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Maandookya Upanishad

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Maandookya Upanishad

This Upanishad has been named after the sage Maandookya and belongs to the Atharv Ved group of Upanishad.

Among all the Upanishads, Maandookya Upanishad is supposed to be the shortest and at the same time the most difficult and the most important of all the 108 Upanishad for the reason that within the short compass of 12 Mantra, it speaks of the entire range of human consciousness beginning from the waking state and ending with the supreme absolute state of super-consciousness where all objective relations and perceptions of duality are completely negated. Some consider it as an epitome of all the 108 Upanishad. Even though it contains lesser number of Mantra, the Upanishad asserts unequivocally, that the Absolute Reality is non-dual (A-Dwiteeya or A-Dwait) and attributeless (Nir-Gun). This is meant to be given by Varun Dev (Rain God) in the form of Mandook (frog). It has one of the 4 Mahaavaakya of A-Dwait - "Ayaam Aatmaa Brahmah - my Aatmaa is Brahm". In fact Mukti Upanishad says about it that it alone is sufficient for Mukti (salvation).

The Upanishad spells out a method of approach to Truth. It consists the analysis of the three states of waking, dream, and deep sleep, which are common to all men. Through a study of these three states, a way is suggested to form the necessary intellectual background for cultivating the higher life.

Though it describes the first 4 stages of Consciousness, viz. Jaagrat Avasthaa - Wakeful State, Swapn Avasthaa - Dream State, Sushupt Avasthaa - Deep Sleep State and Tureeya Avasthaa - 4th State. In the wakeful state the mind thinks of what is perceived by the 5 Gyaan Indriya (Organs) - Eye, Nose, Ear, Throat and Skin. In Dream State, the mind creates its own hallucinations in the form of a dream. In the Deep Sleep State, the mind goes to rest and it is found that even the heart beat becomes very low and feeble. In the 4th State of Consciousness, even the mind becomes non-existent and only the Aatmaa is awake. It also describes about Aapti, Utkarsham, Mukti and a pause - This denotes Omkaar.

Thus it is to be recited only by the Sanyaasee - who have taken the way of Ascetics.

But Raaj Yog of Sanaatan Dharm also gives a 5th State of Consciousness - Tureeyaateet Avasthaa - The 5th State during which even the mind becomes Dead. This is not mentioned in the Maandukya Upanishad. This is verily found in Raaj Yog.

Arising out of its terseness, the philosophic implications are just hinted in the text. Subsequently, these were elaborated in the famous Kaarikaa on this Upanishad by Gaudaapaad, who is considered as the as the grand-preceptor of Aachaarya Shankar. One can not get an insight into the unique system of thought forming the background of this Upanishad, without the study of the Kaarikaa.

Shankar considers that this Upanishad  is Vedaantaarth Saar Sangraha Bhootam. Its specialty lies in its analysis of the three states -Jaagrit, Swapn and Sushupti. Through these dstates, the fourth one, Tureeya Avasthaa is explained.

There is a little explanatory story in which the great sage Raajarishi Janak had a dream in which he was a beggar going around in rags with a begging bowl, suffering a lot of misery and hunger. Then he wakes up and realizes he is in his palace, lying in his bed. He is confused. He has a question to ask the great sage, Yaagyavalkya, who is his Guru. He asks him - "Sir, please answer this question, "Am I a beggar or am I a king? Because, being a beggar was a very real experience. Suppose my dream had stretched on for long and I did not wake up from that state, then I would have continued in that beggar's existence. Now that I have woken up I can say that it is a dream. So please tell me, what am I in reality? Where do I anchor myself?' So this is the dream state; it is real and it is an experience of the subtle world, the inner world of imagination and thoughts. Many a time, what is not fulfilled in our waking state may be fulfilled in the dream state. Sometimes, bottled-up emotions and desires, long forgotten or suppressed, may surface in the form of dreams. His Taijas, or dream state, has a way of inventing its own world which is similar to day-dreaming. Sometimes, in the waking state, we sit down and imagine various things. At that time, most of our mind is in the Jaagrit place and so we are able to recognize this activity as an imagination or visualization, but in Swapn, What happens is that the Jaagrit or the waking state is held in abeyance, it is `closed' . So the Swapn becomes real.

END OF MAANDOOKYA UPANISHAD

 

 

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Created by Sushma Gupta on 3/15/05
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Updated on 06/07/13