Mandukya Upanishad - Sri ‘M’

Part V

Shloka 9

The vaishwanara, the first quarter of the ‘Supreme Being’ whose sphere of activity is the waking state, is represented by the letter ‘A’, the first element. ‘A’ is derived from the root ‘ap’, which means ‘to obtain’. ‘A’ is also the first letter of the alphabet – akshara. ‘A’ is the first sound that anyone, including a dumb person, can make! So ‘A’ represents the jaagrat avastha, the waking state or the first quarter of the ‘Supreme Being’. ‘He who knows this, the one who understands this, fulfils all desires’. He becomes the first, meaning, the one who understands that all the activity of the waking state is just the first quarter of the ‘Supreme Being’. He becomes the first, which means, he recognizes the first in himself. He obtains an immeasurable capacity to work and attain goals. He understands that the spark of the ‘Supreme Being’ which is within him, has vast capacities, which are beyond the concept of the limited human brain, and therefore ‘he becomes the first’. That is one meaning.

The other meaning is that by understanding that the waking state is after all only a small part of the ‘supreme Being’, he begins to think that it is better to understand the whole ‘Supreme Being’ who is all the four quarters! Whereas, by understanding only the waking quarter, he attains only the first step – one small part of the ‘Supreme Being’.

By understanding the Upanishad and realizing that this is only one quarter of that ‘Supreme Being’, while the whole ‘supreme Being’ is to be known in turiya, he becomes the first, he becomes the most eminent of all persons.

© “Wisdom of the Rishis” by Sri ‘M’, published by The Satsang Foundation, 151, Jewellers Street, Bangalore 560 001. Part IV of this article appeared in Splendour, January 2007 issue. Reprinted with permission.

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