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 5.4 (fourth khaṇḍa) (two texts)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

First of all, the Text disposes of the question as to the Water coming to be called ‘man’ at the fifth libation; because after this has been disposed of, the disposal of the other questions would be easier. The initial proceedings of the two Agnihotra-libations have been thus described in the Vājasaneyaka (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa)— ‘There are these questions raised (in regard to the stages of the libations)—(1) Starting up (of the libations, from this world), (2) Movement (towards the other world), (3) Resting of the libations, (when they have reached the other world), (4) Satisfaction (on resting in their own substratum), (5) Returning (to this world), and (6) Rising (of man) towards this world.’—The answers too to these questions have been supplied in the same text, as follows:—‘These two libations, on being offered, start up (1);—(2) then they enter the sky; (3) they make the sky itself the Āhavanīya fire (the locus, the Resting place, of the libations),—they make Air the fuel, and the Rays, the white libation;—(4) they bring satisfaction to the sky;—thence they start up, and as before, they bring satisfaction to Heaven; (5) then they return and entering this world, and having brought satisfaction, (6) they enter the man;—thence entering the woman,—it comes to rise towards the world.’—[Note:—The libations meant here are the Apūrva, the transcendental potencies created by the man’s past deeds; they surround the man and go out of the body along with his soul;—through smoke and other things, they enter the sky; etc., etc.,—says Anandagiri].—In this text of the Śatapatha, what has been declared is only the process of the two libations; while in the present text, the said process, consisting of the function of the transcendental potency set up by the Agnihotra, is divided into five parts—with a view to laying down the meditation of the said process as Fire, as leading to the attainment of the Northern Path:—

Upaniṣad text:

‘That world, O, Gautama, is the Fire; of that the Sun is the fuel; the Rays are the smoke; the Day is the flame; the Moon is the embers; the Stars are the sparks.’—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

That world, O Gautama, etc., etc.,—When the evening and morning libations of the Agnihotra have been offered,—with such accessories as milk and the like,—with due faith,—fully equipped with the Āhavanīya Fire along with its fuel, smoke, flame, embers and sparks,—and accomplished by such active agencies as those of the Doer and the rest,—they enter the Heavenly Region in their subtle form,—and are spoken of as ‘water on the ground of subsisting in Fire,—and also spoken of as ‘faith’, on the ground of their originating in faith;—the locus of these libations is the Fire, and the other details relating to it are spoken of as ‘fuel’ and the rest.—The meditation also of the two libations as ‘fire’ and the rest, is indicated in the same manner.

That world, O Gautama, is the fire, the locus of the libation—just as, O Gautama, in this world (at the performance of the Agnihotra) the Āhavanīya Fire is the locus of the libation;—of this ‘fire’ named the ‘Heavenly Region’, the Sun is the ‘fuel’,—because it is only as illumined by the Sun that the other world shines,—hence, on account of this flaring up, the Sun is the samidh, ‘Fuel’.—The Rays are the ‘smoke’,—because (they rise from the Sun), as smoke rises from the fuel;—the day is the ‘Flame’.—because both have the common character of being bright and being brought about by the Sun;—the Moon is the ‘embers’—because it appears on the cessation of the day; just as it is on the cessation of the flame that embers become visible:—The Stars are the ‘sparks’,—they are like parts of the moon, as sparks are of the embers, and also both have the common character of being besprinkled about.—(1)

Upaniṣad text:

‘In this Fire, the Deities pour the libation of Faith; and from this libation comes out King Soma’.—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

In this fire—as described above,—the deities,—i.e. the sacrificer’s ‘Breaths’, in the form of Fire and the rest, from the view-point of the Deities,—pour the libation of Faith;—the subtle elements of Water, in the form of the outcome of the Agnihotra-libations, which originated in Faith,—are what are called ‘faith’ in the present context; that this is so is also indicated by the fact that water has been spoken of as a substance to be offered into the fire, in the question relating to ‘Water coming to be called Man at the fifth libation’; and it is also learnt from other texts that ‘Faith indeed is water, they begin with Faith and then proceed.’—This Faith, in the form of water, the Deities pour as libation into the Fire.—Out of this libation, comes out King Soma;—the subtle element of water, subsisting in the Agnihotra-libations, spoken of as ‘faith enters the Heavenly Regions, produces their effect in the shape of the Moon, as the result of the two Agnihotra-libations; just as (in the earlier Discourses of the Upaniṣad it has been described that).he Essences of the flowers in the shape of Ṛk and other Vedas, brought up by the Bees in the shape of the Ṛk verse and the rest, produce in the Sun such effects as Fame and the rest, in the shape of the Red and other colours,—As for the sacrificers, the performers of the act (of Agnihotra) become resolved into the libations, being entirely absorbed in the contemplation of the libations—they become drawn in by the act in the shape of the Libations and subsisting in Faith, they enter the Heavenly Region and become Soma, It was for this purpose that they poured the Agnihotra-libations.—What is meant to be taught here primarily is the evolution of the Libation in the order of the Five Fires,—for the purposes of meditation; and the progress of the sacrificers does not form the main subject of the teaching. This latter subject is going to be expounded later on, where it will be shown that ignorant persons go up by the path leading through smoke etc., and the wise ones go up by the Northern Path, through the influence of their knowledge.—(2)

End of Section (4) of Discourse V.

Like what you read? Consider supporting this website: