Chandogya Upanishad (Shankara Bhashya)

by Ganganatha Jha | 1942 | 149,749 words | ISBN-10: 8170842840 | ISBN-13: 9788170842842

This is the English translation of the Chandogya Upanishad, an ancient philosophical text originally written in Sanksrit and dating to at least the 8th century BCE. Having eight chapters (adhyayas) and many sub-sections (khandas), this text is counted among the largest of it's kind. The Chandogya Upanishad, being connected to the Samaveda, represen...

Section 1.3 (third khaṇḍa) (eleven texts)

Upaniṣad text:

Now, in relation to the Deities: One should meditate upon Him who Shines, as the Udgītha; verily, on rising, He sings out for the living beings; on rising, He dispels darkness and danger. He who knows this becomes the dispeller of danger and darkness.—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Now, after this, follows the meditation of the Udgītha as relating to Deities; since the Udgītha is capable of being meditated upon in several ways.—He who shines—as the Sun,—upon Him one should meditate as Udgītha; that is; one should meditate upon Udgītha as represented by the Sun.—Objection—“In the text we have the phrase ‘tam udgītham; here the term ‘Udgītha stands for a syllable; how then can it be applied to the Sun?”—Answer: On rising,—when the sun rises,—He sings out for the living beings,—i.e. for the benefit of the living beings; i.e. for producing food for living beings. As a matter of fact, if the Sun does not rise, the Vrīhi and other corns do not ripen; it is in this sense that the Sun is figuratively spoken of as ‘singing out’;—just as the Udgātṛ Priest sings for the acquiring of food; it is for this reason that the Sun is the Udgītha.—Further, on rising, He dispels, for the sake of living beings, the darkness—of night—and also the danger arising from that Darkness.—One who knows the Sun as endowed with these qualities becomes the dispeller.—destroyer—of danger—i.e. danger to the Self, of being born and dying;—as also of Darkness,—in the shape of ignorance,—which is the source of that danger.—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Though the Life-breath and the Sun appear to be different, on account of the difference in their location,—yet there is no difference in their essence.—“How so?”—[Answer].—

Upaniṣad text:

This and that are equal; This is warm and that is warm; this they call svara, and that they call svara and pratyāsvara; therefore one should meditate upon this and that as Udgītha.—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

This and that are equal; i.e, in quality, the Life-breath is equal to the Sun and the Sun is equal to the Life-breath; because This,—the Life-breath—is Warm, and That—the Sun—also is warm;—further, this—the Life-breath—they call ‘Svara’ and that—the Sun—they call ‘Svara’ and ‘Pratyāsvara’. This is so, because the Life-breath only goes out (‘Svarati’), dies, and does not come back (‘pratyāsvarati’) after death,—while the Sun, after having gone,—set,—again comes back day after day; hence the latter is called ‘pratyāsvara’.—Thus through their quality and name, the Life-breath and the Sun are equal to one another; and there being thus no essential difference between the two, one should meditate, upon This—the Life-breath,—and That— the Sun as Udgītha.—(2)

Upaniṣad text:

Now, verily, one should meditate upon Vyāna as Udgītha; when one breathes out, it is Prāṇa; when one breathes in, it is Apāna; and that which is the junction of Prāṇa and Apāna is Vyāna; that which is Vyāna is Speech; hence it is that one utters speech while he is neither breathing out nor breathing in.—(3)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Now verily etc.’—The text describes another method of meditating upon the Udgītha. One should meditate as Udgītha upon Vyāna,—i.e. upon that particular functioning of Breath, which is going to be described.—First of all the text proceeds to describe things that are similar to Vyāna: When the man breathes out,—that is, exhales Air through the mouth and the nose,—then, this functioning of the Air is what is called ‘Prāṇa’ (Out-breathing):—When one breathes in,—that is, inhales Air through those same two (mouth and nose), this is the functioning called ‘Apāna’ (In-breathing). Question.—“What if all this is so?”—Answer—That which is the junction of Prāṇa and Apāna,—that is, that function (of the Air) which is in between the said two functions (of Breathing out and Breathing in)—is Vyāna. The sense is that the term ‘Vyāna does not stand here for what is known by that name under the Sāṅkhya and other systems; because in the present text, the Śruti has described it as something totally different.—

