Mandukya_Upanishad

INTRODUCTIONThe theme of the Mandukya Upanishad is an expositionof the Mystic Syllable, Om, with a view to training the mindin meditation, for the purpose of achieving freedom,gradually, so that the individual soul is attuned to theUltimate Reality.The basis of this meditation is explained in the Vidya(meditation), known as the Vaisvanara Vidya. This is thesecret of the knowledge of the Universal Being, designatedas Vaisvanara. Its simple form of understanding is atransference of human attributes to the Divine Existence,and vice versa. In this meditation, one contemplates theCosmos as one's Body. Just as, for example, when onecontemplates one's individual body, one simultaneouslybecomes conscious of the right eye, the left eye, the righthand, the left hand, the right leg, the left leg, the head, theheart, the stomach, and all the limbs of the body at one andthe same time, and one does not regard the different limbsof the body as distinguished from one another in anymanner, all limbs being only apparently different but reallyconnected to a single personality, so in this meditation, theconsciousness is to be transferred to the Universal Being.Instead of one contemplating oneself as the individualbody, one contemplates oneself as the Universal Body.Instead of the right eye, there is the sun. Instead of the lefteye, there is the moon. Instead of the feet, there is the earth.Instead of the head, there is the heaven, and so on. Thelimbs of the Cosmic Person are identified with cosmicelements, and vice versa, so that there is nothing in thecosmos which does not form an organic part of the Body ofthe Virat, or Vaisvanara. When you see the vast world