Eight Adhyaya, Twelfth Khanda (6 mantras)

Mantra 8.12.1.

1. O Indra! this body of the Jīva is mortal and held by death. It is the abode of the Immortal, the bodyless Lord. The embodied Jīva is verily held by pleasure and pain. Nor is ever the embodied free from pleasure and pain. The non-embodied is verily never touched by pleasure or pain.—574.

Mantra 8.12.2.

2. The Chief Vāyu is without body, Brahmā, and the wife of Vāyu and the wife of Brahmā these are also without body. As these through the grace of the All-luminous come out of their body, and attain the Highest Light and remain in their own form.—575.

[Note.—Abhram—Brahmā, because He is supported (bhra) by the Lord Viṣṇu (Ap=all-pervading).]

Mantra 8.12.3.

3. He through whose grace this released soul, arising from his last body, and having approached the Highest Light, is restored to his own form is the Highest Person. The Mukta moves about there laughing, playing, and rejoicing, with women, with carriages with other Muktas of his own period or of the past Kalpas. (So great is his ecstasy) that he does not remember even the person standing near him, nor even his own body. And as a charioteer, is appointed by his master, to drive the carriage, just so is this Prāṇa appointed to drive this chariot of the body.—576.

Mantra 8.12.4.

4. Now that, in Whom this luminous form has entered, to Him belongs the eye. That Being is the Lord of the eye, for the sake of His seeing is the eye. So He Who says let me smell this, He is the Self, the nose is the instrument of smelling. He Who says ‘let me say this,’ He is the Self, the tongue is the instrument of saying. He Who says “let me hear this,” He is the Self: the ear is the instrument of hearing.—577.

Mantra 8.12.5.

5. He Who knows let me think this, He is the Self, mind is His illumined eye. He the Self seeing these objects of pleasure through His illumined eye rejoices.—578.

Note:—These two Mantras show that it is the Lord who creates by His will Eye, Ear, Nose, etc., in order to make the Jīva get experiences. The Lord is the Uttama Puruṣa of the third Mantra, and the last two verses describe in detail His glory and Majesty. The Jīva, with Prāṇa and Senses, is supported by the Lord and exists through Him. These two verses show, that the real enjoyer of all the experiences, is the Lord; and that the Jīva enjoys secondarily after the Lord.

Mantra 8.12.6.

6. (The Lord enjoys all holy pleasures only), which exist in the Brahmā-world. That Supreme Self is worshipped verily by the Devas. Therefore, they obtain all worlds and all desires. Ide who knows that Self and realises Him also, obtains all worlds and all desires. Thus said Prajāpati, verily thus said Prajāpati.—579.

[Note.—Brahmaloke—in the world of the Lord, namely the Lord experiences those desires only which are holy and which exist in Heaven world.]

Madhva’s commentary called the Bhāṣya:

When thus addressed by Indra, Brahmā told him the truth in plain and simple words; namely “Know thou that to be the Jīva who has always connection with body, i.e., a Jīva has always some body or another. While He who has no connection with any body cither in past, present or future, He is called the bodyless, the Supreme Viṣṇu, the Immortal, the Eternal Form. Though thus unembodied, the Lord, dwelling within this body, remains controlling it; for the Lord is He who controls the body, free from old age, etc.; while the Jivātmā is bound with the body, and suffers old ago and death. Because it has the conceit of body.

The Commentator now explains the meaning of the word Priya and Apriya.

The learned call that to be a priya, which depends upon another; any happiness which is not self-dependent is Priya or pleasure; (Para meaning another and Ya meaning to come). Similarly any pain which comes from another, that is called “Apriya”, the word “A” meaning evil.

The Jīva is always subject to Priya and Apriya; to pleasure caused by another, to pain given by another. A Jīva can never, under any condition (whether Free or Mukta), be above pleasure and pain. In Mukti he has pleasure, given to him by Clod, in non-Mukti he has both pleasure and pain, according to his Karmas. But the Supreme Brahman is Aśarira (bodyless), therefore, He has no pleasure nor pain. These can never touch Him. His pleasure is Self-originated, not like the Priya, dependent upon another, while pain He never has.

