Verse 2.160

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

यस्य वाङ्मनसी शुद्धे सम्यग् गुप्ते च सर्वदा ।
स वै सर्वमवाप्नोति वेदान्तोपगतं फलम् ॥ १६० ॥

yasya vāṅmanasī śuddhe samyag gupte ca sarvadā |
sa vai sarvamavāpnoti vedāntopagataṃ phalam || 160 ||

He, whose speech and mind are pure and ever properly guarded, obtains the whole reward recognised by the canons of the Veda.—(160)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

That, teacher, or any person, whose ‘speech and mind,’ even in the presence of disturbing causes,—‘are pure’—do not become perturbed;—‘and properly guarded,’—i.e., even when perturbation has been caused, he does not make up his mind to injure other persons, nor does he have recourse to activity calculated to harm them: all this is what is meant by the ‘guarding’ of speech and mind.

‘Been’—is added with a view to show that what is laid down applies to each and every man, and not to the teacher only, and that also only at the time of teaching.

‘He obtains the whole reward.’

The term ‘vedānta’ in the text stands for ‘vedasiddhānta,’ ‘canons of the Veda’; the term ‘siddha’ being deleted in the same manner as the term ‘atyanta’ has been held to be dropped in the term ‘siddhe’ as occurring in the declaration ‘siddhe śabdārthasambandhe, etc.’ (in the Mahābhāṣya),

The term ‘vedānta’ therefore stands for the ‘canons’—established doctrines—contained in the Vedic texts—wherein it lias teen ‘recognised’ that ‘such and such results proceed from such and such an act’—a fact that is accepted by all persons learned in the Veda;—the whole of such results ‘he obtains.’

By the present statement the author has made it clear that the proper control of speech and mind is helpful in the ordinary life of man, as also in sacrificial performances. For, if it were meant to he helpful only in ordinary life, then its transgression would involve the omission of only what is helpful to man in his ordinary life; and in that case the transgression not causing any deficiency in any sacrificial performance, why should not the man with unguarded speech and mind obtain the full reward of these latter? And yet what the text says is that ‘it is the self-controlled man that obtains the whole reward.’

Others have explained the term ‘vedānta’ to mean the Esoteric Brahmaṇas (Upaniṣads). And by this explanation the passage means that the man obtains the whole of that reward which consists in the ‘attaining of Brahman,’ which has been postulated, in the said esoteric treatises, as proceeding from the performance of the compulsory duties, and also from that of those restraints and observances which have been laid down without reference to any rewards.

If it be asked how pan the compulsory acts be held to bring about a result in the shape of attaining Brahman?”—our answer is simply that such an opinion has been held by some persons.

Or again, the term ‘redānta’ may be explained as the ‘end’ of the teaching ‘of the Veda’; and the result obtained is that which proceeds from this teaching;—i.e., the result in the form of having fulfilled the injunction of ‘becoming a teacher.’ By this explanation, what is laid down in the text would become entirely subservient to the ‘injunction of teaching.’—(160)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Vedāntopagatam’—‘Vedānta’ stands for the Upaniṣads, and the ‘reward’ is Final Release (Govindarāja, Kullūka, Nārāyaṇa Nandana and Rāghavānanda);—it stands for the ‘doctrines of the Veda’, and ‘reward’ stands for the results accruing from the sacrifices and rites prescribed in the Veda (Medhātithi).

Medhātithi (P. 140, l. 26)—‘Kratupuruṣobhayadharmatā’—Details prescribed in the Veda have been grouped under three heads—(1) puruṣārtha, (2) kratvartha and (3) kratupuruṣobhayārtha.

(1) The Darśapūrṇamāsa sacrifices belong to the puruṣārtha class, as they accomplish something agreeable and desirable for the agent;—

(2) all material substances and their purifications and preparations are kratvartha, as they are directly helpful in the accomplishment of the sacrifice;—

(3) certain things come under both categories; e.g. Curd is mentioned in one place simply as a substance to be offered, where it is only kratvartha; while in another place, it is mentioned as the substance to be offered for the sake of one who desires efficient sense-organs, in which case it becomes puruṣārtha. (See Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā, pp. 197-199).

 

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Āpastamba-Dharmasūtra, 2-5-19.—‘The Teacher who does not lose control over his mind, his speech, his nose, his ears, his eyes, his tactile organ, his generative organ, and his stomach, attains immortality.’