The Mandukya Upanishad is entirely in prose. It is the
shortest Upanishad with a mere twelve stanzas. Part of the original text seems
to have been lost. This Upanishad is associated with the Atharva Veda. But the
name is derived from a school of the Rig Veds, know as the Mandukas. The
essential point made in this Upanishad is that the syllable Oum is an
expression of the universe.
Everything in the universe is captured in the syllable Oum.
The past, the present and the future, are all in Oum. All that is beyond these
three states of time, is also in Oum. The syllable Oum is the way to attain
proximity to the brahman.
The first part of the brahman is fire. Fire savours the
state of being awake; fire feels the external world. Fire enjoys all the
material objects. Fire has seven limbs and nineteen faces.
The nineteen faces of fire are the ten senses, the five
constituents of the breath of life, the mind, intelligence, ego and the heart.
Fire has a head in heaven, the sun forms the eyes, the wind is the breath of
life, the sky is the body, the water forms the lower organs, the earth is the
feet and the sacrificial fire is the mouth. These are the seven limbs that are
mention in Mandukya Upanishad.