The Commentator now explains the words Abhra, Vidyut, and Stanayitnu, which generally mean the cloud, the lightning and the thunder. But he shows that these words mean here Brahmā, the wife of Vāyu and the wife of Brahmā respectively.

Brahmā is called Abhra, because lie is supported (bhra=to support) by the Supreme Lord, who pervades everything, namely, by the God Viṣṇu, who is called “Ap” or all-pervading. Thus “Abhra” is a compound of two words(“ap” + “bhra”).

“Ap” and “Bhra” means literally “supported by the all-pervading.”

Note:—When meaning cloud “Abhra” is analysed as “Ap” = water, “Bhra” = carrying, water carrying, water bearing.

The wife of Vāyu is called Vidyut, because she causes special (vi) enlightenment, specific giver of light. The wife of Brahmā is called Stanayitnu, because she consists of all sounds, and Stanayitnu literally means the maker of all sounds.

These (Vāyu and Brahmā with their spouses) are said to be without body, not because they have absolutely no bodies, but because knowledge preponderates in them, and their body is no hindrance to their knowledge. These also are not afflicted by pleasure and pain, much less then will the Supreme Brahman be affected by pleasure and pain.

How do you say that Brahmā and Vāyu have no pleasure caused by another. Their pleasure is caused by Viṣṇu Himself and it is not self-originated, so they cannot bo said untouched by pleasure.

To this the Commentator replies:—

The pleasure of Vāyu and Brahmā, is caused directly by Viṣṇu, while that of their wives by them who are their lords. This pleasure cannot be said to be caused by another, for the pleasure caused directly by God is not Priya, as above defined. Therefore they are said to be devoid of pleasure.

As these, Vāyu, Brahmā and their wives, have emerged from the Supreme Ether namely Viṣṇu, and from nothing else, and as they enter back into Him and merge into Him in Mukti, and thus obtain their own happiness and bliss, so the other Muktas, through the full grace of Viṣṇu, obtain their self-bliss, by reaching Viṣṇu called also Keśava. When the Mukta reaches Viṣṇu, he rejoices there with women and carriages, and kinsmen. As the charioteer is placed in the carriage, to drive it, so is Vāyu appointed by the Lord, to drive this chariot of the body. And as in the chariot is seated the Master of the chariot, so the Lord Viṣṇu sits in the body, the master of the body; and as a chariot may carry other passengers also, so is the Jīva a mere passenger in this body, neither the driver nor the master of it.

Refuged in Him are all the senses and the sense-Devas; the great Prāṇa is also refuged in Him; in Him is refuged even this Jīva. He the Supreme Viṣṇu knows all their workings, their seeings, their hearings, their smellings, their tastings and thinkings as well. He verily fully knows, without any effort, all the objects of all the senses. That Viṣṇu must be known as the Supreme, greater than all the Devas of the senses, and the senses. He the Lord Viṣṇu, the Unborn, experiences all joys through these senses. Though He is capable of enjoying everything by His own glorious form, yet the Lord Hari when dwelling in the body of a Jīva, enjoys all objects through the senses of the Jīva by pervading those senses with his own divine senses.

If the Lord within the Jīva, enjoys through the senses of the Jīva, then He would suffer the pain of the Jīvas, and experience evils as well.

To this the Commentator replies:—

The Lord Viṣṇu, by pervading the Jīva and his senses and Prāṇa enjoys all the auspicious experiences of the Jīva but never any evil.

Him the Supreme Lord worship all the Devas, Vāyu, and the rest; under His control, verily all the worlds subsist, all desires, and all Jīvas. Any one who knows this ancient Viṣṇu, according to his capacity, and sees Him in his true light, obtains all desires, and all worlds, according to his will. Thus it is in the Sāma Saṃhitā.

