Verse 12.50

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

ब्रह्मा विश्वसृजो धर्मो महानव्यक्तमेव च ।
उत्तमां सात्त्विकीमेतां गतिमाहुर्मनीषिणः ॥ ५० ॥

brahmā viśvasṛjo dharmo mahānavyaktameva ca |
uttamāṃ sāttvikīmetāṃ gatimāhurmanīṣiṇaḥ || 50 ||

Brahmā, creators of the universe, Dharma, the Great One, Unmanifest,—these the wise ones describe as representing the best state partaking of ‘Sattva.’—(50)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Creators of the universe’—Marīci and others, known as ‘Prajāpatis.’

‘Dharma’—What is expounded in the Veda; the former verse had spoken of the Veda itself, and the present one speaks of what is contained in the Veda; this shows that the meaning is more important than the form of the word. Or ‘Dharma’ may stand for Truth and other such things.

The corporeality of ‘Dharma’ is to be explained as before (in the case of the Veda).

‘The Great One’ is another name for the ‘Unmanifest,’ which is synonymous with ‘Prakṛti,’ ‘Pradhāna,’ ‘the Root-Evolvent.’

“The entire world being an emanation from the Root-Evolvent, when there happens to be an excess in it of the quality of Sattva, all such emanations should partake of that quality. How then can there be any excess of Rajas and Tamas in anything? So that what has been said under Verse 25 above, to the effect that—‘the body in which one of these preponderates,’ etc.—cannot be right”

The answer to this is as follows:—It does not mean that ‘the emanations partake of the nature of the Root-Evolvent’; what is meant is that there are three ways of explaining the term ‘avyakta,’ ‘unmanifest’:—(1) It may mean that the Root-Evolvent is something unattainable, or (2) that it is invisible; or (3) that the term may not stand for that Root-Evolvent which is a principle postulated by the Sāṅkhyas; the term ‘unmanifest’ connoting a certain act,—viz., that ‘there is no manifestation’ of the entity concerned, ‘its appearance is indistinct,’ and hence it is ‘unmanifest’; and in this sense the name becomes applicable to the Supreme Self, and the epithet ‘great’ is applicable to It on the ground of its immanence.

“But the state of the Supreme Self cannot partake of the quality of Sattva.”

As a matter of fact, even without entirely renouncing the ‘qualities’ one can be regarded as ‘Supreme Self’; for it is understood that when the man has the feeling ‘I am not,’ ‘there is nothing that is mine,’ and becomes free from the notion of ‘I,’ he attains the position of ‘Brahman’ (the Supreme Self). In fact, it is by meditation that the position of ‘Brahman’ is attained. But only those persons have recourse to meditation and such practices in whom the preponderating quality is Sattva, not Rajas or Tamas.

It is in this sense that this is described as “the best state partaking of ‘Sattva.’”

The other two explanations (of the term ‘unmanifest’) are not right. As regards (a), no human end is served by attaining the position of the Root-Evolvent; because this has been described as ‘insentient,’ and what is ‘insentient’ is inferior to even immovable beings; it is for this reason that people never seek for such condition as that during intoxication or swoon. As regards the seeing of the Root-Evolvent, this cannot be possible, as no such seeing has been anywhere mentioned; as what is prescribed is that ‘the Self should be seen,’—not the Root-Evolvent.

From all this it is clear that the terms ‘the Great One’ and ‘Unmanifest’ stand, for the Supreme Self.—(50)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Mahān’.—‘Supreme soul’ (Medhātithi);—‘the deity presiding over the Mohat-tattva of the Sāṅkhyas’ (Govindarāja and Kullūka).

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 999);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 694);—in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta, p. 489);—and in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Prāyaścitta 41a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 12.32-51)

See Comparative notes for Verse 12.32.