Amatra
Amātrā (IAST)Translation: "without measure"
From Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 12)
A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Monier-Williams)
Sanskrit: अमात्रा
Transliteration: A-mātrā
Translation: "without measure, not metrical or prosodical"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy (John Grimes)
Sanskrit: अमात्रा
Transliteration: Amātrā
Translation: "modeless; the fourth (Turīya) state"
Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads (Swami Sharvananda)
Sanskrit: अमात्रः
Transliteration: Amātraḥ
Translation: "without syllables "
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Swami Krishnananda)
Transliteration: Amātra
Commentary: "the soundless form of Om is Amātrā, the immeasurable, and it is not audible to the ears. This Amātrā, or the immeasurable, eternal nature of Om is not a sound or even a mere vibration, but it is just existence, pure and simple, known as Saccidānanda-Svarūpa – Existence-Consciousness-Bliss." (p. 23)
"Now, as there are three relative conditions of the Ātman: Jāgrat, Svapna and Suṣupti – waking, dream and deep sleep – Akāra, Ukāra, and Makāra of Praṇava or Oṃkāra, may be regarded as its relative conditions. But, just as there is a transcendent state of the Ātman which has been described as: Nāntaḥ-Prajñaṃ, Na Bahiṣ Prajñaṃ, Nobhayataḥ-Prajñaṃ, etc., there is a transcendent condition of Praṇava, or Oṃkāra, which is not constituted of Mātrā(s) or syllables, but is Amātrā, without any measure or syllable. Even as we cannot designate the Ātman as either this or that, so we cannot specify this Amātrā condition of Om as either this or that. It is a vibration of being, and not a state of 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 creation in motion. It is subtler than even the causal vibration with which creation commenced. The only word the Upaniṣad uses to name this state is Amātrā, immeasurable. As the Ātman is ungraspable, unrelatable, indescribable, unthinkable, so is this Amātrā condition of Oṃkāra measureless in every way." (p. 97-98)
"This Om, in its fourth or transcendent state, is Ātman itself. There is a soundless state of Praṇava that is Existence itself. All sounds and vibrations merge into Existence, and Existence is One. We may call it Praṇava in its Amātrā state or as Ātman in its indescribable state of Being. Pure Existence is the merging together of Praṇava and the Ātman. Amātraś-Caturtho’vyavahāryaḥ: The fourth state of Praṇava is that with which we cannot have any dealings, as with objects, words or sounds, such as in connection with usages in language. Prapañcopaśamaḥ: All the world of sound ceases here in this soundless state of Praṇava. Śivo’dvaita: It is most auspicious, blessed and non-dual like the Ātman, because it is The Ātman. Oṃkāra Ātmaiva: This Oṃkāra which is soundless, transcendent, is the Ātman itself. It is another name for the Ātman. Creation and the Creator become one here. The merger of Om in the Ātman is the merger of creation in the Absolute. There is no creator-ship also, because there is no created. There is no sound that is supposed to be the first vibration of creation. Sound reaches the soundless state. It becomes, then, relation-less. Saṃviśaty-Ātmanā’tmānaṃ: One who knows this secret, by deep meditation, enters the Ātman by the Ātman. We do not enter the Ātman by a gate, we enter the Ātman by the Ātman. We do not enter the Ātman; the Ātman enters the Ātman. We do not exist. We evaporate into the Ātman, and the Ātman becomes the Ātman. Sounds merge in Praṇava; it becomes the Ātman. The Ātman alone is. When the Ātman becomes the Ātman through the Ātman, it is called Ātmasāksātkāra – realization of the Ātman. It is also Brahmasāksātkāra – realization of Brahman. From the point of view of the Ātman animating the individual states, we call this achievement Ātmasāksātkāra. From the standpoint of this very same Ātman animating the whole cosmos, we call it Brahmasāksātkāra. It is Self-realization and God-realization at one and the same time. It is Existence, it is Consciousness, it is Power, it is Bliss, it is Perfection, it is Immortality, it is Mokṣa, it is Kaivalya. This is the Goal of life, the path to which is beautifully described in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad." (p. 98-99)
References:
- Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Audi, Robert (1999). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press
- Sharvananda, Swami (1920). Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads: With Sanskrit Text; Paraphrase with Word-For-Word Literal Translation, English, Rendering and Comments. Mylapore, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math
- Krishnananda, Swami (1996). The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. Retrieved from https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/mand_0.html
