AUM and Its Measures · Chapter Overview
From The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, taught by Acharya T Krishnatrey. This lesson is free to read.
<pre data-block="statement"> The final movement returns to where the text began — the syllable OM — and shows it to be the perfect map of the Self. Mantra 8 declares that the Self, taken as sound, is OM; and its "measures" (mātrās) — the letters A, U, M — are its quarters. Mantra 9 matches A with Vaiśvānara (waking), Mantra 10 matches U with Taijasa (dream), and Mantra 11 matches M with Prājña (deep sleep) — each with a meditation and its fruit. Finally Mantra 12 points to the measureless (amātra) Fourth — the silence after A-U-M — which is Turīya: "thus OM is the very Self; one who knows this enters the Self by the Self." These five mantras turn OM from a symbol into a practice. </pre>