Verse 2.226

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

आचार्यो ब्रह्मणो मूर्तिः पिता मूर्तिः प्रजापतेः ।
माता पृथिव्या मूर्तिस्तु भ्राता स्वो मूर्तिरात्मनः ॥ २२६ ॥

ācāryo brahmaṇo mūrtiḥ pitā mūrtiḥ prajāpateḥ |
mātā pṛthivyā mūrtistu bhrātā svo mūrtirātmanaḥ || 226 ||

The preceptor is the embodiment of Brahman; the father is the embodiment of Prajāpati; the Mother is the embodiment of the earth, and one’s own brother is the embodiment of the self.—(226)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse is commendatory of what has gone above.

That supreme Brahmaṇ which is described in the Vedantic Upaniṣads—of that the Preceptor is the ‘embodiment’—i.e., he is as it were the very image of Brahman. ‘The father is the embodiment of Prajāpati’—i.e., Hiraṇyagarbha. The mother is the same as this earth,—both being equally capable; of bearing burdens. ‘One’s own’—i.e., uterine—‘brother is the embodiment of the self’—the conscious entity within the body.

All the gods here named are possessed of majestic greatness, and destroy one, if they are treated with disrespect, while if propitiated, they endow one with all desirable things; and similar to these are the preceptor and the rest; who thus become eulogised by this verse.—(226)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 94).

 

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 225-228)

See Comparative notes for Verse 2.225.