Mandukya Upanishad
Twelve verses on Om and the four states of consciousness. The shortest, and said to be enough on its own.
The whole universe is Om, and the self has four quarters: waking, turned outward; dreaming, turned inward; deep sleep, a mass of awareness without objects; and the fourth, turiya, which is not a state at all but the peaceful, non-dual self.
The three sounds of Om, a, u and m, map to the first three states, and the silence after it to the fourth. The philosopher Gaudapada's verses on this text became a foundation of Advaita Vedanta.
All this is Brahman. This self is Brahman. This self has four quarters.
English rendering is our own plain-language version.
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1Complete text
ॐ इत्येतदक्षरमिदꣳ सर्वं तस्योपव्याख्यानं भूतं भवद् भविष्यदिति सर्वमोङ्कार एव यच्चान्यत् त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव ॥ १॥
सर्वं ह्येतद् ब्रह्मायमात्मा ब्रह्म सोऽयमात्मा चतुष्पात् ॥ २॥
जागरितस्थानो बहिष्प्रज्ञः सप्ताङ्ग एकोनविंशतिमुखः स्थूलभुग्वैश्वानरः प्रथमः पादः ॥ ३॥
स्वप्नस्थानोऽन्तःप्रज्ञः सप्ताङ्ग एकोनविंशतिमुखः प्रविविक्तभुक्तैजसो द्वितीयः पादः ॥ ४॥
यत्र सुप्तो न कञ्चन कामं कामयते न कञ्चन स्वप्नं पश्यति तत् सुषुप्तम् । सुषुप्तस्थान एकीभूतः प्रज्ञानघन एवानन्दमयो ह्यानन्दभुक् चेतोमुखः प्राज्ञस्तृतीयः पादः ॥ ५॥
एष सर्वेश्वरः एष सर्वज्ञ एषोऽन्तर्याम्येष योनिः सर्वस्य प्रभवाप्ययौ हि भूतानाम् ॥ ६॥
नान्तःप्रज्ञं न बहिष्प्रज्ञं नोभयतःप्रज्ञं न प्रज्ञानघनं न प्रज्ञं नाप्रज्ञम् । अदृष्टमव्यवहार्यमग्राह्यमलक्षणं अचिन्त्यमव्यपदेश्यमेकात्मप्रत्ययसारं प्रपञ्चोपशमं शान्तं शिवमद्वैतं चतुर्थं मन्यन्ते स आत्मा स विज्ञेयः ॥ ७॥
सोऽयमात्माध्यक्षरमोङ्कारोऽधिमात्रं पादा मात्रा मात्राश्च पादा अकार उकारो मकार इति ॥ ८॥
जागरितस्थानो वैश्वानरोऽकारः प्रथमा मात्राऽऽप्तेरादिमत्त्वाद् वाऽऽप्नोति ह वै सर्वान् कामानादिश्च भवति य एवं वेद ॥ ९॥
स्वप्नस्थानस्तैजस उकारो द्वितीया मात्रोत्कर्षात् उभयत्वाद्वोत्कर्षति ह वै ज्ञानसन्ततिं समानश्च भवति नास्याब्रह्मवित्कुले भवति य एवं वेद ॥ १०॥
सुषुप्तस्थानः प्राज्ञो मकारस्तृतीया मात्रा मितेरपीतेर्वा मिनोति ह वा इदं सर्वमपीतिश्च भवति य एवं वेद ॥ ११॥
अमात्रश्चतुर्थोऽव्यवहार्यः प्रपञ्चोपशमः शिवोऽद्वैत एवमोङ्कार आत्मैव संविशत्यात्मनाऽऽत्मानं य एवं वेद ॥ १२॥
Om: this syllable is all this. Here is its explanation. What was, what is and what will be: all of it is Om. And whatever lies beyond the three times, that too is Om.
All this is Brahman. This self is Brahman. This self has four quarters.
The first quarter is Vaishvanara, the universal person. Its field is the waking state. It knows what is outside, has seven limbs and nineteen mouths, and enjoys the gross world.
The second quarter is Taijasa, the shining one. Its field is dreaming. It knows what is inside, has seven limbs and nineteen mouths, and enjoys the subtle world.
When one sleeps and desires nothing and sees no dream, that is deep sleep. The third quarter is Prajna, the knower. Its field is deep sleep. It has become one, a single mass of awareness, made of bliss and enjoying bliss, with thought as its mouth.
This is the lord of all, the knower of all, the inner guide. It is the source of everything, the place where beings arise and dissolve.
Not knowing inward, not knowing outward, not knowing both; not a mass of awareness, neither aware nor unaware; unseen, beyond use, beyond grasp, without marks, unthinkable, unnameable; its essence the certainty of the one self; where the world comes to rest; peaceful, auspicious, not two: this is held to be the fourth. That is the self. That is what is to be known.
This self, as a syllable, is Om. Seen in its parts, the quarters are the sounds and the sounds are the quarters: a, u and m.
Vaishvanara, whose field is waking, is the sound a, the first, because it pervades and because it comes first. Whoever knows this gains every wish and becomes first.
Taijasa, whose field is dreaming, is the sound u, the second, because it rises higher and because it stands between. Whoever knows this raises the line of knowledge and becomes balanced; no one ignorant of Brahman is born in that family.
Prajna, whose field is deep sleep, is the sound m, the third, because it measures and because everything merges into it. Whoever knows this measures all this and becomes the place where it merges.
The fourth has no sound of its own: beyond use, where the world comes to rest, auspicious, not two. So Om is the self. Whoever knows this enters the self through the self.
- Sanskrit text: Sanskrit Wikisource ↗, by Wikisource contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet proofread against a printed edition.
- English: Max Müller did not translate this Upanishad. The English here is our own plain-language rendering of all twelve verses.