Question,—“How is it that the text omits the Prāṇa and the Apāna, and puts forth great effort to speak of the meditation of Vyāna?”—

Answer—The reason for this lies in the fact that the said meditation leads to vigorous action.—“In what way does it lead to vigorous action?”—That which is Vyāna is Speech, because Speech is the effect of Vyāna; inasmuch as Speech is brought about by Vyāna,;—it is while the man is neither exhaling nor inhaling breath,—that is, while not performing the functions of Prāṇa and Apāna,—that he utters—gives out—Speech.-(3)

Upaniṣad text:

That which is Speech is Ṛk.; hence it is that one recites the Ṛk. while he is neither breathing out nor breathing in.—That which is Ṛk is Sāman; hence it is that one chants the Sāman while he is neither breathing out nor breathing in.—That which is Sāman is Udgītha; hence it is that one sings out while he is neither breathing out nor breathing in.—(4)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The sense of this is that one accomplishes the Ṛk, which is a form of Speech,—the Sāman which rests on the Ṛk,—and the Udgītha, which is a constituent part of the Sāman,—while one is neither breathing out nor breathing in,—that is, through Vyāna.—(4)

Upaniṣad text:

In addition to these, even other vigorous acts,—such as churning out of the fire, moving along the boundary, bending of the strong bow,—are done while one is neither breathing out nor breathing in. For this reason one should meditate upon Vyāna as the Udgītha. -(5)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

It is not only the uttering of speech and the rest (mentioned in the preceding text), but also acts other than those, which are vigorous,—i.e. requiring special effort to accomplish,—such as churning out of fire, moving along—i.e, running along,—the boundary,—the bending,—i.e. drawing—of the strong bow,—all these one does while he is neither breathing out nor breathing in;—for these reasons the Vyāna is superior to the Prāṇa and other functions (of the Breath); and the meditation and worship of the superior Being is better, on account of its being more fruitful; just like the serving of the King (which is more fruitful than serving the Minister and others).—For this reason,—by reason of this fact—one should meditate upon Vyāna itself as Udgītha,— and not upon the other functions (of Breath); and the reward of this would consist in the better and more vigorous accomplishment of the act (of meditation).—(5)

Upaniṣad text:

Now, one should verily meditate upon the syllables of the Udgītha as Udgītha: Prāṇa itself is ut, as it is through Prāṇa that one rises (ut-tiṣṭhatī);—Speech is ; as Speeches they call giraḥ;—food is tha, as it is upon food that all this subsists.—(6)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Now, then, one should verily meditate upon the syllables, of the Udgītha; in order to preclude the notion that what are meant to be meditated upon are the deities figuratively indicated (by the constituents of the syllable ‘Om’), the text has added the qualifying phrase ‘Udgītha iti’, as Udgītha; that is, one should meditate upon the syllables of the name Udgītha; the sense being that the meditation of the constituent syllables of the name implies the meditation of the bearer of the name also; just as when one thinks of the name ‘so and so Mishra’.—Praṇa itself is “ut’ (as contained in the term ‘Udgītha’); i.e., the syllable ‘ut’ should be meditated upon as ‘Prāṇa.—The text next explains why Prāṇa is ut: As it is through Prāṇa that all things rise as is clear from the fact that when one is devoid of Prāṇa (the Life-breath), one falls down; thus there is a similarity between Prāṇa and ‘ut’.—‘Speech is gī’; because cultured people speak of Speech as ‘gīraḥ’.—Similarly, ‘Food is tha’; as all this subsists upon food; this being the similarity between ‘Tha’ and food,—(6).

