Section 7.15 (fifteenth khaṇḍa) (four texts)

Upaniṣad text:

‘Spirit is greater than Hope. Just as the spokes of the wheel are fastened to the nave, so is everything fastened to the Spirit. Spirit moves by Spirit; Spirit gives the Spirit,—to the Spirit; Spirit is the father, Spirit is the mother; Spirit is the brother; Spirit is the sister; spirit is the teacher; Spirit is the Brāhmaṇa.’—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Beginning with Name and ending with Hope, everything exists in the relation of constituent cause and product, or of efficient cause and effect, and in a gradually rising degree of greatness,—its existence depending upon Memory, and tied up in the bonds of Hope; and all this is fastened on all sides, like lotus-fibres, to the Spirit; and it is in this Spirit—which is all-pervading, extending over the interior and exterior of things—that everything is hung up, like heads on a string, and held there;—this Spirit is greater than Hope.—

Question:—“In what way is it greater?”

The answer is givçn, through an illustration, which supports the idea of the said greatness;—just as, in the world the spokes of a chariot-wheel are fastened to the nave,—fixed to it—i.e. thrust into it,—in the same manner is everything fastened to the Spirit;—this Spirit is the Primary Prāṇa, the aggregate of individual entities, the conscious self—resident into the body, it is into this Spirit that the supreme Deity in the form of the ‘living self’—entered, for the purpose of differentiating Names and Forms, just as the man in the form of his reflected image, enters the reflecting surface of the mirror; and it is the Chief Officer of God, like that of a great king, as declared in the Vedic text—‘At whose departure shall I depart, at whose resting shall I rest’—with this view he created Prāṇa—Spirit’; and it follows God like His Shadow and just as the rim of the wheel is fixed to the spokes, and just as the spokes are fixed to the nave, so are all material substances fixed to the Spiritual Substances, and the Spiritual Substances are fixed to the Spirit;—as declared by the Kauṣītakins (Kauṣītakī. Upa. 3. 8.)—‘This Spirit is the Conscious Self’.—It is to this Spirit that everything is fastened. Thus, this Spirit is independent by itself, and hence, it is that Spirit moves by spirit,—by its own energy; and nothing else has anything to do with such actions of the Spirit as moving and the like;—all things, consisting of diverse action, agencies, result, subsist in the Spirit itself; and there is nothing outside the Spirit.—Such is the teaching of the whole section.—Spirit gives the Spirit,—what it gives is its own self; and the recipient of the gift also is Spirit itself. Hence, father and the rest also are Spirit itself.—(1)

Upaniṣad text:

‘If one says something harsh to his her fat, mother, brother, sister, teacher or a Brāhmaṇa,—people say ‘Fie on thee! thou art a father-killer, thou art a mother-killer, thou art a brother-killer, thou art a sister-killer, thou art a teacher-killer, thou art a Brāhmaṇa-killer.’—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Question:—“How is it that the terms father’ and the rest have been made to surrender their well-known connotations and are applied to the Spirit?”

Answer:—It is only so long as the Spirit is there that the terms ‘father’ and the rest are applied to the particular persons, and they cease to be applied as soon as the Spirit has departed.—

Question:—“Why is it so?”

Answer:—If one says something harsh,—something improper, accompanied by such derogatory words ‘thou’ and the like—to any one of the persons mentioned, ‘father’ and other rest,—then wise people standing by say to him ‘Fie on thee!—Shame on thee!—thou art a father-killer,—slayer of your father’, etc., etc.—(2)

Upaniṣad text:

‘On the other hand, if the Spirit has departed from them, even if one were to burn them together with a poker,—they would not say—‘thou art a father-killer’, nor ‘thou art a mother-killer’, nor ‘thou art a brother-killer; nor ‘thou art a sister-killer’, nor ‘thou art a teacher-killer’, nor ‘thou art a Brāhmaṇa-killer.’—(3)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

On the other hand, when the Spirit has departed from them—these same persons,—when the Spirit has left their body,—even if one were to burn them together—and those again separately,—even if they do such a cruel thing as the burning of the same bodies collectively and singly, turning them over—with a poker,—they would not say to him ‘Thou art a father-killer’ etc., etc.—Thus, from the negative and affirmative premises stated above, it follows that the persons called ‘father’ and the rest are the Spirit—itself.—(3)

Upaniṣad text:

Verily, Spirit is all these. One who sees thus, thinks thus and knows thus becomes a high-talker. If some one were to say to him ‘you are a high-talker’, he should say ‘I am a high-talker’; he should not conceal the fact.—(4)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

For these reasons, Spirit is all these—father and the rest, all things, mobile and immobile. One who knows the Spirit as described, sees it thus,—i.e. directly apprehends it to be thus in effect,—who thinks thus,—reflects over it with reasons,—and who knows thus,—having applied reasons to it, comes to this definite conclusion;—as a matter of fact, it is by reflection and knowledge combined that the meaning of the scriptures becomes properly understood.—Hence, one who sees thus becomes a high-talker,—i.e. becomes capable of talking of things beyond things beginning with Name and ending with Hope.—To such a person, who is a high-talker,—i.e. who perceives that at all times and by all words people speak of Spirit only, as lying beyond all things beginning with Name and ending with Hope,—and who is capable of this high ‘talking’—who say ‘I am the Self, the Spirit, of the whole Universe, from Brahman down to the tuft of grass’,—if some one were to say ‘you are a high-talker’,—he should say “Yes; I am a high-talker’, and he should not conceal the fact. Why should he conceal it, when he has realised the Spirit as the Lord of all in his own Self as ‘I am this?’—(4)

End of Section (15) of Discourse VII.