The Mandukya Upanisad
P. Lal and his translation of The Mandukya Upanisad teaches us that there are four components to the symbol Aum (seen above). To write Aum requires three separate strokes of the pen, each of which corresponds to one of the three sounds in the sacred vowel (A-O-M)
The first is the A symbol and sound, written like the number 3. This is the waking state, the reality we all share with each other. The enunciator opens his or her mouth wide to engage external reality; our external gates and senses are open. From P Lal’s translation:
Sloka 3
The first is the waking state.
It has seven limbs and nineteen mouths.
It knows the external objects, it enjoys external objects.
This is common to all persons.
Sloka 9
The waking state is A
Its root is ap, to obtain
Or adi, first.
Who knows this is first.
Who knows this obtains all desires.
As a Buddhist will tell you, the waking state is full of strife and suffering. We are vulnerable, attached to our bodies and our desires, doomed either to faliure or success. Realizing this, the enunciator closes his or her mouth a bit, rounds it into the O shape to make the U sound, which corresponds to the tail of the written Aum:
4
The second is the dreaming state.
It has seven limbs and nineteen mouths.
It looks inward.
It enjoys the subtle and the brilliant.
10
The dreaming state is U
It is the second.
It shines.
It exalts.
It is mid-way.
Who knows this transmits knowledge.
Who knows this is stable.
None is born in that person’s family without knowledge of Brahman.
The third is the dot above the sign, the anusvara or the bindu (yes, like the bindi that women wear). The enunciator closes his or her mouth and hums, making the M sound. The mouth closed, the enunciator has pulled into him or herself and into the highest state, the state of dreamless sleeping. This is the highest state a yogi can attain:
5
The third is the dreamless-sleeping state.
It does not desire anything.
It is deep sleep.
Its face is meditation.
It is pure knowledge.
It is one.
It is a mass of knowledge.
It enjoys bliss.
It is bliss.
11
The dreamless-sleeping state is M.
It is third.
Its root is mi, to measure,
It absorbs.
Who knows this, is absorbed.
But wait! We have exhausted our symbol! What fourth state could there be, what have we forgotten? The most important one of all, the whole point of all this: the page on which Aum is written, the silence in which it is spoken. Nothing can be without being opposed; if Aum is everything, it is opposed by nothingness. The enunciator falls silent, and it is in this pause before his or her next in-breath that the reward of peace can find a foothold.
7
The fourth is the atman.
The fourth is what should be known.
It does not look inward.
It does not look outward.
It is not a mass of knowledge.
It is not knowledge.
It is neither knowing nor not-knowing.
It cannot be seen.
It cannot be possessed.
It cannot be dealt with.
It is the essence of being one.
It is serene.
It is auspicious.
It has no second.
12
The forth is silence.
It does not grow.
It cannot be dealt with.
It is without a second.
It is auspicious.
The syllable Aum is the atman.
Who knows this knows what there is to know.
Who knows this enters the Atman with atman.
There are about 10 people a day who read this blog, so I feel comfortable sharing this knowledge; such truths should not be shared lightly, but they should not be withheld from those who seek them.
Anyone want to sign up to comment/submit writing in this space? email me.