उपनिषद् · Māṇḍūkya 8
॥
देवनागरी
सो ऽयम् आत्माध्यक्षरम् ओंकारः ।
अधिमात्रं पादा मात्रा मात्राश्च पादा अकार उकारो मकार इति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
so 'yam ātmādhyakṣaram oṃkāraḥ |
adhimātraṃ pādā mātrā mātrāśca pādā akāra ukāro makāra iti
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
सः अयम्saḥ ayamthis very one; precisely this
आत्माātmāthe Ātman; the self
अध्यक्षरम्adhyakṣaramwith regard to the syllable (adhi-akṣara); on the side of the syllable; as a syllable
ओंकारःoṃkāraḥOṁkāra; the syllable Oṁ
अधिमात्रम्adhimātramwith regard to the measures (adhi-mātra); on the side of the measures; as measures
पादाःpādāḥthe quarters; the feet
मात्राःmātrāḥthe measures (mātrā — a mora, a unit of sound); the sound-units; the mātrās
मात्राः चmātrāḥ caand the measures; and the sound-parts
पादाःpādāḥthe quarters; the feet
अकारःakāraḥthe sound A (a-kāra); the letter A; the akāra
उकारःukāraḥthe sound U (u-kāra); the letter U; the ukāra
मकारःmakāraḥthe sound M (ma-kāra); the letter M; the makāra
इतिitithus; such are they
अनुवाद
This very Ātman, with regard to the syllable, is Oṁkāra; with regard to the measures: the quarters are the measures and the measures are the quarters — the sound A, the sound U, the sound M.
संस्करण
54131970cb14 · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 7:21:18 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The second half of the Upaniṣad: the map of the Ātman is laid over the map of sound. so 'yam ātmā adhyakṣaram oṁkāraḥ — "this Ātman, taken on the side of the syllable, is Oṁkāra": what was investigated as consciousness (the four pādas) is now given as sound — so that contemplation may have something to hold on to: a state cannot be seized, a syllable can be pronounced. adhimātram — "on the side of the measures": pādā mātrā mātrāś ca pādāḥ — "the quarters are the measures and the measures are the quarters": the correspondence is two-way and leaves no remainder: a-kāra, u-kāra, ma-kāra — three sounds fused into "Oṁ".
Thus the Māṇḍūkya builds a bridge between the Praśna (three mātrās of Oṁ — three worlds) and itself: for her the three measures are the three states of consciousness. Oṁ turns out to be a portable map of the whole inner universe: uttering A-U-M, one travels from waking through dream to the depth — and further, into the fourth of which the last mantra will speak: into the measureless.
Here lies the foundation of the whole practice of the praṇava: the japa of Oṁ is not a droning of sound but the passage of the Ātman through its own storeys with the Name for a banister. The Gītā (8.13) gives this technique for the hour of departure; the Māṇḍūkya gives it for every day: the syllable, known in this way (ya evaṁ veda — the refrain of the following mantras), ceases to be a sound and becomes a stair.