Section 5.2 (second khaṇḍa) (eight texts)

Upaniṣad text:

He said—‘What shall be my food?’—They said—‘Whatever there is, from dogs to birds’.—This is the food for—Breath; ‘Ana’ is his distinct name.—For one who knows this, there is nothing that is not-food.—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

He—the principa Breath—said—‘What shall be my food?’—Having imagined Breath to be the questioner, the Text imagines Speech and the rest to be the persons answering the question—‘Whatever in this world is known as food,—from dogs,—i.e. including dogs,—to birds,— including birds—the food of all living beings,—that will be your food,—so said Speech and the rest. Everything is food for Breath, Breath is the eater of all food,—in order to inculcate these truths, the text turns aside from the telling of the story, and makes an assertion of its own:—This—i.e. whatever food is eaten by living beings in the world,—is food for Breath,—i.e. it is all eaten by Breath alone.—‘Ana’ is the distinct name, of Breath,—as indicating the character of permeating through all forms of activity. The addition of the prefix ‘pra’ (to ‘ana’, thus making up the term ‘Prāṇa’ would only serve to express some special feature of activity; thus the text pronounces the name of the Eater of all foods—‘Ana’ is the distinct name—the direct connoter—of the Eater of all foods.

For one who knows this—all that has been said regarding Breath,—that ‘I am Breath subsisting in all living beings, the Eater of all foods—for such a one, there is nothing— that can be eaten by living beings,—that is not-food; that is, all edibles become food for him; and the reason for this lies in the fact that the man knowing this is Breath itself; as says the text, beginning with the words ‘He rises out of Breath, he sets in Breath’, and concluding with the words ‘from a person knowing this does the sun rise and in him does he set —(Bṛhadā. Up. 1.5.23).—(1).

Upaniṣad text:

He said—‘What shall be my clothing?’—they said—‘Water’.—Hence it is that when going to eat, people cover it, before as well as after, with water. He thus becomes the obtainer of clothing and does not remain naked.—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

He—Breath—said—again: The conversation, as before, is purely imaginary.—‘What shall be my clothing?—Speech and the rest replied—‘Water’.—Inasmuch as water is the clothing of Breath, when learned Brāhmaṇas are going to eat,—i.e. while going to eat and after having eaten,—they do this;—what?—Both before and after eating, they cover the Breath with water, which takes the place of clothing;—i.e. they provide covering for the Principal Breath. He thus becomes the obtainer of clothing,—i.e. obtains clothing; and does not remain naked. As by obtaining clothing he would naturally cease to be naked, the addition of the phrase ‘does not remain naked’ should be understood to mean that he becomes supplied with the upper clothing also.

The sipping of water that is done when one is going to eat and after one has eaten is known to be for the purpose of purification; hence what is said in the present text should be taken to mean only that the water thus sipped should be looked upon as the ‘clothing’ of Breath.—The phrase ‘covers it up with water’ does not enjoin any other water-sipping apart from the two well-known ones. Just as when ordinary people eat food and it is said that ‘it is the food for Breath’, what is meant is only that the food should be looked upon as being for Breath. The question and answer in both cases being similar—‘What shall be my food?—What shall be my clothing?’—If a fresh watersipping were regarded as enjoined here directly for its own sake,—(as an independent act by itself) then the statement of all food being for Breath would have to be regarded as an actual injunction, meaning that ‘all things should be eaten—even insects etc.’ (which is absurd). And as in both cases the question and answer are exactly alike, it is clear that in both cases the things mentioned are to be regarded—known. looked upon—as ‘food’ and ‘clothing and it would not be right to adopt the ‘half and half method’ of interpreting (and taking the fresh statement, regarding food, as laying down the viewing of things in a certain way, and the second statement, regarding clothing, as an actual direct injunction of an independent water-sipping).

As for the argument that “the well-known water-sipping cannot serve both the purposes—that of purifying, and that of saving Breath from being naked”—we do not say that the water-sipping is for both these purposes, What we do atsserts [asserts?] that the water that is used for the purificatory sipping should be looked upon as the ‘clothing’ for Breath,

So that the urging of the objection that ‘the water-sipping cannot serve both purposes” is highly unreasonable.—It might be argued that “the assertion may be taken as enjoining a fresh water-sipping (apart from the two well-known ones), for the purpose of supplying clothing to Breath, and the other statement regarding Breath not remaining naked may be taken as laying down that it should be looked upon as such”—But this cannot be right; as the text is for the purpose of making known what is the ‘clothing’—and if this was taken as enjoining fresh water-sipping for the providing of clothing,—and there were also the other injunction of looking upon it as such,—then this would involve syntactical split:—and further, there is no authority for the view that the water-sipping is for that purpose and also for another.—(2)

Upaniṣad text:

Satyakāma-Jābāla, having expounded this to Gośruti-Vaiyāghrapadya, said—‘If one were to say this to a dry stump, branches would shoot forth and leaves would sprout up from it’.—(3)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

This philosophy of the Breath is now eulogised.—In what “way?”—This—philosophy of the Breath—Satyakāma-Jābāla—having expounded to Gośruti— by name,—the son of Vyāghrapada, said—something more, in the shape of the following—‘What was it that he said?’—

Answer:—If one—conversant with the Philosophy of the Breath—were to say—expound—this Philosophy of the Breath—to a dry stump, branches would shoot forth, and leaves would sprout out; what would it not do to a living man?’—(3)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The text next proceeds to describe the rite called the ‘Mantha’ (Mash), to be performed by one who knows the aforesaid Philosophy of the Breath,—

Upaniṣad text:

If one desires to attain the Great, then, having become initiated on the Moonless Day, he should, on the night of the Fullmoon, stir-up with curd and honey, the mash of all herbs, and then offer—elibation of clarified butter into the fire, saying—‘Svāhā to the Oldest and the Best’—and throw the remnant into the Mash.—(4)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Now, after this, if one desire to attain the Great—i.e. if one wishes to reach greatness,—then, for him, the following rite is prescribed:—As a matter of fact, when there is Greatness, Prosperity comes,—and to the prosperous man, wealth comes as a matter of course;—this enables him to perform Rites, and thence to pass on either to the path of the Divinities or to the path of the Fathers;—it is with a view to this ulterior motive that the man desires greatness, and it is for this purpose that the Rite has been prescribed,—not for one who desires merely the pleasures desired from the objects of sense.—For this person, the time and other details are prescribed as follows:—On the Moonless Night, having become initiated,—i.e. having kept, like the initiated person, such penances and observances as sleeping on the ground, telling the truth, celibacy and the like;—it is not meant that he should perform all the detailed rites that have been prescribed for the formal Initiatory Rite; that such cannot be the meaning follows from the fact that the Rite of the Mash is not a ‘modification’ of the Initiatory Rite (and it is only a Modification that takes in all the details of its prototype);—in fact, according to another text to the effect that ‘He keeps the observances of the Upasad’, (Bṛhadā-Upa—6.3.1) the man in question has to keep the penance of living on milk only as a means of purification.—On the night of the Fullmoon, he proceeds with the Rite: Having collected, to the best of his capacity, small quantities of all the herbs—both cultivated and wild,—having cleaned them of all chaff, he should make up a mash of all these without cooking them,—and he should throw into it curd and honey,—in a vessel made of Udumbara wood, shaped like Kaṃsa (goblet) or a Camasa (cup), as laid down in another Vedic Text,—and stir it up and keep it before himself:—then he should offer an oblation of clarified Butter.—saying 'Svāhā’ to the Oldest and the Best—into the Āvasathya Fire, on the spot prescribed for such offerings;—and what may be left attached to the ladle should be thrown as Remnant into the Mash.—(4)

Upaniṣad text:

Saying ‘Svāhā to the Richest’, he should offer a libation of clarified Butter into the Fire and throw the remnant into the Mash.—Saying ‘Svāhā’ to Firmness, he should offer a libation of charified Butter into the Fire and throw the remnant into the Mash.—Saying ‘Svāhā to Prosperity’, he should offer a libation of clarified Butter into the Fire and throw the remnant into the Mash.—Saying ‘Svāhā to the Homa’, he should offer a libation into the Fire and throw the remnant into the Mash.—(5).

