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 3.13.6

ते वा एते पञ्च ब्रह्मपुरुषाः स्वर्गस्य लोकस्य द्वारपाः स य एतानेवं पञ्च ब्रह्मपुरुषान्स्वर्गस्य लोकस्य द्वारपान्वेदास्य कुले वीरो जायते प्रतिपद्यते स्वर्गं लोकं य एतानेवं पञ्च ब्रह्मपुरुषान्स्वर्गस्य लोकस्य द्वारपान्वेद ॥ ३.१३.६ ॥

te vā ete pañca brahmapuruṣāḥ svargasya lokasya dvārapāḥ sa ya etānevaṃ pañca brahmapuruṣānsvargasya lokasya dvārapānvedāsya kule vīro jāyate pratipadyate svargaṃ lokaṃ ya etānevaṃ pañca brahmapuruṣānsvargasya lokasya dvārapānveda || 3.13.6 ||

6. These five prāṇas are themselves like Brahman, and they are the gatekeepers of heaven. Anyone who regards these prāṇas as Brahman and as the gatekeepers to heaven has a heroic child born in his family. Knowing these prāṇas as Brahman and as the gatekeepers of heaven, a person attains heaven himself.

Word-for-word explanation:

Te vai ete pañca brahma-puruṣāḥ, these five [prāṇas] are the employees of Brahman; svargasya lokasya dvārapāḥ, the gatekeepers of the heavenly world; sāḥ yaḥ veda, he who knows; etān pañca brahma-puruṣān, these five Brahma-puruṣas; svargasya lokasya dvārapān, as gatekeepers of the heavenly world; evam, thus; asya kule vīraḥ jāyate, a heroic child is born in his family; yaḥ etān pañca brahma-puruṣān evam svargasya lokasya dvārapān veda, he who knows these five Brahma-puruṣas thus as the gatekeepers of the heavenly world; svargam lokam pratipadyate, attains the heavenly world.

Commentary:

Here the advice is to regard everything as Brahman. If you practise thinking that everything is Brahman, you acquire self-restraint, which is the sine qua non of Self-realization. The advice here is to treat the five prāṇas with great respect, so that they may allow you to enter straight into heaven.

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