Mandukya Upanishad is one of the ten important Upanisads (Ten Principal Upanishads). It is the shortest of the Upanishads - the scriptures of Hindu Vedanta. It is in prose, consisting of twelve verses expounding the mystic syllable Aum (Om), the three psychological states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, and the transcendent fourth state of illumination.

This Upanishad has been greatly extolled. The Muktikopanishad, which talks about all other Upanishads, says that the Māndūkya Upanishad alone is enough for salvation.

This edition contains the study of the Karika by Sri Gaudapada. It exhaustively describes the four quarters of the atman – waking, dream, deep sleep and turiya.