Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad or Mandukyopanishad is the shortest of the Upanishads . It deals with the syllable Om , the three psychological states of consciousness, waking, dreaming and deep sleep, as well as the transcendent fourth state of enlightenment ( Turiya ).
etymology
The name Mandukya-Upanishad - माण्डुक्य उपनिषद् - māṇḍukya-upaniṣad - is probably derived from a sage named Manduka - माण्डुक -, the son of the Manduki. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad , a clairvoyant of the same name is mentioned along with his disciples, the Mandukeyas . These mandukeyas also appear in the Bhagavata Purana , in which they are entrusted with a branch of the Rig Veda by Indra . The clairvoyant mandukeyas also appear with hymns on linguistics in the Rig Veda.
The Manduki Shiksha is an etymological treatise on the Veda and also explains the musical notes of the scale .
A special yoga is also known as manduka - an abstract meditation exercise in which the ascetic meditator sits motionless in a frog position. Mandukasana is one of the asanas (sitting postures) used in this yoga .
In Hindi , Manduk - मण्डूक - means blossom and particularly refers to the flowering plant Oroxylum indicum, which belongs to the trumpet tree family .
Dating
Nakamura (2004) dates the Mandukya Upanishad to the 1st or 2nd century .
Here is the view of Olivelle (1998):
“Finally we are with the two late prose Upanishads, namely the Prashna Upanishad and the Mandukya Upanishad. They shouldn't be much older than the birth of Christ. "
description
The Mandukya Upanishad belongs to the ten Mukhya Upanishads and forms part of the Atharvaveda . In muktikā -Kanon it is cited in sixth place. It is in prose and consists of only 12 verses.
A commentary on the Mandukhya Upanishad, the Māṇḍukya Kārikā , was written by Gaudapada in the 8th century - one of the earliest works on Advaita Vedanta .
Buddhist influence
According to Hajime Nakamura, the Mandukya Upanishad was significantly influenced by Mahayana Buddhism. Many Buddhist terms and expressions can be found in it, especially the concept of emptiness ( Sunyata ).
The four states of consciousness
The Mandukya Upanishad describes four states of consciousness, namely waking (jagrat), dreaming (svapna) and deep sleep (susupti). These three basic states correspond to the three bodies of the Sarira .
The first state of consciousness in which we are aware of our daily (environmental) world is wakefulness . The waking consciousness corresponds to the gross body. The Mandukya Upanishad describes it as outward-looking perception (bahish-prajna), gross in nature (sthula) and universal (vaishvanara).
The second state is that of the dreaming mind . It corresponds to the subtle energy body . His perception goes inwards (antah-prajna), is of a subtle (pravivikta) and burning nature ( taijasa ).
The third state is that of deep sleep . It corresponds to the causal body . In this state the underlying consciousness is completely undisturbed. Shankara describes this state as
"Lord of everything (sarv'-eshvara), knower of everything (sarva-jnya), controller within (antar-yami), source of all things (yonih sarvasya), origin and dissolution of all created things (prabhav'-apyayau hi bhutanam) . "
The fourth state is Turiya , pure consciousness. It forms the background to the other three states of consciousness or subordinates them. In this state of consciousness, both absolute Saguna Brahman and relative Nirguna Brahman are transcended. In him infinity (ananta) and non-isolation (advaita / abheda) are truly experienced. It is non-dualistic as there are no attempts to force reality into concepts (vipalka). And finally there is also the perception of Ajativada , the state without origin (literally translated the way of not being born ).
Om in the Mandukya Upanishad
The word aum consists of the three mātrās (letters) A , U , and M , whereby the A symbolizes the waking state in which we experience with our mind and sense organs directed outwards. The U represents the dream state in which inward-looking experiences occur. In deep sleep, represented by the sound M , the consciousness, unmolested by the desired nature, can concentrate on itself.
But beyond that there is a fourth, transcendental state, the
“There is neither awareness of the subjective inner world nor of the objective outer world; It is neither a matter of the consciousness of these two worlds united, nor is it simply an accumulation of consciousness; it is neither simply consciousness nor unconsciousness. Rather, it is imperceptible, unfathomable, incomprehensible, unthinkable and indescribable. It is CONSCIOUSNESS that manifests itself in the three states of self. In it all phenomena come to an end. It is absolute peace, pure bliss and no duality. This is what is called the fourth (turiya). This is the Atman that is to be recognized. "
Comments
The oldest commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad that is still available was written by Gaudapada , a forerunner of Shankara . This Māndūkya-kārikā is the earliest treatise on advaita. A little later Shankara wrote his commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, merging the Upanishad with the Kārikā Gaudapadas. Anandagiri then commented on Shankara in great detail in his Tīkā .
In his commentary, Gaudapada adopted the Buddhist doctrine of vijñapti-mātra (the ultimate reality is pure consciousness) and Catushkoti (the so-called four-corner negation ). Gaudapada interwoven both doctrines with the philosophy of the Mandukya Upanishad, which was later expanded by Shankara.
Reception in modern Hinduism
According to Radhakrishnan , the Mandukya Upanishad contains a fundamental approach to ultimate reality.
Sikh translation
For Sikh scholars, the Mandukya Upanishad is one of the most fascinating Upanishads because it deals with the four states of being. Guru Gobind Singh had it translated in Anandpur in 1689 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Nakamura, Hajime: A History of Early Vedānta Philosophy, Part 2 . Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 2004.
- ↑ Olivelle, Patrick: The Early Upanishads . Oxford University Press, 1998.
- ↑ Ken Wilber: Integral Psychology . Shambhala Publications, 2000, pp. 132 .
- ^ Sarma, Chandradhar: The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy . Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1996.
- ↑ King, Richard: Early Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism: The Mahāyāna Context of the Gauḍapādīya-kārikā . SUNY Press, 1995.
- ^ Raju, PT: The Philosophical Traditions of India . Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi 1992.
- ^ S. Radhakrishnan: The Principal Upanishads . George Allen and Unwin, 1969.