Swaveda

Thirteen Principal Upanishads · Chapter 11

Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad

Translated by Robert Ernest Hume (1921, *The Thirteen Principal Upanishads*, public domain), 1921. Public domain.

  1. 1.1

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    Om 1— This syllable1 is this whole world. Its further explanation is • —

  2. 1.2

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

  3. 1.3

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    The waking state (jagarita-stkana), outwardly cognitive, having seven limbs,3 having nineteen mouths,4 enjoying the gross (sthula-bhnj)) the Common-to-all-men (vaisvanara), is the first fourth.

  4. 1.4

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

  5. 1.5

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    If one asleep desires no desire whatsoever, sees no dream whatsoever1 that is deep sleep (sitszipta).

  6. 1.6

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    This is the lord of all (sarvesvara)? This is the all- knowing (sarva-jna)* This is the inner controller (antar- yamin}? This is the source (yom) B of all, for this is the origin and the end (prabhavapyayau) 9 of beings.

  7. 1.7

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    Not inwardly cognitive (antah-frajita), not outwardly cognitive (bahih-prajna), not both-wise cognitive (ubhayatah- prajiia), not a cognition-mass (prajnana-ghana\ not cognitive (frajna), not non-cognitive (a-prajna), unseen (a-drsta), with which there can be no dealing \a-vy avaharya\ ungraspable (a- grahya)^ having no distinctive mark (a-laksana), non-thinkable (a-ctntya)> that cannot be designated (a-vyapadcsyd), the essence of the assurance of which is the state of being one with the Self10 (ekatmya-pratyaya-sara], the cessation of development (prapancopasama\ tranquil (santa\ benign (hva)> without a second (a-dvaita) — [such] they think is the fourth.11 He is the Self (Atman). He should be discerned.

  8. 1.8

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    This is the Self with regard to the word Om, with regard to its elements. The elements (matra) are the fourths ;

  9. 1.9

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    A phrase in Katha 6. n.

  10. 1.10

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    Or, according to the reading ekatma-, ' the oneness of the Self or ' one's own self/

  11. 1.12

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

  12. 1.31

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    The designation here used for the 'fourth,' or super-conscious, state is mturtha, the usual and regular form of the ordinal nurneial adjective, In Bnh. (at 5. 14. 3, 4, 6, 7) it is named t^^r^ya> and m Maitn (at 6. 19 ; 7. n. 7) turya — variant forms of the same ordinal. All later philosophical treatises have the form a^ which came to be the accepted technical term,

Commentary

Twelve verses; the briefest of the principal Upaniṣads. Treats the four states (waking, dream, deep sleep, turīya) through the syllable Om's three measures plus a fourth. 12 verses parsed from Hume's 1921 translation. Refs are section.verse where section tracks the Upanishad's internal subdivisions (adhyāya / brāhmaṇa / khaṇḍa / vallī / praśna / muṇḍaka, depending on the text). Hume's translation is rigorously literal; modern accessible translations (Olivelle 1998) are cited but not reproduced.