Hark, The Sound Of Silence

Hark, The Sound Of Silence

The Mandukya Upanishad maps out the entire range of life experiences in the sound of Aum, Pranava, in sketching out the mystery of Brahmn in 12 short verses. It does so by juxtaposing the four states of consciousness with the syllable Aum, and alludes to how this Aum-Pranava sound syllable corresponds to each of those states.

The opening aphorism sets the tone for an enquiry into the cause of the material-temporal world, by asserting that the Aum principle lies at the root of not only the manifest universe, but is at the heart of the cosmic rhythm itself. While establishing Aum as the sonic measure of the universe Mandukya equates it with Brahm or the ``four-footed'' Atman.

Mandukya goes into a description of the four stages of Consciousness which define the Atman, the jagrat or waking state, swapna or dream state, the sushupti or the sleep state, and turiya, the fourth transcendent state. This analysis of the Self as Consciousness begins with the immediacy of sense perceptions felt in the waking state perceptions felt in the waking state, where all of us are alive to the body and visible world. This waking consciousness, Vaishvanara, makes us aware of and responds to the external as we go about our daily lives, operating through `seven limbs' and `19 mouths' ­ jna nendriyas, karmendriyas and pranas five each respectively and four inner faculties of manas, buddhi, ahamkara and chitta.

Taijasa is the second aspect of the Self, the dream consciousness, which interiorises the external world within the mind that creates an entire world of its own, and comes alive with the same intensity as one was feeling the external world earlier in the waking state. This dream state could be triggered as a result of unfulfilled desires or result from tapping into a subtle realm inadvertently , but the dream state is as real to the dreamer as is the waking state to a person. Mandukya alludes to the fact that the mind is active in both these states.

When the mind has withdrawn itself completely , there arises the sushupti state of deep sleep. This prajna-ghanah with no external or subtle mind movement, induces a happiness greater than the one obtained through senses.

The bliss of deep sleep takes one into a causal state where one is neither distracted nor distraught with desires. It is a state which is enjoyed momentarily by each of us to wake up refreshed and energised. Mandukya urges the seeker to refine his consciousness so as to summon this blissful state at will, through yogic sadhana.

Turiya is the fourth state of consciousness wherein thought itself has found its source and has got absorbed in it. It is the state in which the knower and the known become one.

Mandukya likens the turiya state of pure consciousness to the syllable Aum, the primordial sound of silence. He then breaks up the syllable Aum into the three matras of A, U and M, showing how the letter `A' corresponds to the waking state of consciousness, `U' to the dream state and `M' to the deep-sleep state. The fourth letter and state is the sound of Aum itself, from which the manifest universe has burst forth, Sphuta, the frequency , so to say, at which primal energy resonates, and into which all sounds get absorbed. When sounds merge into the pranava, the Atman alone remains, beyond the mind-matrix.

Om Namah Shivay