Upaniṣad text:

Heaven is ut; the Sky is ; the Earth is tha;—the Sun is ut; Air is ; Fire is tha;—Sāma-veda is ut; Yajurveda is ; Ṛgveda is tha;—for here Speech itself milks the milk of speech; and he who, knowing this, meditates upon the syllables of the Udgītha as Udgītha becomes rich in food and eater of food.—(7)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The similarities of the three things (of Prāṇa with ‘ut’, of Speech with ‘’ and of Food with ‘tha’) have been described in the preceding Vedic text; on the same analogy, similarities are now attributed to other sets of things also,—(a) Heaven is ‘ut’.—because of its high position (uccaiḥ sthāna);—the Sky is ‘gī’,—because it swallows (gīraṇāt) the regions;—the Earth is ‘tha’,—because living beings stand upon it (sthānāt).—(b) The Sun is ‘ut’,—because of its being high above;—‘Air is’,—because it swallows Fire and other things;—Fire is ‘tha’,—because sacrificial acts rest upon it.—(c) The Sāma-veda is ‘ut’.—because it has been eulogised as Heaven; Yajurveda is’,—because the deities swallow the offerings made with the Yajuṣ-Mantras; Ṛgveda is ‘tha’.—because the Sāman rests upon the Ṛk-verses. The text next describes the reward following from the meditation of the syllables of the Udgītha: For him,—the acting agent,—milks, Yields “What is it that yields?”—Speech “What does it yield?”—milk;—What is that milk?—The milk of speech; that is to say, the reward following from the Ṛgveda etc.; this reward is the ‘milk of speech’; this milk, Speech itself milks; that is Speech milks itself.—Further, he becomes rich in food,—i.e. possessed of large quantities of food, and also an eater of food,—i.e. he comes to have a keen appetite.—One who, knowing this,—meditates upon the syllables composing the term ‘Udgītha’ thus—i.e. as described above, possessing the qualities mentioned (gets this reward).—(7)

Upaniṣad text:

Now, the fulfilment of blessings: One should meditate upon the contemplated things thus: One should reflect upon that Sāman with which he may be going to pray.—(8)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Now, the fulfilment of blessings: the full statement is that ‘the text is now going to describe the method by which the fulfilment—accomplishment—of blessings—of desires—would be secured.—The term ‘contemplated things’ stands for things sought after, things gone after, i.e. things that one thinks of,—“How is this described?”—One should meditate upon the things thus,—i.e. in the following manner:—That Sāman,—the particular Sāman—with which one may be going topray—the Udgātṛ Priest maybe going to chant eulogistic hymns,—on that, one should reflect;—i.e. one should follow it up, cogitate over it, by means of arguments and reasonings.—(8)

Upaniṣad text:

That Ṛk upon which the Sāman is based,—on that Ṛk (one should reflect); that sage with which the Sāman is connected,—on that sage (one should reflect); that Divinity which one is going to pray to,—on that Divinity one should reflect.—(9)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

That Reverse upon which the said Sāman is based,—on that Ṛk-verse, one should re‘lect,—along with its Deity and other details.—That sage with which the said Sāman is connected—on that sage one should reflect.—That Divinity) to which one is going to pray,—on that Divinity one should reflect.—(9)

Upaniṣad text:

The metre in which one is going to pray,—upon that metre one should reflect;—the Stoma with which one may be going to pray,—upon that Stoma one should reflect.—(10)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The metre—Gāyatrī and the rest,—with which one is going to pray.—that metre one should reflect upon;—the Stoma with which one may be going to pray,—that Stoma one should reflect upon. The Ātmanepada ending has been used in the word ‘stoṣyamāṇaḥ’ (instead of the Parasmaipada ending elsewhere, in the word ‘stoṣyan’), because the result following from the use of a particular Stoma comes directly to the Agent himself. That Stoma one should reflect upon.—(10)

Upaniṣad text:

The quarter that one is going to eulogise,—that quarter one should reflect upon.—(11)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The quarter that one is going to eulogise,—that quarter one should reflect upon,—along with its Presiding Deity and other details.—(11)

Upaniṣad text:

Lastly, having approached himself, he should eulogise himself, with due care, pondering over his desire. Quickly will be fulfilled for him that desire seeking for which he would sing the Prayer.—Yea, seeking which he would sing the Prayer.—(12)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The Udgātṛ-Priest should approach and eulogise his own self—along with the table of his gotra and other details,—and also the Sāman and the rest;—pondering over his desire, with due care,—carefully avoiding all mistakes relating to accent and pronunciation.—Quickly—soon—will be fulfilled—will prosper—the desires for him who knows this—“which desire?”—seeking for which he would sing the Prayer.—The repetition of the phrase is meant to indicate the importance of the subject.—(12)

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