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 3.16.3

अथ यानि चतुश्चत्वारिंशद्वर्षाणि तन्माध्यंदिनं सवनं चतुश्चत्वारिंशदक्षरा त्रिष्टुप्त्रैष्टुभं माध्यंदिनंसवनं तदस्य रुद्रा अन्वायत्ताः प्राणा वाव रुद्रा एते हीदंसर्वंरोदयन्ति ॥ ३.१६.३ ॥

atha yāni catuścatvāriṃśadvarṣāṇi tanmādhyaṃdinaṃ savanaṃ catuścatvāriṃśadakṣarā triṣṭuptraiṣṭubhaṃ mādhyaṃdinaṃsavanaṃ tadasya rudrā anvāyattāḥ prāṇā vāva rudrā ete hīdaṃsarvaṃrodayanti || 3.16.3 ||

3. Then the next forty-four years are like the midday libation. The triṣṭubh metre has forty-four syllables, and the midday libation is accompanied by a hymn which is in the triṣṭubh metre. The Rudras are connected with this midday libation. The prāṇas are called Rudras because they [are cruel and] make everyone in this world weep.

Word-for-word explanation:

Atha, then; yāni catuścatvāriṃśat varṣāṇi, that which is the next forty-four years; tat, that; mādhyandinam savanam, is the midday libation; triṣṭup catuścatvāriṃśat akṣarā, the triṣṭubh metre is constituted of forty-four syllables; traiṣṭubham mādhyandinam savanam, the midday libation is accompanied by a hymn in the triṣṭubh metre; asya, of this [i.e., this sacrifice of the human body]; tat, it [the midday libation covering the next forty-four years]; rudrāḥ, the deities called Rudras; anvāyattāḥ, are connected; prāṇāḥ vāva rudrāḥ, the prāṇas [together with the sense organs] are the Rudras; hi, for; ete, these [Rudras]; idam sarvam rodayanti, make everyone in this world weep.

Commentary:

The sense organs become very powerful when a person has reached middle age, and they may make him do things he will regret and for which he will have to ‘weep.’ In this sacrifice, these next forty-four years correspond to the midday worship. The libation offered at this worship is accompanied by a hymn in the triṣṭubh metre, which has forty-four syllables. In this way, one can easily meditate on a human being as a ritualistic sacrifice.

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