सुषुप्तस्थानश्चतुरात्म प्राज्ञैइश्वरश्चतुरूपो मकार एव चतूरूपो ह्ययं मकारः स्थूलसूक्ष्मबीजसाक्षिभिर्मकाररूपैर्मितेरपीतेर्वा स्थूलत्वात्सूक्ष्मत्वाद्बीजत्वात्साक्षित्वाच्च मिनोति ह वा इदं सर्वमपीतिश्च भवति य एवं वेद
suṣuptasthānaścaturātma prājñaiiśvaraścaturūpo makāra eva catūrūpo hyayaṃ makāraḥ sthūlasūkṣmabījasākṣibhirmakārarūpairmiterapītervā sthūlatvātsūkṣmatvādbījatvātsākṣitvācca minoti ha vā idaṃ sarvamapītiśca bhavati ya evaṃ veda
Abiding in deep sleep, fourfold, Prājña, Īśvara, four-formed — this is the four-formed sound “m”: for it is in four forms — the gross, the subtle, the seed and the witness — and by measure or by entering-in. And he measures all this and becomes the entering-in, who so knows.
41357c63120c · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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The third foot and the third sound: “m”.
The explanation is given in two words: miti — “measure, measuring”, and apīti — “entering-in, dissolution”.
Both are derived from roots consonant with the sound: mā, “to measure”, and api-i, “to enter”.
The sense is this. The sound “m” closes the syllable: the lips shut, and the sounding goes inward. Hence it is “the entering-in”.
The Māṇḍūkya says the same and in the same words: “the third measure is m, for it measures and into it they enter; who so knows measures all this and becomes the entering-in”.
Note that our book here alters the Māṇḍūkya hardly at all — it only adds to Prājña the name of Īśvara and the four “gross, subtle, seed, witness”.
This four repeats with every sound, and in it is the whole thought of the uttara-tāpanī: every foot is itself fourfold, and therefore the fourth is present already in the first.