माण्डूक्योपनिषद्Mandukya Upanishad

About this scripture

The Mandukya Upanishad, belonging to the Atharvaveda, is the shortest of the principal Upanishads — just twelve prose mantras — yet it is held to contain the essence of all Vedanta. It expounds the sacred syllable Om (AUM) as identical with the Self and with all that is, and analyses the Self into four quarters: Vaishvanara (the waking state), Taijasa (dream), Prajna (deep sleep), and Turiya, the non-dual "Fourth" — the tranquil, auspicious, indescribable ground of all. The sounds a, u, and m are correlated with the first three states, and the soundless Fourth with Turiya. The Devanagari is given with strict IAST and a researched per-mantra meaning gloss in English and Hindi.