Verse 12.91

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

सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं सर्वभूतानि चात्मनि ।
समं पश्यन्नात्मयाजी स्वाराज्यमधिगच्छति ॥ ९१ ॥

sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ sarvabhūtāni cātmani |
samaṃ paśyannātmayājī svārājyamadhigacchati || 91 ||

He who perceives the Self in all beings, and all beings in the Self,—and sacrifices to the Self,—attains self-sovereignty.—(91)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse proceeds to point out in what manner the said result is to be brought about.

The term ‘bhūta,’ ‘being,’ stands here for all things, movable and immovable, animate and inanimate;—in these one should perceive the ‘self,’—cultivating the notion ‘I am this whole world’—as expressed in the text ‘aham vṛkṣasya, etc.’ (Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, 7.10.1); and he should give up all such notions of duality as ‘this is myself and that is some one else.’ When the man comes to entertain such notions as—‘this is myself, this is mine, that is not mine’—this is what constitutes his ‘bondage.’ When, on the other hand, he has given up all notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine,’ or ‘this is mine’ and ‘that is another’s,’ and so forth, he comes to recognise the absolute unity of the Self.

This is what is meant by the term ‘self-sovereignty.’

‘All beings in the Self’—cultivating the notion—‘The entire phenomenal world subsists in me,—I alone am the creator, the doer, the meditator and the meditated upon.’

‘Sacrifices to the Self’—offers sacrifices to—thinks of—the Self as representing all the gods; cultivating the notion—‘There are no such deities as Agni or Āditya,—I am the sole deity’;—the man becomes one who ‘sacrifices to the Self’; and this does not mean that the man should actually offer sacrificial materials to himself.

In this connection some people hold that it is not right to speak of Agni and other deities of the Āgneya and other sacrifices as the ‘Self.’

‘Svārājyam,’ ‘self-sovereingty.’—The term is derived as ‘Sve rājye bhavam’; and the meaning is that the man becomes as self-sufficient as the supreme Self, and also self-luminous, not depending upon the Sun or the Moon or other sources of light, or upon the eyes and the other sense-organs, nor the Internal Organ of the Mind and the rest. This is why the text uses the term ‘paśyan,’ ‘perceiving’ which implies not merely seeing, but that one should contemplate upon the said idea, giving up all functionings of the exernal and internal organs.—(91)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Ātmayājī’.—‘Who realises the presence of all deities in himself’ (Medhātithi and Govindarāja);—‘he who performs the Jyotiṣṭoma and other sacrifices in the manner of the Brahmārpana’ (Kullūka and Nandana and Rāghavānanda).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Īśa-Upaniṣad (6).

Āpastamba (1.23.1).—‘That Brāhmaṇa shines in heaven who is wise and recognises all creatures in the Self, who pondering thereon, does not become bewildered, and who recognises the Self in everything.’