Prajāpati taught Virocana, the true doctrine, hut the latter through his incapacity, and unfitness understood as if Brahmā was teaching the theory of Māyā, namely that the Jīva is a reflection of Brahman, the reflection and the original are identical, and that therefore the Jīva and the Brahman are the same and consequently the Jīva is to be worshipped. In fact, the theory of the Māyāvādins is the theory of all the Asuras, and is not the true doctrine. Indra, however, understood Prajāpati rightly. He knew that the Lord is the producer of the three states of consciousness, waking, dreaming and deep sleep, that He is above all conceit of body, that He is untouched by necessary pain and pleasure, that He is the goal of the Muktas, that He is the Lord of the Chariot of the body, that He is the supporter of the Jīva with his Prāṇa and senses, that He is the enjoyer of all auspicious experiences, that He is adored by Vāyu and others, that He alone is the Ātman. While the Jīva is just opposite of it. Thus Indra understood the teaching of Prajāpati in its true light, namely that he had taught the doctrine of duality, and not of identity and illusion. Indra taught this doctrine to the Devas, as Virocana taught Māyāvāda to the Asuras. Some say that the doctrine taught to the Virocana, or rather mis-understood by him, was not Māyāvāda but materialism or Lokāyata, namely, that this body is the Ātman, there is no other soul than this body, and that this body alone ought to be worshipped. This, however, is not the doctrine taught to Virocana. For Lokāyatas are materialists and do not believe in after-life. They do not believe that the souls survive bodily dissolution. That this doctrine was not taught is thus proved by the Commentator:—

The Śruti says that Virocana taught to the Asuras “he obtains both worlds, this and the next” this shows that the Lokāyata doctrine was not taught by Virocana: for they (the Lokāyatas) do not believe in the existence of the next world. Virocana, however, believed in the existence of the next world and he did not misunderstand Prajāpati as teaching materialism, but as teaching Māyāvāda. For Virocana, when he went back to his Asuras, taught them that the Jīva is to be worshipped, that the Jīva alone is to be served, and he who worships the Jīva alone, and serves the Jīva alone, attains both the worlds this and the next (Khaṇḍa VIII, verse 4). Thus this teaching of Virocana to the Asuras shows that lie did not teach materialism, for lie taught the existence of the next, world. He taught the identity of the reflection with the reflected, the Supremacy of the Jīva: in short the doctrine of the Māyāvāda.

But while Virocana understood the word Ātman, as meaning Jīva Ātman, Indra understood it in its true sense, namely the Supreme Lord, He understood that Prajāpati by using the word Ātman referred to the Supreme Lord and not to the Jīva Ātman. Tn fact, the word Ātman is used in the subsequent passages, unmistakably for the Supreme Lord; thus as below “O Indra, this body is mortal and held by death. It is the abode of the immortal, the bodyless Ātman. The embodied is verily held by pleasure and pain. Nor is ever the embodied free from pleasure and pain. The non-embodied is verily never touched by pleasure or pain” (Khaṇḍa XII-I).

The above texts show that a sharp di (Terence is drawn between the Jīva and the Īśvara, the human soul and the Lord.

But may it not be that the Jīva, is also, above pleasure and pain, in its state of Mukti, and then this verse will apply to the Jīva. In ordinary conditions, the Jīva is not above pleasure and pain, but in Mukti it is.

To this the Commentator replies:—

Except the Jīva no one else has the perception of priya (pleasure) and apriya (pain).

For if every Jīva whether Mukta or Bound, were free from pleasure and pain, then who or what is it that is affected by pleasure and pain? The answer must be the body. If the soul doos not suffer, then the suffering is in the body, but that is not the opinion of any side. If the bound soul only suffers and the released soul is above all suffering, then it is against all teachings which show that in release also the soul is bound to enjoy happiness; it cannot get rid of joy.

Even the released soul is not free from pleasure, it has the enjoyment of pleasure in that state.

