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...

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

सूक्ष्मतां चान्ववेक्षेत योगेन परमात्मनः ।
देहेषु च समुत्पत्तिमुत्तमेष्वधमेषु च ॥ ६५ ॥

sūkṣmatāṃ cānvavekṣeta yogena paramātmanaḥ |
deheṣu ca samutpattimuttameṣvadhameṣu ca || 65 ||

By meditation he shall recognise the subtile character of the Higher Self, as also the possibility of its presence in all organisms, high and low.—(65)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Meditation’—steadiness of the functioning of the mind, as described by Patañjali. By means of that, ‘he shall recognise the subtile character’ of the conscious entity in the body, the soul; and he shall not look upon either the body etc. or the life-breath etc, as the ‘Soul,’ which latter is to be understood, by the help of intuition born of meditation, as something different from all external and internal things;—this is what is meant by the text. Of the Soul, there are no grosser manifestations. And just as he can realise the ‘possibility of its presence’—in the higher organisms in the form of the bodies of the Gods and other such beings—i.e., the fact of its ensouling these bodies and pasting through experiences born therein, even though in reality it is omnipresent,—exactly in the same manner can one realise it also in the lower organisms, of lower animals, spirits, demons and so forth.

According to the philosophy of Monism, the souls in the organisms are only so many manifestations of the Supreme Self; and it is for this reason that the text has spoken of the man recognising the ‘t ransmigrations of the Higher Self.’—(65)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Yatidharmasaṅgraha (p. 35).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Vaśiṣṭha (10.14).—‘He shall constantly seek in his heart the knowledge of the Supreme Soul.’

Yājñavalkya (3.64).—‘By contemplative meditation he shall seek to perceive the subtle soul residing within himself.’

Like what you read? Consider supporting this website: