MANDUKYA UPANISHAD : Chapter-1. "AGAMA PRAKARANA" ( The Scriptural Treatise ) Mantram-5, Discussion-4.

19/01/2018

MANDUKYA UPANISHAD

Chapter-1.

AGAMA PRAKARANA"
( The Scriptural Treatise )

Mantram-5

*****************************
Yatra  supto  na  kascana kamam  kamayate,

na  kascana  svapanam  pasyati,  tat  susuptam,

susupta-sthana  ekibhutah  prajnana-ghana

eva-nandamayo  hyananda-bhuk  ceto-

prajnah  trtiyah  padah.

*****************************
word by meaning : -

yatra = where;

suptah = self-ignorant;

na = not;

ekona  vimsati  mukhah = has nineteen mouths;

kascana  kamam = any  external  objects;

kamayate = desires;

na = does  not;

kascana  svapnam = any  dream;

pasyat = sees;

tat = that;

susuptam = is the deep-sleep  state;

susupta  sthanah = whose  fieldis  the  deep-sleep  state;

ekibhutah = unified;

prajnana  ghanah  eva = mass of mere consciousness;

ananda-mayah = full of bliss;

hi  ananda-bhuk = indeed  the  enjoyer of bliss;

cetah  mukhah = doorway to the experience ( of  waking  and  dream );

prajnah = is consciousness;

trtiyah  padah = the  thir quarter.

********************************************
The sum of Mantram : -
............................
That  is the  state  of  deep-sleep  wherein  the  sleeper  doesnot  desire any  objects,  nor  does  he  see  any  dream.
The  third  quarter  ( pada )  is  the  Prajna ( Consciousness )  whose  sphere  is  deep-sleep,  in  whom  all ( experiencees )  become  unified  or  undifferentiated,  who  is  verily  a  homogenous  mass  of  Consciousness  entire,  who  is  full  of  bliss,  who  is  indeed  an  enjoyer  of  bliss  and  who  is  the  gateway  for  the  projection  of  Consciousness  into  other  two  planes  of  Consciousness ---  'the  dream  and  the  waking'.
*********************************************************************************

Discussion-4.

But, when we have transcended both these states of waking and dream, we will be in a state called the deep-sleep, and in that state the Consciousness in us is illuminating neither the gross objects of the outer world nor the subjects of the mental zone.

There in the deep-sleep-state, the entire Consciousness in us seems to have collected together in us and crystallised into one mass of Awareness.

At this state of experience, our entire Consciousness has become a homogeneous mass of Awareness ( PRAJNANA-GHANA ).


This state of homogeneous Consciousness is considered as a state of bliss, because none of the causes that creates our mental agitation during the waking and the dream states is present there.

Not that in the deep-sleep-state we are actually aware of the bliss, which is the essential nature of that experience, but on waking up from sleep, we compare our experiences with the waking and deep-sleep-states and declare that there is, in deep-sleep-state, a perfect joy and bliss.


Thus, the great Upanishad-s, in describing that the state of Consciousness in deep-sleep-state, characterises as it as a mass of bliss :- it is not so much to assert the experience of any positive bliss as to indicate that the causes for the agitations are not there.

The mental agitation and unrest are caused by the plurality and deeply-printed mental impressions of the objects of the world.

We, identifying our joy with the sense-objects, demand their acquisition, maintenance and enjoyment, and when we cannot get them, there is MENTAL AGITATION.

To be continued ...