”—this syllable is all this. Its further exposition is: whatever is past, present, and future—indeed all that—is only Oṃ. And whatever else is beyond the three times, that too is only Oṃ.
Oṃ as the totality (sarva) and as the indicator (pratīka) of Brahman/Ātman; time and the timeless (trikāla and trikālātīta)Verse 2
सर्वं ह्येतद् ब्रह्मायमात्मा ब्रह्म सोऽयमात्मा चतुष्पात् ॥२॥
For all this indeed is Brahman. This Self (Ātman) is Brahman. This very Self has four quarters (four “feet”).
Ātman–Brahman identity; four pādas (quarters) culminating in turīyaVerse 3
जागरितस्थानो बहिष्प्रज्ञः सप्ताङ्ग एकोनविंशतिमुखः स्थूलभुग्वैश्वानरः प्रथमः पादः ॥३॥
The first quarter is Vaiśvānara: whose domain is the waking state, who is conscious of external objects, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths, and who enjoys (experiences) gross objects.
Analysis of the waking self (vaiśvānara) as a pāda of Ātman; microcosm–macrocosm mapping (adhyātma/adhidaiva)Verse 4
स्वप्नस्थानोऽन्तःप्रज्ञः सप्ताङ्ग एकोनविंशतिमुखः प्रविविक्तभुक् तैजसो द्वितीयः पादः ॥४॥
The second quarter (pāda) is Taijasa, whose sphere is dream; he is conscious of the inner (subjective) world, has seven limbs and nineteen mouths, and enjoys subtle, distinct objects.
Ātman as the dream-state experiencer (Taijasa); three states analysis; subtle body (sūkṣma-śarīra) and inner cognitionVerse 5
यत्र सुप्तो न कञ्चन कामं कामयते न कञ्चन स्वप्नं पश्यति तत् सुषुप्तम् । सुषुप्तस्थान एकीभूतः प्रज्ञानघन एवानन्दमयो ह्यानन्दभुक् चेतोमुखः प्राज्ञस्तृतीयः पादः ॥५॥
That is deep sleep (suṣupta) wherein, having fallen asleep, one desires no desire whatsoever and sees no dream whatsoever. The third quarter is Prājña, whose sphere is deep sleep: unified, a mass of consciousness, indeed made of bliss, an enjoyer of bliss, and whose “mouth” is mind (cetas).
Suṣupti; causal condition (kāraṇa); prajñāna-ghana; ānanda and avidyā; unity without explicit objectificationVerse 6
एष सर्वेश्वरः एष सर्वज्ञः एषोऽन्तर्याम्येष योनिः सर्वस्य प्रभवाप्ययौ हि भूतानाम् ॥६॥
This is the Lord of all; this is the omniscient; this is the inner controller; this is the source of all; for indeed from this arise the origination and dissolution of beings.
Īśvara/Hiraṇyagarbha-kāraṇa aspect; causal source (yoni) and inner controller (antaryāmin); cosmological attribution to the causal stateVerse 7
नान्तःप्रज्ञं न बहिष्प्रज्ञं नोभयतःप्रज्ञं न प्रज्ञानघनं न प्रज्ञं नाप्रज्ञम् । अदृष्टमव्यवहार्यमग्राह्यमलक्षणम् अचिन्त्यमव्यपदेश्यमेकात्मप्रत्ययसारं प्रपञ्चोपशमं शान्तं शिवमद्वैतं चतुर्थं मन्यन्ते स ...
[Turīya is] not that which knows the inward, not that which knows the outward, not that which knows both; not a compact mass of consciousness; not conscious, not unconscious. It is unseen, beyond transaction, ungraspable, without mark, unthinkable, indescribable; its essence is the sure conviction of the one Self. It is the quelling of phenomenal proliferation—peaceful, auspicious, non-dual. This they deem the Fourth; that is the Self; that is to be known.
Turīya (Ātman/Brahman as non-dual reality; prapañcopaśama)Verse 8
सोऽयमात्माध्यक्षरमोङ्कारोऽधिमात्रं पादा मात्रा मात्राश्च पादा अकार उकारो मकार इति ॥८॥
This very Self is Oṃ as the imperishable, possessed of measures (mātrā). Its quarters are the measures, and the measures are the quarters—namely A, U, and M.
Oṃ as symbol (pratīka) and pointer to Ātman/Brahman; mapping of four pādas to phonemes/mātrāsVerse 9
जागरितस्थानो वैश्वानरोऽकारः प्रथमा मात्रा आप्तेरादिमत्त्वाद्वा आप्नोति ह वै सर्वान्कामानादिश्च भवति य एवं वेद ॥९॥
The waking-state aspect, Vaiśvānara, is the phoneme A, the first measure—because of pervasion/attainment (āpti) or because it is the beginning (ādimattva). Indeed, one who knows thus attains all desires and becomes the first.
Correlation of waking (Vaiśvānara) with ‘A’ (akāra) in Oṃ; upāsanā leading to sādhana and eventual inquiry into TurīyaVerse 10
स्वप्नस्थानस्तैजस उकारो द्वितीया मात्रा उत्कर्षात् उभयत्वाद्वा उत्कर्षति ह वै ज्ञानसन्ततिं समानश्च भवति नास्य अब्रह्मवित् कुले भवति य एवं वेद ॥१०॥
Taijasa, whose sphere is the dream-state, is the letter U, the second mora. Because of superiority (utkarṣa), or because it stands between the two (ubhayatva), he indeed furthers the continuity of knowledge and becomes equal. In his lineage there is none who is not a knower of Brahman—whoever thus knows.
AUM as mapping of states of consciousness; Taijasa (dream-self) and jñāna-santati (continuity of knowledge)Verse 11
सुषुप्तस्थानः प्राज्ञो मकारस्तृतीया मात्रा मितेरपीतेर्वा मिनोति ह वा इदं सर्वम् अपीतिश्च भवति य एवं वेद ॥११॥
Prājña, whose sphere is deep sleep, is the letter M, the third mora. Because of measure (miti), or because of absorption (apīti), he indeed measures and comprehends all this; and he becomes absorption (dissolution)—whoever thus knows.
Prājña (deep-sleep self), laya/absorption, ‘measure’ (miti) and dissolution (apīti) as aspects of Oṃ’s M-mātrāVerse 12
अमात्रश्चतुर्थोऽव्यवहार्यः प्रपञ्चोपशमः शिवोऽद्वैत एवम् ओङ्कार आत्मैव संविशत्यात्मनाऽऽत्मानं य एवं वेद ॥१२॥
The Fourth is without mora, beyond all transaction, the cessation of phenomenal expansion, auspicious, non-dual. Thus the Oṃkāra is the Self indeed. He enters the Self by the Self—whoever thus knows.
Turīya (the Fourth), amātra (soundless), prapañcopaśama (cessation of phenomenalization), Advaita (non-duality)Read Upanishads in the Vedapath app
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