Mandukya Upanishad (Madhva commentary)

by Srisa Chandra Vasu | 1909 | 15,464 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165

The English translation of the Mandukya Upanishad including the commentary of Madhva called the Bhasya. The describe the secret meaning of Om as the four names and aspects of the Lord (Vishva, Taijasa, Prajna and Turiya). This Upanishad is associated with the Atharva Veda and contains tweelve verses although Madhva reads the Gaudapada’s Karikas as ...

4. (U4) In the region of dreams, the Lord is called the maker of the inner perception. He also has seven limbs, nineteen mouths, enjoys subtle objects, is called Taijasa, the Illuminer. This is the second foot of Viṣṇu—4.

Notes.

[Note.—Svapnasthānaḥ (Svapnasthāna)—the place of dream; seated in the throat, which is the place of dreams, for when the soul abides there then dreams are dreamt. The place of imagination.]

[Note.—Antaḥprajñaḥ (Antaḥprajña)—inward conciousness. The Lord here makes the Jīva perceive the inner objects, the impressions latent in the soul. Such impressions are called here antar or inner.]

[Note.—Praviviktābhuk—eating the differentiated objects, the subtle as different from the dense: experiencing the differentiated, namely, the impressions left by the objects perceived in the waking state.]

[Note.—Taijasaḥ (Taijasa)—the citta or mind consists of tejas or light. Hence it means, the luminous, (because the objects have here a brilliancy not to be found in the physical objects—or the objects of perception in this state are modification of the light (tejas of the citta—the Astral and the mental matter.)]

Madhva’s commentary called the Bhāṣya:

[Note.—Before describing Taijasa and other states, the commentator now describes the nature of dreams. He first explains what is meant by the phrase “enjoying the subtle objects” “having inner perception, etc.]

In the Varāha Purāṇa we find: “Pravivikta or ‘subtle’ is that which manifests itself in dreams, being impressions of objects perceived in the waking state. The state of consciousness by which these subtle objects are perceived is called antar-prajña or inner perception and the Lord is called the Antarprajña because He causes this internal perception.”

[The word pravivikta literally means specifically (pra), distinguished or differentiated (vivikta) from the waking object. The objects perceived in the waking state have an external reality, common to all beings in the same plane: the objects perceived in dreams are revivals of impressions received in the waking state, and have an external reality, only to the dreamer. The perception takes place through the internal organ called manas; so it is called inner perception. The Lord causes the Jīva to perceive these through the inner Organ; and He also knows them: therefore it is called antarprajña. The commentator next mentions the dreamless state called suśupta.]

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