Bhashya
यदिदमर्थजातम् अभिधानाभिधेयभूतं तस्याभिधानाव्यतिरे- कान् अभिधानभेदस्य ओंकाराव्यतिरेकात् ओंकार एव इदं सर्वम् ।परं च ब्रह्म अभिधानाभिधेयोपायपूर्वकंमवगम्यत इति ओंकार एव ।तस्यैतस्य परापरब्रह्मरूपस्याक्षरस्य ओमि- त्येतस्य उपव्याख्यानं ब्रह्मप्रतिपत्त्युपायत्वात् ब्रह्मसमीप- तया विस्पष्टम् आख्यानं प्रकटकथनम् उपव्याख्यानं प्रस्तुतं जानीयादिति शेषः ।न त्वनुषङ्गः, 'व्यवायान्नानुषज्यते' इति न्यायात् ।भूतं भवद्भविष्यदिति कालत्रयपरिच्छेद्यं यत्, तत् ओंकार एव, उक्तन्यायतः ।यच्चान्यत् त्रिकाला-मस्येति जागरितस्थानः ।बहिःप्रज्ञः स्वात्मव्यतिरिक्ते वि-षये प्रज्ञा यस्य सः बहिःप्रज्ञः, बहिर्विषये यस्य प्रज्ञा वि-द्याकृता अवभासत इत्यर्थः ।तथा सप्ताङ्गः सप्तशक्तयःअङ्गे हृदयाख्ये यस्य स तथोक्तः, विष्णुशक्तीनां विष्णुव-क्षःस्थलाश्रयत्वप्रसिद्धेः ।'विष्णोर्वक्षःस्थलाश्रया' इति स्मृतेः,'विष्णोर्वक्षःस्थले स्थिताम्' इति च, 'करद्वयस्थप्रविकासि-पङ्कजां वक्षःस्थलेन श्रियमुद्वहन्विभुः' इति च ।तथाएकोनविंशतिमुखो मूलमन्त्रापेक्षया एकोनविंशतितममक्षरंबीजं मुखं यस्य मूलनृसिंहव्यूहस्य स तथोक्तः ।तस्यनाभेरूर्ध्वं मूर्धतः प्राक् हृदयाख्यम् अङ्गम्, अत उपास्योपा-सकयोरैक्ये भेदे वा हृदयाङ्गन्यासादिकमविरुद्धम् ।न-न्वेवं सप्तान्यङ्गानि मूर्धैव सुतेजा इत्येवमादीनि यस्य सतथोक्तः ।तथा एकोनविंशतिमुखानि अस्य बुद्धीन्द्रिय-कर्मेन्द्रियाणि वायवश्च प्राणादयः पञ्च मनो बुद्धिरहंकार-श्चित्तमिति मुखानीव तानि उपलब्धिद्वारत्वादित्येवं यथा-संख्यं विराड्ढिरण्यगर्भपरत्वेन वाक्यद्वयं माण्डूक्योपनि-षत्प्रणवविद्यायां व्याख्यातम्, तथा अत्रापि कस्मान्न व्या-ख्यायते ? उच्यते- अत्र अस्य अपरविद्याप्रकरणाश्रितत्वात्प्रणवविद्यायां तथाङ्गत्वेन च विनियोगात् प्रणवं तत्साम्नोऽङ्गं
In plain words
Whatever this whole world of nameable things has become — every namer and everything named — none of it is truly different, because no name is ever really separate from Om. So all of this is Om, nothing else. Even the highest Brahman is only ever grasped through the naming and the named, and so it too turns out to be Om. This close look at the syllable Om — which wears the face of both the highest and the nearest reality — is worth taking seriously, because it is itself a way in to Brahman: an open, near account of it, not a stray remark carried in from somewhere else, since (as the rule goes) nothing separated by a real gap counts as a continuation. Whatever the three times can measure — what was, what is, what will be — is Om, on the same reasoning. And whatever lies beyond the three times [is Om too] — [here the source itself breaks off, and the text resumes only later, mid-sentence] — this one, [it says,] has the waking state as his home. 'Turned outward' means his awareness reaches toward what is not himself — the outer world lighting up before him the way ordinary knowledge lights things up. In the same way he is called 'seven-limbed': seven powers gathered in the limb called the heart, because it is well known that Viṣṇu's powers rest on Viṣṇu's chest — the old texts say so themselves: they rest on his chest; she dwells on his chest; the all-pervading Lord carries Śrī there like a lotus blossoming in his own two hands. And he is 'nineteen-faced': relative to the root-mantra, the nineteenth syllable is his seed and his face — this is said of the very array that is the root form of Narasiṃha. Just above the navel, just below the crown, sits the limb called the heart; so whether the worshipper and the worshipped are taken as one or as two, placing the heart there in ritual meditation is never a contradiction. And someone may object: then are the other seven limbs just the crown alone, 'the one of fine radiance' and so on? Yes — that too belongs to him, rightly so. And his 'nineteen faces' are simply this: the senses that perceive, the organs that act, the five vital winds, the mind, the intellect, the ego, the inner faculty — nineteen doorways through which anything is ever apprehended, functioning like so many faces. Exactly this way, matched point for point with Virāj and Hiraṇyagarbha, two such statements were already explained in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad's teaching on Om. So why isn't it explained the same way here? Because here we are still within the section on the lower knowledge, and because, within the teaching on Om, it is used precisely as a limb — Om is the limb of that very chant... [and there the record itself stops, mid-sentence].
Close to the Sanskrit
Whatever this mass of nameable things has become — existing as namer and named — since, as regards it, there is no [ultimate] difference in naming, [and] since the distinction of naming does not differ from Om, this whole is Om alone. And the higher Brahman too is understood [only] by way of the means of naming-and-named; thus it too is Om alone. Of this very syllable, Om — which has the form of both the higher and the lower Brahman — this further exposition, since it is a means to the realization of Brahman [and] a clear account standing near to Brahman, one should understand as 'an open statement, the present sub-exposition' — this is what is to be supplied. It is not a mere carrying-over [of the earlier topic], by the maxim 'what is separated by an interval is not carried over'. Whatever is delimited by the three times — past, present, and future — that is Om alone, by the rule already stated. And whatever else is beyond the three ti— [the source breaks off; text resumes mid-word] —of this one, thus [he is called] 'having the waking state for his seat'. 'Outward-cognizant' means: he whose awareness, in a sphere other than his own self, [is directed outward] — that is, he whose awareness in the external sphere appears as produced by [sense-]knowledge — that is the meaning. Likewise 'seven-limbed' [means] the seven powers; he in whose limb called the heart [those powers reside] is so termed, because it is well known that Viṣṇu's powers rest upon Viṣṇu's chest — as the Smṛti says, 'they rest upon Viṣṇu's chest', and 'dwelling upon Viṣṇu's chest', and 'the all-pervading Lord, bearing Śrī on his chest like a lotus blossoming in his two hands'. Likewise, 'nineteen-faced' [means]: relative to the root-mantra, he for whom the nineteenth syllable is the seed-syllable-face — of the array of the root Narasiṃha — is so termed. Above his navel, on the near side of the crown, is the limb called the heart; hence, whether in the identity or the difference of the worshipped and the worshipper, the placement of the heart-limb and so on involves no contradiction. [Objection:] but then, [by this logic] the seven other limbs would be the crown alone, [described by epithets] such as 'of excellent radiance' — [that too] belongs to him, so termed. Likewise, the 'nineteen faces' are, of this one: the organs of cognition and of action, and the vital winds — i.e. the five breaths — mind, intellect, ego, and the inner faculty; these function like faces, since they are the doorways of apprehension. In just this way, respectively, with reference to Virāj and Hiraṇyagarbha, a pair of statements was explained in the Om-teaching of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad; so why is it not explained here too? It is replied: here, because this [section] belongs to the topic of the lower knowledge, and because, in the Om-teaching, it is likewise employed in the capacity of a limb, the Om [is] the limb of that Sāman-chant [— the sentence is left incomplete in the source].