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 4.2.5

तस्या ह मुखमुपोद्गृह्णन्नुवाचाजहारेमाः शूद्रानेनैव मुखेनालापयिष्यथा इति ते हैते रैक्वपर्णा नाम महावृषेषु यत्रास्मा उवास स तस्मै होवाच ॥ ४.२.५ ॥
॥ इति द्वितीयः खण्डः ॥

tasyā ha mukhamupodgṛhṇannuvācājahāremāḥ śūdrānenaiva mukhenālāpayiṣyathā iti te haite raikvaparṇā nāma mahāvṛṣeṣu yatrāsmā uvāsa sa tasmai hovāca || 4.2.5 ||
|| iti dvitīyaḥ khaṇḍaḥ ||

5. Lifting the face of the princess, Raikva said: ‘You have brought me many things [but they are not making me speak]. It is this face that is making me speak.’ The villages in the Mahāvṛṣa province, where Raikva lived, were known thenceforth as Raikvaparṇā. It was here Raikva taught Jānaśruti. Raikva said to him:

Word-for-word explanation:

Tasyāḥ ha mukham upodgṛhṇan, lifting her face; uvāca, [Raikva] said; śūdra, O śūdra; ajahāra, you have brought; imāḥ, all these; anena eva mukhena, by this face [or, mouth]; ālāpayiṣyathā iti, you will make me speak; te ha ete raikvaparṇāḥ nāma, these [villages] known as Raikvaparṇā; mahāvṛṣeṣu, in the province of Mahāvṛṣa; yatra, where; uvāsa, [Raikva] lived; asmai, [and where Raikva taught] him [i.e., Jānaśruti]; tasmai ha uvāca, he said to him. Iti dvitīyaḥ khaṇḍaḥ, here ends the second section.

Commentary:

Raikva was a brahmacārin. He had no home, and he lived an austere life. He had, however, attained Self-knowledge. When Jānaśruti approached him for spiritual instructions, he was unwilling. He did not like Jānaśruti’s offering him wealth. This is why he called him a śūdra. But When Jānaśruti offered him his daughter in marriage, Raikva was impressed by his keenness. He then agreed to teach him.

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