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 5.2.4

अथ यदि महज्जिगमिषेदमावास्यायां दीक्षित्वा पौर्णमास्यां रात्रौ सर्वौषधस्य मन्थं दधिमधुनोरुपमथ्य ज्येष्ठाय श्रेष्ठाय स्वाहेत्यग्नावाज्यस्य हुत्वा मन्थे सम्पातमवनयेत् ॥ ५.२.४ ॥

atha yadi mahajjigamiṣedamāvāsyāyāṃ dīkṣitvā paurṇamāsyāṃ rātrau sarvauṣadhasya manthaṃ dadhimadhunorupamathya jyeṣṭhāya śreṣṭhāya svāhetyagnāvājyasya hutvā manthe sampātamavanayet || 5.2.4 ||

4. Then if anyone wishes to attain greatness, he should first become initiated on a new moon day, and after that, on the night of a full moon, he should prepare a paste of various herbs and mix them together with curd and honey. He should then offer this oblation to the fire saying, ‘Jyeṣṭhāya śreṣṭhāya svāhā,’ [i.e., Svāhā to the oldest and to the best]. Whatever is left over in the offering spoon he should put into the homa pot.

Word-for-word explanation:

Atha yadi, then if; mahat jigamiṣet, a person wants to attain greatness; amāvāsyāyām dīkṣitvā, having been initiated on the day of a new moon; paurṇamāsyām rātrau, on the night of the full moon; sarvauṣadhyasya mantham, a paste of various herbs; dadhi-madhunoḥ upamathya, [and] mixing with curd and honey; jyeṣṭhāya śreṣṭhāya svāhā iti, say ‘Svāhā to the oldest and the best’; agnau ājyasya hutvā, offer this as oblations to the fire; manthe sampātam avanayet, put the residue from the offering spoon in the pot.

Commentary:

If a person wants to attain greatness, it should not be for worldly gain, but for his spiritual benefit. Here, some instructions are given concerning the sacrifices he should perform. Prior to those sacrifices, however, he should practise strict self-control for some time. This whole discipline is intended to take him to a higher world after death, but the over-all result is that he becomes a better person spiritually.

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