Mandukya Upanishad (Gaudapa Karika and Shankara Bhashya)

by Swami Nikhilananda | 1949 | 115,575 words | ISBN-13: 9788175050228

This is verse 2.35 of the Mandukya Karika English translation, including commentaries by Gaudapada (Karika), Shankara (Bhashya) and a glossary by Anandagiri (Tika). Alternate transliteration: Māṇḍūkya-upaniṣad 2.35, Gauḍapāda Kārikā, Śaṅkara Bhāṣya, Ānandagiri Ṭīkā.

Mandukya Karika, verse 2.35

Sanskrit text, IAST transliteration and English translation

वीतरागभयक्रोधैर्मुनिभिर्वेदपारगैः ।
निर्विकल्पो ह्ययं दृष्टः प्रपञ्चोपशमोऽद्वयः ॥ ३५ ॥

vītarāgabhayakrodhairmunibhirvedapāragaiḥ |
nirvikalpo hyayaṃ dṛṣṭaḥ prapañcopaśamo'dvayaḥ || 35 ||

35. By the wise, who are free from attachment, fear and anger and who are well versed in the meaning of the Vedas, this (Ātman) has been verily realised as totally devoid of all imaginations (such as those of Prāṇa, etc.), free from the illusion of the manifold, and non-dual.

Shankara Bhashya (commentary)

The perfect knowledge as described above, is thus extolled.1 The sages who are always2 free from all blemishes such as attachment, fear, spite, anger, etc., who are given to contemplation, who can discriminate between the real and the unreal and who can grasp the essence of the meaning of the Vedas, i.e., who are well versed in the Vedānta (i.e., the Upaniṣads) do3 realise the real nature of this Ātman which is free from all imaginations and also free from this the illusion of the manifold. This Ātman is the total negation of the phenomena of duality and therefore it is non-dual. The intention of the Śruti passage is this: The Supreme Self can be realised only by the Sannyāsins (men of renunciation) who are free from all blemishes and who are enlightened regarding the essence of the Upaniṣads and never by others, i.e., those vain logicians whose mind is clouded by passion, etc., and who find truth only4 in their own creeds and opinions.

Anandagiri Tika (glossary)

1 Extolled—The purpose of this praise is to attract the attention of the pupils towards the realisation of Truth.

2 Always—The student fails to realise Truth if his mind is, at any moment, clouded by passion, etc. It is therefore laid in the Vedānta that a student, before aspiring to realise Truth, must be well established in the fourfold pre-requisites, such as, discrimination between the real and the unreal, renunciation of the unreal, total self-control and a strong hankering after realisation.

3 Do realise—This is to refer to the contention of the agnostics that Reality is ever unknown and unknowable. Reality can certainly be known and realised if the student has got the necessary equipments for such realisation.

4 Only, etc.—It is only the ignorant person who says that his vision of Reality is alone true. But to a wise man everything is Brahman. To him anything that may be called non-Brahman is ever non-existent.

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