Section 2.21 (twenty-first khaṇḍa) (four texts)

Upaniṣad text:

The Threefold Science is the syllable these three regions are the Prāstava; Fire, Air, and Sun are the Udgītha; the Stars, the Birds and the Rays are Pratihāra; the serpents, the Gandharvas and the Pitṛs are the Nidhana.—This is the Sāma interwoven in all—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The Threefold Science is the syllable ‘Hiṅ’;—this section of the Threefold Science is dealt with immediately after the Sāma in the form of Agni and other deities, because the Veda has declared that the Threefold Science is the product of Agni and the rest.—This is the syllable ‘Hiṅ’, as it is the first step in the process of the performance of all one’s duties—These three worlds.—which come next, as the product of the preceding,—are the Prastāva.—Agni—fire, and the rest are the Udgītha, on account of their superior importance.—The stars and the rest are the Pratihāra, because they are assembled together.—The Serpents and the rest are Nidhana—because the letter ‘dha’ is common (to the names ‘Gandharva’ and ‘Nidhana’).—There being no special name for this Sāma, it is called here by the generic name ‘Sāma’; it is interwoven in all;—‘all’ here stands for the Threefold Science and the rest; the sense is that the syllable ‘Hiṅ’ and other constituent factors of the Sāma are to be meditated upon as the Threefold Science and the rest.—In fact, even in the case of all the particular Sāmas described above, wherever the Sāma is spoken of as ‘interwoven’ in certain things, what is meant is that it is in the form of these things that the Sāma should be meditated upon; because the details of all acts become embellished and sanctified by what it is viewed as,—just as the Butter becomes embellished and sanctified by being looked upon.—(1)

Upaniṣad text:

One who thus knows this Sāma as interoven in All, becomes all.—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The following is the reward accruing to one who knows the Sāma as pertaining to all things: He becomes all; that is, he becomes the lord of all things.—If ‘becoming all’ were taken in its literal sense (and not figuratively in the sense of becoming the lord of all things), then there would be no possibility of receiving offerings from persons residing in the various quarters (as described in text 4, below].—(2)

Upaniṣad text:

To this effect there is this verse:—‘That which is five-fold, by threes and threes,—there is nothing else higher than that.’—(3)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

To this Sāma effect, there is this verse i.e. the Mantra Text,—Those that have been described as fivefold,—in five ways,—in the form the syllable ‘Hin and the rest,—by threes and threes,—in the form of the ‘Threefold Science’ and the rest,—than these five triads, there is nothing higher—greater or loftier; beyond these there is nothing else, that is, nothing else exists, all things being included in those same.—(3)

Upaniṣad text:

One who knows this knows all; all quarters carry offerings to him:—One should meditate upon the idea that ‘I am all;’—this is the observance; yea, thia is the observance.—(4)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

One who knows the said Sāma as constituting, all, knows all; that is, he becomes omniscient. All quarters,—i.e persons residing in all directions,—carry present—offerings—gifts of enjoyment—to him.—‘I am all’,—I am becoming all,—thus should he meditate upon the Sāma; such is the observance for the said person.—The repetition is meant to indicate the end of the treatment of the meditation of Sāma.—(4)

End of the Section (21) of Discourse II