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 2.233
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
इमं लोकं मातृभक्त्या पितृभक्त्या तु मध्यमम् ।
गुरुशुश्रूषया त्वेवं ब्रह्मलोकं समश्नुते ॥ २३३ ॥imaṃ lokaṃ mātṛbhaktyā pitṛbhaktyā tu madhyamam |
guruśuśrūṣayā tvevaṃ brahmalokaṃ samaśnute || 233 ||He acquires this region by devotion to his Mother, the middle region by devotion to his Father, and the region of Brahman by serving his Preceptor.—(233)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘This region;’—i.e., the Earth; the Mother being equal to the Earth, on account of both of them being capable of bearing burdens.
‘By devotion to his Father, the middle region;’—i.e., the sky. The Father has been described as Prajāpati; and according to the followers of the Nirukta, Prajāpati has his abode in the middle Region; and he is the sustainer or protector of men.
‘The Region of Brahman’—i.e., the solar region; according to the declaration (in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad) that ‘the Sun is Brahman, such is the teaching.’
‘Region’—means a particular place.
‘Acquires’—gains.
All this is a purely commendatory statement; and much attention need not be paid to it. Nor is it that only persons desirous of sovereignty over the said regions are to do honour to the Rather, etc.; for the injunction is not an optional one. In fact, the mere fact of the person being one’s father is the sole condition of his being honoured; and the omission of it involves a transgression of the scriptures.—(233)
Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha
This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 336) under the section ‘Worship of the Guru’;—in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 129);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 95).
Comparative notes by various authors
Viṣṇu (31.10).—[Reproduces Manu.]
Śruti (Parāśaramādhava, p. 336).—‘These objects become manifest to that person who has the highest devotion to God, and as towards God so towards the Guru.’
Śivapurāṇa (Parāśaramādhava, p. 336).—‘The Guru has been declared to be Śiva.’
Mahāhhārata (12.108.9).—(Same as Manu.)