Chandogya Upanishad (english Translation)
by Swami Lokeswarananda | 165,421 words | ISBN-10: 8185843910 | ISBN-13: 9788185843919
This is the English translation of the Chandogya-upanishad, including a commentary based on Swami Lokeswarananda’s weekly discourses; incorporating extracts from Shankara’s bhasya. The Chandogya Upanishad is a major Hindu philosophical text incorporated in the Sama Veda, and dealing with meditation and Brahman. This edition includes the Sanskrit t...
Verse 2.20.2
स य एवमेतद्राजनं देवतासु प्रोतं वेदैतासामेव देवतानांसलोकतांसर्ष्टितांसायुज्यं गच्छति सर्वमायुरेति ज्योग्जीवति महान्प्रजया पशुभिर्भवति महान्कीर्त्या ब्राह्मणान्न निन्देत्तद्व्रतम् ॥ २.२०.२ ॥
॥ इति विंशः खण्डः ॥sa ya evametadrājanaṃ devatāsu protaṃ vedaitāsāmeva devatānāṃsalokatāṃsarṣṭitāṃsāyujyaṃ gacchati sarvamāyureti jyogjīvati mahānprajayā paśubhirbhavati mahānkīrtyā brāhmaṇānna nindettadvratam || 2.20.2 ||
|| iti viṃśaḥ khaṇḍaḥ ||2. He who knows that the Sāma known as Rājana is established in the gods and goddesses shares the same worlds with these gods and goddesses, has the same rights and privileges with them, or has the same form. He also has a long and brilliant life. And he becomes great by virtue of his children and his animal wealth, and also by virtue of his great deeds. His vow is that he will never speak ill of the brāhmins.
Word-for-word explanation:
Saḥ yaḥ evam etat rājanam devatāsu protam veda, he who knows that this Sāma known as Rājana is established in the gods and goddesses [such as Agni (fire), Vāyu (air), etc.]; etāsām eva devatānām salokatām gacchati, he shares with those gods and goddesses the same worlds; sārṣṭitām, the same rights and privileges; [vā] sāyujyam, [or] the same form; sarvam āyuḥ eti, he lives the full span of his life; jyok jīvati, he has a brilliant life; mahān prajayā paśubhiḥ bhavati, he becomes great by virtue of his children and also his animal wealth; mahān kīrtyā, he is great by his great deeds; brāhmaṇān na nindet tat vratam, it is his vow that he will not speak ill of the brāhmins. Iti viṃśaḥ khaṇḍaḥ, here ends the twentieth section.
Commentary:
What does a person gain from worshipping the Sāma in such a way? He gets the right to live with the gods and goddesses in the same world, or to share the same rights and privileges with them, or to have the same form. It is not that he would get all these things. He would get any one of them.
The scriptures say that the brāhmins themselves are the gods and goddesses. Obviously then one should not say anything derogatory about the brāhmins.
Section Twenty-One