Mandukya_Upanishad

which brings about a result of this nature, when one resortsto meditation in this manner.Now, the Upanishad proceeds further to a comparisonof the second syllable of Omkāra, namely ‘U’, with thesecond phase of the manifested Ātman, namely, taijasa.Ukāra is the second syllable of Om, which can becompared with the second pāda or foot of the Ātman. Theukāra is regarded as utkarṣha or elevated in the sense that itis beyond akāra, proceeds after akāra. In the series of theletters of the alphabet, ‘U’ comes after, as an effect, as itwere, of the pronunciation of akāra; and while akāra maybe regarded as the commencement of language, ukāra is themiddle of all vowel-formations. When you utter ‘U’, youfind that the middle of the throat begins to function. It iselevated, symbolically, says the Upanishad, in the sense thatit is above akāra in the process of word-formation. So alsois taijasa or dream-consciousness that comes afterwards asan effect of the waking experience; proceeding from thewaking experience, existing midway between waking andsleep. Ubhayatvādvā; It is ubhaya, or both, in the sense thatit has two sides, namely, waking and sleep, from the pointof view of the pādas of the Ātman, and it is between akāraand makāra, from the point of view of the mātrās, orsyllables, of Omkāra. Thus we can compare, in meditation,ukāra with taijasa, the dreaming consciousness. Thesecomparisons are made by the Upanishad to help one inmeditation, so that one can bring Omkāra in juxtapositionwith the states of the Ātman. All these comparisons aresymbolic, and we should not take them literally. Allmeditations are symbolic; all vidyās of the Upanishads are114