Mandukya_Upanishad

either this or that. It is a vibration of being, and not a stateof sound, and there is no material content in this vibration.It transcends the physical, the subtle and the causal states,and it is not even merely the vibration which sets creationin motion. It is subtler than even the causal vibration withwhich creation commenced. The only word the Upanishaduses to name this state is amātra, immeasurable. As theĀtman is ungraspable, unrelatable, indescribable,unthinkable, so is this amātra condition of Omkārameasureless in every way.This Om, in its fourth or transcendent state, is Ātmanitself. There is a soundless state of Praṇava that is Existenceitself. All sounds and vibrations merge into Existence, andExistence is One. We may call it Praṇava in its amātra stateor as Ātman in its indescribable state of Being. PureExistence is the merging together of Praṇava and theĀtman. Amātrascaturthah avyavahāryah: The fourth stateof Praṇava is that with which we cannot have any dealings,as with objects, words or sounds, such as in connectionwith usages in language. Prapancopaśamah: All the worldof sound ceases here in this soundless state of Praṇava.Sivo’dvaitah: It is most auspicious, blessed and non-duallike the Ātman, because it is The Ātman. Omkāra ātmaiva:This Omkāra which is soundless, transcendent, is theĀtman itself. It is another name for the Ātman. Creationand the Creator become one here. The merger of Om in theĀtman is the merger of creation in the Absolute. There isno creatorship also, because there is no created. There is nosound that is supposed to be the first vibration of creation.Sound reaches the soundless state. It becomes, then,120