Omkara - You are infinite (Part-1)

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Let us continue the contemplation of Omkara Dhyana based on Mandukya Upanishad.

Let us go to the shloka number two. ‘All this is Brahman and yourself is Brahman’. A great equation, Brahman, ‘Brihad’ means ‘infinite’. The infinite is Brahman. This creation what we see is infinite. The space the galaxies, the stars, the living beings it’s infinite creation. What is called ‘etad’, ‘this’. This is infinite and you are feeling you are finite, ‘your body is finite your mind if finite your intellect is finite’. Upanishads says, ‘you are infinite, you are nothing but the consciousness seeing through the body-mind-intellect. Consciousness that sees through your ears; consciousness that hears through your ear; consciousness that feel through your skin; you are ‘That’ Consciousness. And that consciousness is unlimited and infinite and that consciousness has manifested as universe. So you are not a finite being but infinite being.

So the Mandukya Upanishad takes the up the analysis of ‘Three States of Consciousness’, waking, dreaming and deep sleep and speaks about the fourth state. All of us are familiar with the waking state. In waking state we experience the world, world of variety of objects in the world and we have a body. Anything in this creation and everything in this creation is none other than the supreme reality consciousness. It is the consciousness alone that has manifested as this universe. It is the consciousness alone that is experiencing the universe through the body and mind. That means the supreme reality is experiencing the world through the body-mind-intellect complex and experienced is also consciousness, ‘Chaitanya’.

The experiencer in the waking state feels limited by the body and identifies with the body, because of an error in understanding and this is called ego, its waking state ego. And you feel limited, you as consciousness feels limited, because of this identification with this ego and the identification with the body. ‘I am the body’ concept makes you feel limited. In reality you are unlimited.

In waking state the outer world experiences happen, whereas in dreaming state the experiences of inner world happens, memories, feelings, thoughts. In deep sleep state there is a sort of unconsciousness. These are three states through which an ‘Individual Self’ operates. ‘Individual Self’ means ‘Atma’ and ‘Supreme Self’ is called ‘Brahman or Paramatma’. ‘Individual Self’ and ‘Supreme Self’ are one and the same, except ‘Individual Self’ identifies with the ego in the waking, dreaming and deep sleep states, this ego gives a feeling of limitedness. And the whole purpose of Upanishads is to remove this ignorance and make you feel unlimited, which is true nature.

There is a fourth state called ‘Turiya’, which is not a ‘state’ actually and is beyond all this three states. All these states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep emerge from ‘Turiya’, and go back to ‘Turiya’. ‘Turiya’, is a state which you attain in Samadhi. Through Omkara meditation, what you attain is ‘Turiya’. ‘Turiya’, is your real state, ‘Turiya’, is your real being, infinite. From this waking, dreaming and deep sleep emerge and fall back.

Know that you are really beyond the waking, dreaming and deep sleep state, you are the Turiya, the fourth, beyond three, whose consciousness is pure and bliss. The one consciousness goes through this waking, dreaming and deep sleep states and this one consciousness is called Brahman or Supreme reality and that’s what you are, infinite.

Let us chant the second shloka…

‘sarvaṁ hy etad brahma, ayam ātmā brahma, so’yam ātmā catuṣ-pāt’

All this is verily Brahman. The Self is Brahman. This Self has four quarters.

(Mandukya Upanishad, shloka 2)

Omkara - You are infinite (Part-2)

Continuing our contemplation of Omkara based on Mandukya Upanishad.

The second shloka says, ‘All this is Brahman, you are that Brahman, and your Self is Brahman’. The self has four aspects. The four aspects are:

• Waking State – Jagrat Avastha
• Dreaming State – Swapna Avastha
• Deep Sleep State – Shushupti Avastha
• The Fourth (the beyond) – Turiya

We discussed about waking, dreaming and deep sleep states earlier. The waking, dreaming and deep sleep states are the projections in consciousness. ‘Self’, experiences the world through the body and mind, and while experiencing the world through the body and mind, it identifies with the body and mind. The fourth state or Turiya, it is actually not a state. From this all this three states come and go. The fourth is the base or the substratum the base from which they appear and disappear (as the waves rise and fall in ocean). You are that substratum and ‘That’ is Supreme reality. And ‘That’ is the witness of all these three states. You take different egos in all these states, but the Turiya is the witness of all these three states, that is the Self, that is what you are, realise that.

You realise that, ‘I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am not the intellect, I am pure consciousness, Shivoham, Shivoham’. This is the teaching of Mandukya Upanishad. And ‘Omkara Mediation’ is what we do, to realise that ‘we are one with Supreme consciousness, one with the divine’. This is the objective of Omkara Mediation.