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• Preface
• Remarks Concerning the Translation Its Method and Arrangement
• List of Abbreviations
• Errata
• An Outline of the Philosophy of the Upanishads
• Chapter I: The Place of the Upanishads In the History of Philosophy
• Chapter II: The Upanishads and Their Place In Indian Philosophy
• Chapter III: First Attempts At the Conception of a Unitary World-ground
• Chapter IV: The Development of the Conception of Brahma
• Chapter V: The Development of the Conception of the Atman and Its Union With Brahma
• Chapter VI: The Realistic Conception of the Ultimate Unity, and the Doctrine of Illusion
• Chapter VII: Idealism and the Conception of Pure Unity
• Chapter VIII: The Outcome On Religion and On the Doctrine of Karma
• Chapter IX: The Outcome On Practical Life and On Morals
• Chapter X: The Artificial Method of Unity In Renunciation and In Yoga
• Chapter XI: Concluding Estimate
• BṚihad-ĀraṆyaka Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• Fourth AdhyĀya
• Fifth AdhyĀya
• Sixth AdhyĀya
• ChĀndogya Upanishad
• First PrapĀṬhaka a Glorification of the Chanting of the Sāma-veda 1
• Second PrapĀṬhaka the Significance of the Chant In Various Forms
• Third PrapĀṬhaka Brahma As the Sun of the World-all
• Fourth PrapĀṬhaka Conversational Instructions
• Fifth PrapĀṬhaka Concerning Breath, the Soul, and the Universal Soul
• Sixth PrapĀṬhaka the Instruction of Śvetaketu By Uddālaka Concerning the Key to All Knowledge
• Seventh PrapĀṬhaka the Instruction of Nārada By Sanatkumāra
• Eighth PrapĀṬhaka Concerning the Nature of the Soul
• TaittirĪya Upanishad
• First VallĪ (Śikshā Vallī, ‘chapter Concerning Instruction’)
• Second VallĪ (brahmānanda Vallī, ‘bliss-of-brahma Chapter’)
• Third VallĪ (bhṛigu Vallī, ‘chapter Concerning Bhṛigu’)
• Aitareya Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• KaushĪtaki Upanishad 1
• First AdhyĀya the Course of Reincarnation, and Its Termination Through Metaphysical Knowledge 2
• Second AdhyĀya the Doctrine of Prāṇa, Together With Certain Ceremonies
• Third AdhyĀya Doctrine of Prāṇa (the Breathing Spirit)
• Fourth AdhyĀya a Progressive Definition of Brahma 2
• Kena Upanishad 1
• (first KhaṆḌa)
• (second KhaṆḌa)
• (third KhaṆḌa) 3
• (fourth KhaṆḌa)
• KaṬha Upanishad
• First VallĪ 1
• Second VallĪ
• Third VallĪ
• Fourth VallĪ
• Fifth VallĪ
• Sixth VallĪ
• ĪŚĀ Upanishad 1
• MuṆḌaka Upanishad
• First MuṆḌaka Preparation For the Knowledge of Brahma
• Second MuṆḌaka the Doctrine of Brahma-Ātman
• Third MuṆḌaka the Way to Brahma
• PraŚna Upanishad 1
• First PraŚna
• Second PraŚna
• Third PraŚna
• Fourth PraŚna
• Fifth PraŚna
• Sixth PraŚna
• MĀṆḌŪkya Upanishad
• ŚvetĀŚvatara Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• Fourth AdhyĀya
• Fifth AdhyĀya
• Sixth AdhyĀya
• Maitri Upanishad
• First PrapĀṬhaka
• Second PrapĀṬhaka
• Third PrapĀṬhaka
• Fourth PrapĀṬhaka
• Fifth PrapĀṬhaka
• Sixth PrapĀṬhaka
• Seventh PrapĀṬhaka
• A Bibliography of the Upanishads Selected, Classified, and Annotated

MĀṆḌŪKYA UPANISHAD

The mystic symbolism of the word ‘Om’:

(a) identified with the fourfold, pantheistic time-Brahma

1.Om!—This syllable1 is this whole world.

Its further explanation is:—

The past, the present, the future—everything is just the word Om.

And whatever else that transcends threefold time2 —that, too, is just the word Om.

2. For truly, everything here is Brahma; this self (ātman) is Brahma. This same self has four fourths.

(b) representing in its phonetic elements the four states of the Self

3. The waking state (jāgarita-sthāna), outwardly cognitive, having seven limbs,3 having nineteen mouths,4 enjoying the gross (sthūla-bhuj), the Common-to-all-men (vaiśvānara), is the first fourth.

4. The dreaming state (svapna-sthāna), inwardly cognitive, having seven limbs, having nineteen mouths, enjoying the exquisite (pravivikta-bhuj), the Brilliant (taijasa), is the second fourth.

5. If one asleep desires no desire whatsoever, sees no dream whatsoever,1 that is deep sleep (suṣupta).

The deep-sleep state (suṣupta-sthāna), unified (ekī-bhūta),2 just (eva) a cognition-mass (prajñāna-ghana),3 consisting of bliss (ānanda-maya),4 enjoying bliss (ānanda-bhuj), whose mouth is thought (cetas-), the Cognitional (prājña), is the third fourth.

