Section 4.15 (fifteenth khaṇḍa) (five texts)

Upaniṣad text:

‘This person that is seen in the eye,—that is the Self’—he said;—‘This is the Immortal, the Fearless,—this is Brahman. Hence, if one drops butter or water into this (Eye), it flows away along the lashes.’—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

This person that is seen in the Eye,—by persons who have closed their eyes, who are equipped with celibacy and other accessories, and who are calm and collected and endowed with discriminative wisdom;—this idea of the person in the eye is based upon the Text ‘He is the Eye of the Eye.’ (Kena-Upa. 2).

Objection:—“What had been said by the Fires turns out to be false: they had said the ‘Teacher will expound to thee the Process’; which meant that he was going to expound the Process only; thus it appears that the Fires had no true knowledge of what was coming”.

Answer:—This does not affect the case. The statement ‘the person seen in the Eye’ is a reference to the same Happiness-Ākāśa (which has been expounded by the Fires above, as Ka-Kha).

‘That is the Self,—of all living beings’;—this is what he said—‘this is the truth about the self which I spoke of:—This is the Immortal, never subject to death, imperishable,—and hence, fearless;—it is only one who suspects danger to himself that can have fear; and hence where there is no suspicion of any danger, it is fearless;—and hence, it is Brahman—the Great, the Infinite.

Question “What is the greatness of this Brahman, this Person in the Eye?”.

It is this: If one drops Butter or Water into the Eye, which is the abode of that person, it flows away along the lashes, and does not affect the eye; just as the water does not affect the lotus-leaf.—What is meant is that, when such is the greatness of the abode, what can be said of the Person abiding there, the person in the eye, who remains ever uncontaminated?—(1)

Upaniṣad text:

This they call ‘the Centre of Blessings’, as all blessings converge in This. All blessings converge in one who knows this.—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

This—the said Person in the Eye, they call ‘the Centre of Blessings’;—Why?—Because all blessings— all desirable things, all that people want, all good things—converge in this,—meet here; hence this is the centre of Blessings.—One who knows this,—in him also converge all blessings.—(2)

Upaniṣad text:

This is also the ‘Vehicle of Blessings’; because this carries all blessings. He carries all blessings who knows this.—(3)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

This is also the Vehicle of Blessings; because this carries—brings, presents, lays before—living beings—all blessings—the results of their righteous deeds, in due accordance with their piety,—in the shape of Dharma, merit pertaining to the Self.—The reward to one who knows this is that he carries all blessings, who knows this.—(3)

Upaniṣad text:

This is also ‘The vehicle of Light’, as this shines in all regions. One who knows this shines in all regions.—(4)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

This is also ‘The Vehicle of Light because in all regions, this is what shines,—in the form of the Sun, the Moon, the Fire and so forth; as declared in the Vedic Text—‘By His light, all this shines’ (Katha Upa. 5-15); and because he thus carries luminosity to all things, He is The ‘Vehicle of Light’—One who knows this, also shines in all regions.—(4)

Upaniṣad text:

Now, for such a person, whether they perform his obsequies or not, they go to Light; from Light, to the Day; from the Day, to the Bright Fortnight; from the Bright Fortnight, to those six months during which the Sun rises Northward; from the Months to the Year; from the Year, to the Sun; from the Sun to the Moon, from the Moon to the Lightning; there is a Person, who is not human. He carries these to Brahman.— This is the divine path, the path to Brahman. Betaking themselves to this Path, they do not return to this whirl of Humanity—Yea, they do not return.—(5)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Now the Process, Progress or Path of the man who knows the above-mentioned Brahman is described.—For such a person—one who knows what has gone above,—whether they—the priests,—perform—his obsequies—on his death,—or they do not perform them,— in any case, the knowing man is not prevented by the non-performance of his obsequies from reaching Brahman; nor does the performance of the obsequies carry him to any superior region; as has been made clear by the Vedic Text—‘One does not rise; nor does he become smaller by the performance of rites.’ (Bṛhadā.Upa. 4.4-23).—By thus showing indifference towards the obsequious rites, the text only means to eulogise the philosophy; and it is not meant that for the knowing man, the obsequies should not be performed. Because, in the event of the obsequies not being performed, it might be inferred that elsewhere (in the other world) there might be an obstacle in the proper fruition of the acts done by the dead person; because in the present context bearing upon the fruition of the result of knowledge, it is particularly mentioned that ‘whether the obsequies are performed or not, the rewards of the knowledge accrues to the man without any obstruction’ (which shows that this is so in this particular case, but it may not be so in the case of other acts).—Thus then the upshot of the present context is that—those persons who meditate upon the Happiness-Ākāśa, the Person in the Eye, as being the ‘centre of blessings’, ‘the vehicle of blessings’ and the ‘vehicle of light’,—and also upon the philosophy of the fires along with Breath,—for such persons,—whether other acts ate done, or not done,—in any case, they go to light; that is, they become absorbed in—reach—the deity ensouling the light.

From Light—i.e. from the deity ensouling the Light they go to the Day—i.e. to the deity ensouling the Day;—from the Day to the Bright Fortnight,—i.e. the Deity ensouling the Brighter Half of the month —from the Bright Fortnight to those months during which the Sun rises northwards,—i.e. the Deity of the Northern Solstice; from the Months, to the Year,—to the Deity of the Year,—from the Year, to the Sun;—from the Sun to the Moon—from the Moon to the Lightning,—When they reach there,—a certain Person comes from Brahman’s Regions,—who is not human—one who does not form part of the human creation; and this Person carries them to Brahman,—in the Satyaloka, the Region of Truth.—That such is the meaning (that the men are carried to the Brahman resident in Satyaloka, and not to the One undifferentiated Brahman) is clear from the fact that the Text speaks of the person who goes, the person gone to (the Brahman) and the person who carries them. Any such assertion would be incompatible with the reaching of that supreme Brahman who is pure Being; as in reference to this latter, the only assertion that could be true would be that ‘Being Brahman, one becomes absorbed in Brahman Because the Text itself is going to declare that, where all diversity is eschewed, one reaches the pure Being. And so long as this Path (of pure Being) has not been perceived, it cannot serve to prevent the going (i.e. passing on and on, of the person). As says another Vedic Text—‘Until it is known, it does not affect him’ (Bṛhadā. Upa. 1.4.15).

This is the Divine Path;—the Path characterised by the Deities whose business it is to carry the persons through the Path of Light and the rest, is called the Divine Path.—It is also called the Path to Brahman, because it is characterised by Brahman as the goal to be reached. Those who betake themselves to—go forward by this Path and reach Brahman, do not return to this whirl of Humanity,—i.e. that connected with the creation set up by Manu;—this is called a ‘whirl’ in the sense that it whirls round and round, revolving like the water-whorl, tied down to the continuous series of Births and Deaths; and the persons in question do not return to this Whirl.

The repetition of the phrase ‘they do not return’ is meant to indicate the end of the philosophy which brings the said reward.—(5)

End of Section (15) of Discourse IV