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The rest is as above. Having offered the libations ‘to the Richest’, to ‘Firmness’, ‘to Prosperity’ and ‘to the Homa’, he should throw the remnant, each time, into the Mash.—(5)

Upaniṣad text:

Then, moving away and holding the Mash in his hands, he recites—‘Thou art Ama by name, as all this rests with thee. He is the Oldest and Best, the King and Sovereign. May he lead me to the oldest age, to the best position, to kingship and to sovereignty! May I be all this.’—(6)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Then moving away,—having gone away a little, from the Fire,—holding the Mash in his hands, he recites the following Mantra—‘Amo nāmāsi amāhite etc., etc—‘Ama’ is a name of Prāṇa (Breath);—it is through food that Breath functions in the body; hence the substance in the Mash, being the food for Breath, is eulogised as Breath itself—‘thou art Ama by name’.—“How?”—Because all this rests with thee; i.e. because the whole of this world rests with thee as representing Breath.—This Mash, being Breath, is both the Oldest and the Best; and for this reason, He is also the King—effulgent—and Sovereign—i.e. the lord and protector of all;—may he—the Mash representing Breath,—lead me to the host of all his own qualities, in the shape of the oldest age and the rest; and may I,—like Breath—be all this—in the world.’—The particle ‘iti’ indicates the end of the Mantra to be recited.—(6)

Upaniṣad text:

Then he eats with this verse, foot by foot: saying ‘We pray for that related to the Progenitor he eats;—saying ‘We are the food of the; Deity’, he eats;—saying ‘the best and the all-sustaining’, he eats;—saying ‘we quickly meditate upon the divine’, he drinks up all—Having washed the goblet or the cup, he lies down behind the fire, on a skin or on the ground, in silence, undisturbed.—If he should see a woman, he should know that his business has succeeded.—(7)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Then,—after this,—he eats with this—the following verse, foot by foot; i.e. he eats one morsal with each quarter of the Mantra.—That—Eating—related to the Progenitor—the source of all,—this is meant to include the Breath and the Sun together into one entity; we pray for— ask for—the Mash of the Sun; the sense being that ‘by eating this food related to the Sun, we shall attain the form of the Sun.’—‘Of the deity’,—this is to be construed with ‘Savituḥ’ (of the preceding quarter).—the best,—the most superior of all foods,—all-sustaining—sustaining the entire universe,—very sustaining in its properties,—all this qualifies ‘food’.—‘Quickly—speedily—of the divine, i.e. the form of—the divinity, the Sun,—we mediate upon’; ‘being embellished with the particular kind of food and having our souls purified.’—Or the meaning may be that ‘Having performed a Rite for the obtaining of that greatness which is a source of prosperity, we meditate upon it.’—Having said this, he drinks up all,—i.e. all that remains of the Mash attached to the goblet.—Having washed the goblet or the cup,—i.e the vessel of Udumbara wood, shaped like the goblet or the cup,—having drunk it off and washed his mouth’, he lies down behind the fire—with his head towards the East—either on a skin or on the bare ground,—in silence—undisturbed—i.e. so peacefully as not to be disturbed by women or by evil dreams,—with mind calm and collected; in this condition, if he should see—i.e. dream of—a woman,—then he should know that his business has succeeded.—(7)

To this same effect there is the following verse—

Upaniṣad text:

If during the performance of prospective Rites, one should see a woman in his dreams,—he should recognise success,—yea, in such dream-vision’.—(8)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

To this same effect there is the following verse—mantra-text:—‘If during the performance of prospective rites, one should see a woman,—either during dreamvision, or at the time of sleeping—he should recognise success;—that is, he should understand that the results desired of those Rites will surely be accomplished,—in such dreamvision,—i.e., if he has had such excellent dreams as that of a woman.—The repetition is meant to indicate the end of the Rite (of the Mash).—(8)

End of Section (2) of Discourse V.