6. This is the lord of all (sarveśvara).5 This is the all-knowing (sarva-jña).6 This is the inner controller (antar-yāmin).7 This is the source (yoni)8 of all, for this is the origin and the end (prabhavāpyayau)9 of beings.

7. Not inwardly cognitive (antaḥ-prajña), not outwardly cognitive (bahiḥ-prajña), not both-wise cognitive (ubhayataḥ-prajña), not a cognition-mass (prajñāna-ghana), not cognitive (prajña), not non-cognitive (a-prajña), unseen (a-dṛṣṭa), with which there can be no dealing (a-vyavahārya), ungraspable (a-grāhya), having no distinctive mark (a-lakṣaṇa), non-thinkable (a-cintya), that cannot be designated (a-vyapadeśya), the essence of the assurance of which is the state of being one with the Self10 (ekātmya-pratyaya-sāra), the cessation of development (prapañcopaśama), tranquil (śānta), benign (śiva), without a second (a-dvaita)—[such] they think is the fourth.11 He is the Self (Ātman). He should be discerned.

8. This is the Self with regard to the word Om, with regard to its elements. The elements (mātra) are the fourths; the fourths, the elements: the letter a, the letter u, the letter m.1

9. The waking state, the Common-to-all-men, is the letter a, the first element, from āpti (‘obtaining’) or from ādimatvā (‘being first’).

He obtains, verily, indeed, all desires, he becomes first—he who knows this.

10. The sleeping state, the Brilliant, is the letter u, the second element, from utkarṣa (‘exaltation’) or from ubhayatvā (‘intermediateness’).

He exalts, verily, indeed, the continuity of knowledge; and he becomes equal2 (samāna); no one ignorant of Brahma is born in the family of him who knows this.

11. The deep-sleep state, the Cognitional, is the letter m, the third element, from miti (‘erecting’) or from apīti3 (‘immerging’).

He, verily, indeed, erects (minoti) this whole world,4 and he becomes its immerging—he who knows this.

12. The fourth is without an element, with which there can be no dealing, the cessation of development, benign, without a second.

Thus Om is the Self (Ātman) indeed.

He who knows this, with his self enters the Self5 —yea, he who knows this!

[1 ]Inasmuch as akṣaraṁ means also ‘imperishable,’ the word may in this connection be used with a double significance, namely, ‘This imperishable syllable . . .’

[2 ]A similar phrase occurs at Śvet. 6. 5 b.

[3 ]Śaṅkara refers to the enumeration of the several parts of the universal (vaiśvānara) Self at Chānd. 5. 18. 2; there, however, the list is longer than seven. The exact significance of the number here is uncertain.

[4 ]Śaṅkara explains this to mean: the five organs of sense (buddhīndriya), namely those of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, the five organs of action (karmendriya), namely those of speech, handling, locomotion, generation, and excretion, the five vital breaths (prāṇa), the sensorium (manas), the intellect (buddhi), egoism (ahaṁkāra), and thinking (citta).

[1 ]The part of the sentence up to this point has occurred already in Bṛih. 4. 3. 19.

[2 ]A detailed description of the condition of being ‘unified’ occurs at Bṛih. 4. 4. 2.

[3 ]This compound has already occurred in Bṛih. 4. 5. 13.

[4 ]A description of the self ‘consisting of bliss’ occurs in Tait. 2. 5. It is declared to be the acme of attainment over every other form of self at Tait. 2. 8. 1 and 3. 10. 5.

[5 ]A phrase in Bṛih. 4. 4. 22.

[6 ]A phrase in Muṇḍ. 1. 1. 9; 2. 2. 7.

[7 ]The subject of discourse in Bṛih. 3. 7.

[8 ]Literally, ‘womb.’

[9 ]A phrase in Kaṭha 6. 11.

[10 ]Or, according to the reading ekātma-, ‘the oneness of the Self’ or ‘one’s own self.’

[11 ]The designation here used for the ‘fourth,’ or super-conscious, state is caturtha the usual and regular form of the ordinal numeral adjective. In Bṛih. (at 5. 14. 3, 4, 6, 7) it is named turīya, and in Maitri (at 6. 19; 7. 11. 7) turya—variant forms of the same ordinal. All later philosophical treatises have the form turīya, which came to be the accepted technical term.

[1 ]In Sanskrit the vowel o is constitutionally a diphthong, contracted from a + u. Om therefore may be analyzed into the elements a + u + m.

[2 ]Either (1) in the sense of ‘equable,’ i. e. unaffected in the midst of the pairs of opposites (dvandva); or (2) in the sense of ‘equitable,’ i. e. impartial, alike, indifferent to both friend and foe; or (3) in the sense of ‘equalized,’ i. e. with the universe, which a knower understands exists only as his Self’s consciousness; or even (4) in the very common sense of ‘same,’ i. e. the same as that which he knows.

All these four (and more) are possible interpretations. They evidence how vague (or, how pregnant—it is urged) are some of the statements in the Upanishads, and how capable therefore of various interpretations.

Of each of sections 8-10 there are, similarly, several interpretations.

[3 ]Possibly as a synonym for another meaning of miti (derived from √mi, mināti), ‘destroying’ or ‘perishing.’

[4 ]That is, out of his own consciousness—according to the philosophic theory of subjective idealism expounded in the Upanishads.

[5 ]This is a phrase which has previously occurred at VS. 32. 11.