Says an objector If the released soul is not free from suffering (?) joy then the Lord is also not free, for his joy is eternal and He can never be free from joy.”

To this the Commentator replies:—

The word priya or pleasure of this passage is not intended to include the joy of the Lord Viṣṇu. For we have already said above, that by priya is meant that pleasure, the attainment of which depends upon another; the joy of the Lord is not such a priya, it is self-dependent. The bliss of the released, being dependent upon the Lord, is priyam, in the true sense of the word, (As says the following text). The Jīvas whether released or bound, can never be free from priya, because their joy is ever dependent upon another. But the joy of the Lord Hari, being independent of all, is not called priya. Because the wise say, that the priya is that joy which depends upon another. But though the joy of Brahmā and Vāyu are also dependent upon another, namely upon the Lord Hari, yet that joy is not called priya, because it depends upon no one else than the Lord, Their joy, therefore, falls under the category of apriya. It is only in a secondary sense that their joy is called apriya, strictly speaking their joy is also priya or dependent joy. This secondary use of apriya is like the use of the word Svarāt [Svarāṭ?] or the Self-ruler or autocrat as applied to the king, (for the true Autocrat is the Lord alone). Or as the word Īśvara or Lord is applied to Rudra; or as the word Indra is applied to Śakra. (Indra or the Powerful One is the name of the Lord primarily). In the same way the word apriya is applied to Brahmā and Vāyu: their joy is not absolutely self-dependent. Similarly the joy of the consorts of Brahmā and Vāyu is called apriya, though it is dependent on the Lord and on their respective lords; just as the word rājñi or sovereign is applied to the queen, or the Īśvarī or Lady is applied to Umā. It is in this secondary sense only, that the word apriya is used in connection with Vidyut the wife of Vāyu and Stanayitnu the wife of Brahmā. Thus it is written in the Parama Śruti. Moreover, the very text of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad also shows that the joy of the released is dependent upon the grace of the Lord and is not any self-produced joy. Thus in verse 3 of Khaṇḍa 12 it is said:—“This released soul, having obtained the full grace of the Lord, and having approached the highest Light, appears in his own form.” This shows that the experiencing of the nijānanda or the self-joy is obtained by the released soul, by the grace of the Lord.

Moreover in the same verse the Lord is described as the Best Person Uttama Puruṣa or the Highest Spirit. This also differentiates the Lord from the Jīva.

But cannot the words “uttama puruṣa” be applied to the Jīva also? In the state of Mukti, the Jīva may well be called the best person, as compared with inanimate matter.

To this the Commentator replies:—

The word “uttama puruṣa” the Highest Person always presupposes that there are other persons compared with whom, this is the highest. If the comparison was only between him and the inanimate nature, then the word highest would have been enough, and not the words highest person.

The Advaita theory is that there is only one person or Puruṣa. The spirits are not many but one. In this view, the use of the word “uttama puruṣa” is wrong, for the word Highest Spirit, always implies the existence of other spirits lower in grade. That are other puruṣas is taught by the Gītā also.

“The Uttama Puruṣa is another called the Supreme Self,” (Gītā XV-17). “That Supremacy and uniqueness which Brahmā or Rudra cannot obtain, is Thy essential nature O Lord! Hari Thou alone art the Highest Person.” So also in the Ṛg Veda we find that the Lord Viṣṇu is described the Highest. As the following Ṛk will show.

paromātrayātanvā vṛdhāna na te mahitvamanvaśnuvanti |
ubhe te vidma rajasī pṛthivyā viṣṇo deva tvaṃ paramasya vitse ||

“Men come not nigh Thy majesty, who growest beyond all bound and measure, with Thy body. Only Thy two regions, the heaven and the earth, O Viṣṇu we know: but Thou, God, knowest the highest also”. (Ṛg. Veda VII-99.—1).

