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 11.265
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
आद्यं यत् त्र्यक्षरं ब्रह्म त्रयी यस्मिन् प्रतिष्ठिता ।
स गुह्योऽन्यस्त्रिवृद्वेदो यस्तं वेद स वेदवित् ॥ २६५ ॥ādyaṃ yat tryakṣaraṃ brahma trayī yasmin pratiṣṭhitā |
sa guhyo'nyastrivṛdvedo yastaṃ veda sa vedavit || 265 ||That primeval tri-syllablic brahman, in which bests the Vedic Triad, is the other and esoteric ‘Threefold Veda’; he who knows this is ‘learned in the Vedas.’—(265)
Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Trisyllablic’—i.e., a composite of the three syllables contained in the word ‘Om.’
The ‘primeval Brahman,’ which is ‘esoteric’—as being set forth in detail in the esoteric sections of the Veda, where it is put forward as an object of worship. Or it may be regarded as ‘esoteric’ on account of its being denotative of the supreme soul, and not in the sense of being unknown; since it is well-known among people as the syllable ‘Om.’
That wherein the Vedic Triad lies condensed,—since all letters are described as contained in ‘Om.’ The worship or meditation of this has been already described above, as also in such passages as—‘One should meditate upon the syllable Om’ (Chāndogya Upa, 1.1.1).
The preceding verse has spoken of the Mantras as the ‘Veda,’ while in the present verse it is the Vedānta that is so spoken of. As for knowledge of duties, this is provided by what has been enjoined under ‘Vedic Study.’—(265)
End of Discourse XI.