A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c4.s2.6

c4.s2.6

(ii) Then, there is the *aphoristic* method as employed in the Māṇḍukya, which is the pattern of the later Sūtra literature of the various Systems of philosophy. This method has the advantage of compressing all the material of thought in short pregnant sentences, while leaving the commentator to scratch his head as best he may on the interpretation of them. It is for this reason probably that the same Vedānta-sūtras, for example, came to be interpreted in such different fashions by the various commentators on them. To translate from the Māṇḍukya, we are told how “the syllable Om is verily all that exists. Under it is included all the past, the present and the future, as well as that which transcends time. Verily all this is Brahman. The Ātman is Brahman. This Ātman is four-footed. The first foot is the Vaiśvānara, who enjoys gross things.....in the state of wakefulness. The second foot is the Taijasa, who enjoys exquisite things......in the state of dream. The third is the Prājña, who enjoys bliss......in the state of deep-sleep......The fourth is the Ātman, ....who is alone, without a second, calm, holy and tranquil''. This passage has been verily the basis upon which all the later systems of Vedāntic philosophy have come to be built.