SYMBOLICAL REPRESENTATION OF ĀTMA AND ITS CONDITIONS BY THE SACRED MONOSYLLABLE OM
The rest of the Māndūkya Upanishad is concerned with the correspondence of the sacred monosyllable Om and its elements (mātrās) with Ātmā and its conditions (pādas): it explains on the one hand the symbolical reasons for this correspondence and, on the other hand, the effects of meditation bearing both on the symbol and on what it represents, that is to say on Om and on Ātmā, the former playing the part of 'support' for attaining to knowledge of the latter. We will now give the translation of this final portion of the text; but it will not be possible to accompany it with a complete commentary, as that would carry us too far from the subject of the present study:
This Ātmā is represented by the [supreme] syllable Om, which is represented in its turn by letters [mātrās], [in such a way that] the conditions [of Ātmā] are the mātrās [of Om], and (conversely) the mātrās [of Om] are the conditions [of Ātmā] : these are A, U, and M.
Vaishvānara, whose seat is in the waking state, is [represented by] A, the first mātrā, because it is the connection [āpti, of all
sounds, the primordial sound A , uttered by the organs of speech in their normal position, being as it were immanent in all the others, which are varied modifications of it and which are unified in it, just as Vaishvānara is present in all things in the sensible world and establishes their unity], and also because it is the beginning [ ādi, both of the alphabet and of the monosyllable Om, as Vaishvānara is the first of the conditions of Ātmā and the basis starting from which metaphysical realization, for the human being, must be accomplished].
He who knows this verily obtains [the realization of] all his desires [since, through his identification with Vaishvānara, all sensible objects become dependent upon him and form an integral part of his own being], and he becomes the first [in the realm of Vaishvānara or of Virāj, of which he makes himself the center by virtue of that very knowledge and by the identification it implies when once it is fully effective].
Taijasa, the seat of which is in the dream state, is [represented by] U , the second mātrā, because it is the elevation [utkarsha, of sound from its first modality, just as the subtle state is, in formal manifestation, of a more exalted order than the gross state] and also because it participates in both [ubhaya, that is to say, alike by its nature and by its position, it is intermediate between the two extreme elements of the monosyllable Om, just as the dream state is intermediate, sandhyā, between waking and deep sleep]. He who knows this in truth advances along the path of Knowledge [by his identification with Hiranyagarbha], and [being thus illumined] he is in harmony [samāna, with all things, for he beholds the manifested Universe as the product of his own knowledge, which cannot be separated from him], and none of his descendants [in the sense of spiritual posterity] [1] will be ignorant of Brahma.
Präjina, the seat of which is in the state of deep sleep, is [represented by] M, the third mātrā, because it is the measure [miti, of
the two other mātrās, as in a mathematical ratio the denominator is the measure of the numerator], as well as because it is the end [of the monosyllable Om, considered as containing the synthesis of all sounds, in the same way that the unmanifested contains, synthetically and in principle, the whole of the manifested with its diverse possible modes: the latter can indeed be considered as returning into the unmanifested, from which it was never distinguished save in a contingent and transitory manner: the first cause is at the same time the final cause and the end is necessarily identical with the principle]. [2] He who knows this is in truth the measure of this whole [that is to say the aggregate of the 'three worlds' or of the different degrees of universal Existence, of which pure Being is the 'determinant'], [3] and he becomes the final term (of all things, by concentration in his own 'Self' or personality, where all the states of manifestation of his being are rediscovered, 'transformed' into permanent possibilities). [4]
The Fourth is 'non-characterized' [amātra, unconditioned therefore]: it is actionless [avyavahārya], without any trace of the development of manifestation [prapancha-upashama], abounding in Bliss and without duality [Shiva Advaita]: that is Omkära [the sacred monosyllable considered independently of its mātrās], that assuredly is Ātmā [in Itself, outside of and independently of any condition or determination whatever, even of the principial determination which is Being itself]. He who knows this enters verily into his own 'Self' by means of that same 'Self' [without intermediary of any order whatsoever, without the use of any instrument such as a faculty of knowing, which can only attain to a state of the 'Self' and not to Paramätmä, the supreme and absolute 'Self']. [5]
As for the effects which are to be obtained by means of meditation (upāsanā) upon the monosyllable Om, in each of its three mātrās to begin with, and afterward in itself and independently of its mātrās, we will only add that these effects correspond to the realization of different spiritual degrees, which may be described in the following manner: the first is the full development of the corporeal individuality; the second is the integral extension of the human individuality in its extra-corporeal modalities; the third is the attainment of the supra-individual states of being; and finally, the fourth is the realization of the 'Supreme Identity'.