The same idea is expressed in the following lines of the Gītā. (14.) “Being refuged in this wisdom and having reached similarity with my nature.” So also in Taitt. II. 2:—“He who knows the Supreme Brahman, as dwelling in the cavity of the heart, the highest space, he enjoys all objects of desire along with the Omniscient Brahman.” So also in Taitt. III. 10-5, it is said “The Mukta Jīva, leaving this world, reaches the Ānandamaya (the Supreme Lord consisting of Bliss) after having travelled through these regions, eating whatever he likes to eat, and taking whatever form he wishes to take, sits down singing this hymn.” So. also:—“Where Maya (Prakriti) does not exist, what to say of other lower things? Where dwell the servants of the Lord Hari, honoured by Devas and Asuras.” Similarly “Kṛṣṇa is worshipped by the released souls free from delusion.” Similarly Chand. VIII. 12-3 “He moves about there laughing, playing, and rejoicing with women, with carriages, with other Muktas of his own period, or of the past Kalpas. (So great is his ecstacy) that he does not remember even the persons standing near him nor even his body.” This also shows, that the Jīva, in the state of Mukti, retains his separateness from the Lord, and does not become identical with Brahman. In fact, the word Upa meaning near, and the word Antara-different, found in the verse already quoted, show that there are other souls near the Mukta Jīva.

Similarly in that very verse we find that Mukta Jīva stands in the presence of the Supreme Light. All this shows that the Mukta is not identical with the Lord.

The word Antara does not occur in the text of the Chand. VIII. 12,-3, as we have get it. It must be the reading of some other recension.

Similarly in Chand. VIII. 12,-6, we read, the Devas worship the Ātman. Now, if the Ātman meant the Jīva, then the verse would mean that the Devas worship the Jīva. But Devas never worship any Jīva as Jīva only.

Devas may worship a Jīva, merely as a symbol, but never as the Supreme. Jīva, as such, is never worshipped by any Deva. The object of the worship of the Devas is Viṣṇu alone.

Because the following text of the Ṛgveda shows that the Devas worship Viṣṇu alone.

punardāya brahmajāyām kṛtvī devairnikilbiṣam |
ūrjampṛthivyā bhaktvāyorughāyamupāsate ||

“The Devas restored the Brāhmaṇa’s wife having purified her from sin, and worship the Lord of great glory, in order to enjoy the fulness of the earth”. (X.109,-7).

Similarly the following verse of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa shows that the Uttama Puruṣa of Chānd. VIII. 12,-3, is Lord Viṣṇu and not any Mukta Jīva. “The Lord must be worshipped, as the Highest Person (Uttama Puruṣa) as separate,from the Jīva, as possessing full knowledge, as the agent unattached by any action, etc.”

Says an objector:—

In the Chand. VIII. 12,-4, it is said. “That being is the Ātman of the eye, for the sake of his seeing, is the eye. So ho who says “let me say this.” He is the Ātman, the tongue is the instrument of saying, etc.” This shows that the Ātman referred to here is the Jīvātman and not the Lord, for he doos not require any sense organs to enjoy external objects. This is wrong. For though the Lord is perfect, yet as a matter of sport (lilā [līlā?]) he enjoys external objects, through the senses of the Jīvas.

As says the following verse of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa:—

Because the Lord having created these bodies with the elements Mahat etc., has entered into them, and rests in them; He is called Puruṣa (literally he who rests in Pur or body). Thus dwelling in the bodies of the Jīvas, he enjoys all good and auspicious experiences of sixteen kinds, by being a witness of the sixteen organs. May that Lord beautify these words.” This shows that enjoyment is stated with regard to the Lord alone, through the senses.

The sixteen organs are the five senses of cognition, the five organs of action, the five internal organs, mind and the rest, and Jīva as the sixteenth. In other words, there are five organs of cognition, five of action, and five of feelings.

Similarly in Katha. Up. III.1:—“There are the two (aspects of the Lord) the drinkers of truth, existing in the body obtained by good works, both dwelling in the cavity of the heart, in the most highly splendid Param (Vāyu).” The dwelling in the cavity are bot? [both?] aspects of the Lord, as we learn from the words of Bādarāyaṇa in the Vedānta Sūtras I.2,-11:—“The two (who have entered) into the cave, are indeed, both Ātman (the Lord), from this very well-known characteristic, and from scripture to that effect.”

