Verse 4.24

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

ज्ञानेनैवापरे विप्रा यजन्त्येतैर्मखैः सदा ।
ज्ञानमूलां क्रियामेषां पश्यन्तो ज्ञानचक्षुषा ॥ २४ ॥

jñānenaivāpare viprā yajantyetairmakhaiḥ sadā |
jñānamūlāṃ kriyāmeṣāṃ paśyanto jñānacakṣuṣā || 24 ||

Other Brāhmaṇas, looking, with the eye of knowledge, upon this act as having its root in knowledge, always sacrifice with these sacrifices, by means of knowledge.—(24)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘By these sacrifices,’—by the Five great sacrifices under treatment—‘they sacrifice,’—i.e., accomplish their duty in relation to them. It is in this sense that there is difference in the denotations of the two terms, ‘sacrifice’ and ‘sacrifices,’—between which the text speaks of the relation of cause and effect; just as we have in the expression, ‘he who sacrifices with the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice.’

Question:—“ How can the sacrifice be accomplished by means of knowledge? Sacrifice consists in the act of offering a certain material for the benefit of a deity; and certainly knowledge is not of the nature of such au act.”

Our answer is as follows s—By the term ‘sacrifice’ in the present verse what is meant is the accomplishment of the act of sacrificing.

“If such accomplishment were brought about by knowledge alone, for what purpose would there be the performance of the act itself? The performance of an act cannot be entirely objectless. If your idea be that—‘since the Veda speaks of the reward of an act accruing also to the man having knowledge of it, there is no need of the actual performance at all,’—this cannot be right; as the passage referred to is only a commendatory description subserving the purposes of some other passage.”

To this we make the following reply:—We have already pointed out that the persons entitled to the performance of the sacrifices in question are those that have realised the true nature of the Soul and are entirely free from desires. And it is these persons that are spoken of as ‘possessing knowledge,’ and not those who have the knowledge of the act. What the present text means is that such persons, having given up the Veda, but continuing in the house, should accomplish the great sacrifices in this manner. That is to say, it is only by means of knowledge of the Soul that such persons can accomplish such sacrifices as can be performed only with the help of wealth (which these men have renounced); but, as regards the two duties of Teaching and offering water-libations, it is going to be declared in Discourse VI, that these can be accomplished only by the actual performance of the acts (and not by knowledge of the Soul).

The text adds a commendatory declaration, by way of pointing out the reason for what has been said above.

‘Having its root in Knowledge,’—i.e., that act which has its root in Knowledge. Knowledge stands at the root of all acts; an ignorant person cannot perform any act at all. This is what has been said in such passages—as—‘the learned man sacrifices.’

‘Looking with the eye of Knowledge.’—The Knowledge being as if it were the Eye; just as colour is perceived bymeans of the eye, so is the matter known by means of knowledge.

‘Knowledge’ here does not stand for the Veda alone—(24).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 4.23-24)

See Comparative notes for Verse 4.23.