Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi

by Ganganatha Jha | 1920 | 1,381,940 words | ISBN-10: 8120811550 | ISBN-13: 9788120811553

This is the English translation of the Manusmriti, which is a collection of Sanskrit verses dealing with ‘Dharma’, a collective name for human purpose, their duties and the law. Various topics will be dealt with, but this volume of the series includes 12 discourses (adhyaya). The commentary on this text by Medhatithi elaborately explains various t...

Verse 1.55 [Exit of the Individual Soul]

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

तमोऽयं तु समाश्रित्य चिरं तिष्ठति सैन्द्रियः ।
न च स्वं कुरुते कर्म तदोत्क्रामति मूर्तितः ॥ ५५ ॥

tamo'yaṃ tu samāśritya ciraṃ tiṣṭhati saindriyaḥ |
na ca svaṃ kurute karma tadotkrāmati mūrtitaḥ || 55 ||

This (individual Soul), on entering into ‘Darkness,’ remains, for a long time, equipped with the sense-organs, but does not perform its functions; then it departs from the body.—(55)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Now by means of these two verses the author is going to describe the dying and the obtaining of another body by the Soul fallen in the cycle of births and deaths.

Darkness’—stands for cessation of consciousness (preceding death);—entering into, falling into, this unconsciousness it remains for a long time, equipped with the sense-organs; but does not perform its functions— of breathing in and out; then it departs—goes out—from the body, the corporeal frame.

Question:—“As a matter of fact, the Soul is omnipresent, and all-pervading like Ākāśa; so that what kind of ‘departure’ is it that occurs in its case?”

Answer,—‘Departure’ means only the renouncing of the body that had been obtained as the result of past acts; and it does not mean that, it goes from one place to another, like a material object.—Or, the answer may be, as held by some people, that the ‘departure’ spoken of is that of another and a more subtle body which comes into existence in between (the two bodies). But this intermediate body is not admitted by others; as for instance, it has been declared by the revered Vyāsa—‘This present body having disappeared, the sense-organs forthwith enter into another body; so that there is no intermediate body.’ Some followers of the Sāṅkhya such as Vindhyavāsin and the rest, also do not admit of an intermediate body.

“What is this ‘intermediate body’?”

When this (physical) body has been destroyed, so long as a place in the womb of the (future) mother is not secured, where the second (physical body) would be formed, there exists during the interval, a subtle body entirely devoid of all sensation, which cannot come into contact with any thing, which is not burnt by fire and which is not obstructed by elemental substances.

Others explain the ‘mūrti’ of the text as the Supreme Self. The Supreme Self, which is the Soul of all things, is like the Ocean; out of that emerge the Jīvas (Individual Souls) under the influence of nescience, just in the same manner as waves emerge from the Ocean; and when the Individual Soul thus emerges out of the Supreme Soul, it assumes, by virtue of its past Virtue and Vice, a form known by the name ‘Puryaṣṭaka’; and this is the ‘subtle body,’ which serves as the clothing of the Individual Soul. This has been thus declared in the Purāṇa—‘He becomes united with the Puryaṣṭaka- form, which is known as Prāṇa (Life); when bound up with this, he is in bondage, and when freed from it, he is released.’ The ‘puryaṣṭaka,’ ‘eight-fold’ frame consists of the five life-breaths,—Prāṇa, Apāna, Samāna, Udāna and Vyāna—the Group consisting of the five organs of sensation, the Group consisting of the five organs of action, and the Mind as the eighth. This body is not destroyed, until the condition of Final Release is attained. This is thus stated (in Sāṅkhyakārikā 40)—‘What migrates is the subtle body, which is devoid of feeling, but invested with tendencies.’—(55)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Under this verse Hopkins translates a passage from Medhātithi, which, as will be clear from the text, has been entirely misunderstood and hence wrongly rendered.

Verses 55 and 56 have been variously interpreted. (1) According to Medhātithi, Govindarāja and Kullūka, it describes the process of transmigration. When an individual is dying, his individual Soul enters darkness,—i.e. becomes unconscious; and even though It continues to be connected with the dying body, the physical functions gradually cease;—then It leaves the body,—and enveloped in a subtle body—formed of the eight constituents (variously enumerated), It enters the embryo determined for It by its own past acts, and there becomes clothed with a new physical body which accompanies It through Its next life on Earth. (2) Nārāyaṇa holds that verse 55 provides the description of the soul during a swoon, and the second alone refers to the method of transmigration. (3) The explanation given by Nandana is entirely different. He; takes the verses as referring to what is done by the Supreme Being, the Creator;—verse 55 describing His action during Dissolution and 56 referring to a fresh creation following it. The Supreme Lord ‘enters darkness—i.e. the Pradhāna,—and having remained therein during the entire period of the Dissolution, becomes endowed with organs and a visible shape,—i. e., the shape of the Created Universe.’

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