But verse 4 of Khaṇḍa 12 says that the eye is for his seeing, the ear for his hearing and which are indications of the Jīva. Therefore, lie who enjoys the objects is the Jīva and the Supreme Lord. To this the Commentator replies that even with regard to the physical objects, the Jīva does not sec, taste etc., the true objects, but the appearances only. The real object is known only to the Lord.

Even with regard to seeing and smelling etc., when the Jīvas say “I see this, I smell this” the Jīvas really do not know, because they do not apprehend the things by themselves, the substances underlying the sensations, only the Supreme Spirit knows them. Therefore, the words “Sa uttamaḥ puruṣaḥ” do not refer to the Jīva but to the Lord, (in verse 3, Khaṇḍa 12) Lord Bādarāyaṇa understands it also in this sense. In the Vedānta Sūtras 1.3,-20, he says:—“the reference in the Chand. Upa. VIII. 12,-3, is to the Supreme Ātman and not to the Jīva.” Similarly in the Gītā the word Uttama Puruṣa is applied to the Lord:—“But the Uttama Puruṣa is another called the Supreme Self (Gītā 15, 17).”

The Mukta Jīva is not all-powerful, nor Omnipotent like the Lord. This fact is stated by Lord Bādarāyaṇa himself in his Vedānta Sūtras (IV 4,17):—“The Mukta Jīva obtains all his wishes, but does not possess the power of creating or destroying the world.” Therefore the being by reaching whom the Jīva is restored to its essential nature is the Lord called the Uttama Puruṣa or the Supreme Spirit, The verse 3, of Khaṇḍa 12, therefore should be explained thus. He by whose grace the Jīva leaving his last body and approaching the highest Light, is restored to its own form, is the Highest Person, the Uttama Puruṣa.”

The previous passages, also, where it is said, he moves in his glory, in bis dream (Khaṇḍa 10. 1,) and the reference to deep sleep in Khaṇḍa 11, verse 1, show that the Lord is meant there, and not the Jīva. For those passages describe attributes which are not applicable to the Jīva. Thus, for example, the phrase “Mahīyamānaḥ carati” shows that Jīva could not have been meant; for it means he moves in his glory, namely, while he is glorified by the Devas. Now the Jīva is never glorified in his dreams (in fact, he has no control over his dreams, and dreams are sometimes very painful): the Lord alone is always glorified and retains His Majesty, even in dream.

The word Prāyogya in verse 3, Khaṇḍa 12, means the driver of the carriage, for he who is in charge of (prāyoga) of the carriage is called Prāyogya. The Lexicon also gives this meaning:—“The words yantā, sārathi, ānetā, and prāyogya all mean the driver in charge of the carriage.”

The words “Daivain cakṣuḥ” in verse 5, Khaṇḍa 12, are ambiguous. The Commentator explains the word daiva thus:—The manas is called “daivam cakṣuḥ” because it is illumined by others.

The word daiva [daiva] is to be taken in its etymological sense here, namely the eyes, etc., of the Jīva is illumined by the eyes, etc., of the Lord. The Lord has His own eyes, etc., but when He works through the Jīva He uses the eyes, etc., of the Jīva, but illumines them and makes them daivam or illumined.

The words “Ye, etc., brahmaloke” should be completed by “tesu ramate” and means he takes delight in those pleasures which exist in the Brahma world. In the same mantra (6, Khaṇḍa 12,) occur the words “anuvidya vijānāti”. The anuvidya means having understood through teachers and scriptures, that is, second-hand knowledge. While vijānāti means face to face or direct knowledge, or aparokṣa. As says the following verse:—Vedanam means knowledge through scriptures, while vijñānam means seeing the Lord (Brahmadarśana).