Verse 2.85

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

विधियज्ञाज् जपयज्ञो विशिष्टो दशभिर्गुणैः ।
उपांशुः स्यात्शतगुणः साहस्रो मानसः स्मृतः ॥ ८५ ॥

vidhiyajñāj japayajño viśiṣṭo daśabhirguṇaiḥ |
upāṃśuḥ syātśataguṇaḥ sāhasro mānasaḥ smṛtaḥ || 85 ||

The offering that consists in the repeating of mantras excels the enjoined (ritualistic) offering ten times; the inaudible (repeating) excels this latter a hundred times; and the Mental (repeating) excels it a thousandfold.—(85)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The ‘enjoined offering’ is that which forms the subject of injunctions; such as Jyotiṣṭoma and the rest; such acts are called ‘enjoined offering,’ as they have been enjoined by words like ‘should offer’ and the rest, and are performed by means of external acts, and with the full accompaniment of priests and other innumerable details.

The Japa, ‘ Repeating of Mantras’ is not an ‘offering’; but with a view to eulogise it, it has been spoken as an ‘offering’ only figuratively; consequently this cannot be included under the term ‘enjoined offering.’

This latter ‘excels,’—is a better, superior, offering than the Jyotiṣṭoma and the rest,—‘ten times’.

What is meant here is that the Repeating of Mantras is highly efficacious; the meaning being that the results proceeding from the Repetition are the same, but larger, as those proceeding from the Ritualistic Offerings. It is not meant that the Repeating of Mantras actually brings about results larger than those brought about by the ritualistic sacrifices; for if it were really so, who ‘would ever undertake the performance of the latter, which involve much physical hardship and the expenditure of much wealth? For these reasons it is clear that what is said here is a mere praise (of the Repeating of Mantras); just like the assertion that ‘One attains all desirable ends by the

Final Oblation.’ All that is meant is that from this act also the same results follow, in the shape of Heaven and the rest; but the difference iu the amount of human effort involved leads to the difference in the degree of the result. And as the text does not specify any particular result, it should be taken to mean that by the Repeating of Mantras one obtains the same results—in the shape of heaven, landed property, children and cattle—as those proceeding from sacrificial performances.

‘The Inaudible, a hundred times’—That repeating of Mantras is called Inaudible which is not heard by any other person, however near he may be.

‘A thousand times—the Mental.’—That in which the Mantra in meditated upon by a mere mental operation.

The ‘Inaudible’ and other qualifications pertain to all kinds of Repeating Mantras (and not only to the repeating of the Gāyatrī, etc.); the continuity of the context, starting from verse 82, having been broken. Hence, whenever there is repetition of Mantras—in the course of either Expiatory Rites, or the rites performed for the allaying of portents, or those intended to bring about prosperity,—the said qualifications become applicable.

The term ‘sāhasra’ literally means that which has a thousand; and since the noun spoken of is ‘guṇa,’ ‘times,’ ‘fold,’ the term means ‘thousand-fold’; the term ‘fold’ standing for part. That this refers to the excess of results is clear from the connection of the entire sentence.—(85)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Medhātithi (P. 115,1. 16)—‘Pūrṇahutyā &c.’—See in this connection Sāyaṇa-Ṛgvedhbhāṣya—Upodghāta (Introduction).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu-smṛti, 55.19.—[reproduces Manu’s words.]

Vasiṣṭha-smṛti, 26.10—[the same as Manu, with the exception that for ‘vidhi’ it reads ‘ārambha’].