Taittiriya Upanishad Bhashya Vartika
by R. Balasubramanian | 151,292 words | ISBN-10: 8185208115 | ISBN-13: 9788185208114
The English translation of Sureshvara’s Taittiriya Vartika, which is a commentary on Shankara’s Bhashya on the Taittiriya Upanishad. Taittiriya Vartika contains a further explanation of the words of Shankara-Acharya, the famous commentator who wrote many texts belonging to Advaita-Vedanta. Sureshvaracharya was his direct disciple and lived in the 9...
Verse 3.20
Sanskrit text and transliteration:
कोऽहं कस्य कुतो वेति कः कथं वा भवेदिति ।
प्रयोजनमतिर्नित्यमेवं मोक्षाश्रमी भवेत् ।
व्यासः प्राहात एवेदं मुमुक्षोर्मुक्तये तपः ॥ २० ॥
ko'haṃ kasya kuto veti kaḥ kathaṃ vā bhavediti |
prayojanamatirnityamevaṃ mokṣāśramī bhavet |
vyāsaḥ prāhāta evedaṃ mumukṣormuktaye tapaḥ || 20 ||
English translation of verse 3.20:
Vyāsa has said: “Who am I? Whose or whence? What will one become and how? An ascetic who is desirous of mokṣa should always think thus.” So for a seeker of liberation this (method of anvaya and vyatireka) is the tapas for attaining liberation.
Notes:
Sureśvara echoes Vyāsa’s words (Mahābhārata, XII, 359, 9) in order to show that his interpretation of tapas as reflection on the subject matter through the method of anvaya and vyatireka, etc., is quite acceptable to Vyāsa. An ascetic who is desirous of mokṣa should find out the answer to questions like “Who am I?” etc. An inquiry along these lines will enable him to discriminate the Self from the body, the senses, and the mind which ate not-Self.