The Mandukya Upanishad is a Hindu scripture.
One of the Upanishads, a group of speculative religious
teachings that make up the most recent layer of the Vedas, the oldest Hindu
holy scriptures.
The central goal of the Mandukya Upanishad is to enquire
into ultimate concerns, particularly the essence of the Self (atman).
Because of its brevity—only twelve verses—and clear
exposition of philosophical monism, the Mandukya Upanishad is widely considered
one of the most recent upanishads.
The first line extols the sound Om, describing it as the
very essence of the cosmos.
The second verse connects Brahman with the universe, the
Self (atman) with Brahman, and describes the Self as having four parts.
The four regions of the Self are described in the following verses, each of which eliminates another layer of egoism:
- The first layer is waking consciousness, which is characterized by subject and object perceptions;
- the second layer is dream sleep, which is pure subjectivity;
- the third layer is deep sleep, which has neither subject nor object;
- and the fourth layer is a mysterious state simply referred to as "the fourth" (turiya), which is the Self itself.
In later verses, the vowels "a" and "u"
(which combine to produce the vowel "o"), as well as the letter
"m," are identified as the three elements of the Om sound.
"Beyond all letters" and "without
duality" is supposed to be the fourth stage.
Knowing this, according to the upanishad, leads to one last
freedom, in which one spontaneously joins with the Self.
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