Mantra 1.1

1. (U¹) That which, is denoted by the word Om is verily this Imperishable Brahman. That (Brahman) is Full (because He is full of all auspicious attributes). This (Upaniṣad) is an explanation of that Om. The Imperishable is in the Past, Present and Future. The Full is verily Om. That Lord, designated by Om, is even other than that which is beyond the three times.—1.

Notes:

[Note.—Upavyākhyānam (Upavyākhyāna)—near explanation (is now being made). Upa, near, because Om is near every one; vyākhyāna, explanation, an explanation of Him who is near to all. An explanation of God in His aspect of nearness to man.]

[Note.—Iti—thus. The existing in the three times is not a specific attribute of the Praṇava, for the Jīvas also exist in the three times, but the sense is that He exists in one unchanged form throughout the three-fold time, while the Jīva changes its form.]

[Note.—Trikālātītam (Trikālātīta)—beyond the three-fold time. The form which remains unmodified by three-fold time is said to be other than trikālātīta.]

[Note.—Oṅkāra—the Aum-designated. He whose designation is Oṅkāra is derived from the root krīñ with the affix ghāñ having the force of denoting an object.]

[Note.—Varuṇa, the Lord of waters, praises Hari with the verses of this Upaniṣad. That Being who is denoted by Om is this imperishable, indestructible Brahman. He on account of his being full of all attributes is called sarva [sarvam], the full. The word akṣara does not mean the letters A, U, or M which compose the word Om, but denotes imperishable. The Lord is denoted by the word Om, and He possesses the transcendental attributes of existing in all times without modification. The Om called the full is Brahman alone, beyond the three-fold time nothing else can be called full, nor is there anything so transcendentally beyond the three-fold time as Brahman. None else can be said to be trikālātīta in the true sense of that word. Though space (avyākrita ākāśa), time and letters or sound are also trikālātīta, Brahman is above this, and so it is said ‘Om is even other than that which is trikālātīta.’ The Śrī tattva is also trikālātīta and an unmodifiable and unchanging trikālātīta, but it is under the Lord and dependent.

Or the phrase ‘anyat yat trikālātītam,’ may be explained by saying ‘That which is beyond the three times is Om alone, and the other also, namely the Śrī tattva. Besides these two, namely, the Lord Viṣṇu called Om, and the Śrī tattva, none else is trikālātīta in the true sense of the word.’]

Madhva’s commentary called the Bhāṣya:

“Om” is the designation of Brahman, and it is called the akṣara or the imperishable also. For the word Om means literally “that by which every thing is pervaded (otam).” Because this world is woven in Him, therefore Om denotes the Lord Hari.

[Note.—Varuṇa is the Ṛṣi of this Upaniṣad. He assuming the form of a frog or maṇḍuka [maṇḍūka?] praised Hari with these verses, hence this Upaniṣad is called the Māṇḍukya Upaniṣad or “the mystery teaching of the Frog.” The Prāṇava or Om is the name of Brahman. It is derived from the √ava ‘to protect,’ ‘to go,’ ‘to be brilliant,’ ‘to enter.’ It is the last meaning which is predominant in it. That which enters into every thing is Om.—“av + manin = u + m = o + m” (Uṇādi I. 142 and my Edition of the Siddhānta Kaumudi, Vol. II. Part II. p. 181.).]

Thus in the Bṛhat Samhitā we find:—“The Brahman denoted by the word ‘Om’ is full of all auspicious attributes, and hence, He is called sarva [sarvam] or full also. It is the name of Hari, who exists without change of form, as one in all times, past, present or future. He is absolutely and always eternal. In short this is the explanation of Om that He is sarvadā nitya.’ So also in Nairguṇya:—“Because all is created or made through Om, or rather Om is the maker of all, He is called Om-kāra—Om the Maker. Since all-ness and full-ness do not belong to any one else than Hari, and since Om means literally the all, the full, therefore it is the name of Hari.”

The phrase “the full is Om” implies that nothing else is full, but partial. Hari alone is above the three-fold time. (The time can produce no change in Him). Prakṛti, and space and Jīva also are beyond the three-fold time (so being beyond time is no peculiar attribute of Hari). Therefore, the Upaniṣad uses the words “other than”——that which is other than time-transcending is Om.

[Note.—The Jīva and prakṛti are both trikālātīta—beyond the three-fold time. The Lord Hari is something more than trikālātīta—that which is other than trikālatīta is Om. That is, while the Jīva and prakṛti, are trikālātīta, yet they are changed by time, and they undergo changes in time. Not so the Lord. He is one in all times, without any change.

The word ‘eternal’ is sometimes used in the sense of that which persists in a long duration of time. But Om is not such secondary eternal. It is “always (sarvadā) eternal.”]