Prashna Upanishad – V – Meditation on OM – 1   «   »

Prashna Upanishad – V – Meditation on OM – 1   «   »

अथ हैनं शैब्यः सत्यकामः पप्रच्छ । स यो ह वै
तद्भगवन्मनुष्येषु प्रायणान्तमोङ्कारमभिध्यायीत । कतमं वाव
स तेन लोकं जयतीति । तस्मै स होवाच ॥ ५.१॥
atha hainaṃ śaibyaḥ satyakāmaḥ papraccha . sa yo ha vai
tadbhagavanmanuṣyeṣu prāyaṇāntamoṅkāramabhidhyāyīta . katamaṃ vāva
sa tena lokaṃ jayatīti . tasmai sa hovāca .. 5.1..
Translation by Swami Sivananda
1 Then Satyakama, the son of Sibi, asked Pippalada; Sir, if among men someone should here meditate on the syllable AUM until death, which world, verily, would he win thereby? 

Translation by Max Mueller
1. Then Saivya Satyakâma asked him:–Sir, if some one among men should meditate here until death on the syllable Om, what would he obtain by it?

deity_Prashna

Sri Shankara’s Commentary (Bhashya) translated by S. Sitarama Sastri

Satyakâma, son of Sibi, questioned him. Now the Prasna is begun for the purpose of enjoining the worship of the syllable ‘Om,’ as a means to the attainment of the Para (higher) and Apara (lower) Brahman, Oh Bhagavan. Who among mortals, like a wonder, until death meditates upon the syllable ‘Om,’ (the word meditation is the continuous contemplation as Âtman of the letter ‘Om’ regarded as Brahman by courtesy, by one whose senses are turned away from external objects and whose mind is composed, the course of such meditation not being vitiated by other or dissimilar states of consciousness and being ready like the flame of a lamp in an airless place). Who thus maintains a vow for life and combines in him truth, abstinence from sexual pleasures, abstinence from cruelty, absence of acceptance, renunciation, sanyâsam, cleanliness, cheerfulness, absence of fraud and many other kinds of forbearance and religious observance. What world, for there are many worlds to be won by worship and karma, does he attain by thus meditating on ‘Om.’ To him who had thus questioned, he, Pippalâda replied.

Links
Various resources on the Prashnopanishad
Upanishad Series – Kena Upanishad Commentary by Swami Chinmayananda

Prashna Upanishad – 1 – Prashna-5-1-atha hainaṃ – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Meaning and Commentary by Adi Shankaracharya (Sankara Bhashya) – Prashna-5-1