Section 4.7 (seventh khaṇḍa) (four texts)

Upaniṣad text:

‘The flamingo will declare to thee the other foot:’—On the morrow, he made the cows start. When they came together towards evening, he, having kindled the fire, penned the cows, and laid the fuel, sat down behind the fire, facing the East.—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Agni said to him—‘The flamingo will declare to thee the other foot’; and having said this, he kept quiet.—The flamingo here represents Āditya (the Sun), through the common qualities of whiteness and because of its flying through the sky.—On the morrow etc., etc., just as before.—(1)

Upaniṣad text:

The Flamingo flew to him and said—‘Satyakāma’.—He answered—‘Yes, Sir—(2)

[There is no Bhāṣya on this.]

Upaniṣad text:

“I would declare to thee, my Boy, the foot of Brahman’.—‘Do tell it to me, Revered Sir’.—‘He said—‘The Fire is one factor; the Sun is one factor; the Moon is one factor; the Lightning is one factor. This, my Boy, is the four-factored foot of Brahman named the Effulgent.—(3)

He who, knowing this thus meditates upon this four-factored foot of Brahman as the Effulgent becomes effulgent in this world; and he wins effulgent regions,—who knowing this thus, meditates upon this four-factored foot of Brahman as The Effulgent—(4)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Thefire is one factor; the sun is one factor; the moon is one factor; the lightning is one factor, my Boy.—This is the Philosophy of Effulgence which was expounded by the flamingo. This shows that the flamingo here stands for the Sun. The reward to the man who knows this is as follows—In this world he becomes effulgent—bright,—and on dying wins effulgent regions, such as those of the sun, the moon and the like.—The rest is as before.—(4).

End of Section (7) of Discourse IV