Mundaka Upanishad with Shankara’s Commentary
by S. Sitarama Sastri | 1905 | 19,662 words
The Mundaka Upanishad is a collection of philosophical poems used to teach meditation and spiritual knowledge regarding the true nature of Brahma and the Self (Atman). It is composed of the three main parts (mundakas): 1) The first of three parts expounds the science of higher and lower knowledge. 2) The second part describes the true nature of t...
Verse 2.1.5
तस्मादग्निः समिधो यस्य सूर्यः सोमात्पर्जन्य ओषधयः पृथिव्याम् ।
पुमान्रेतः सिञ्चति योषितायां बह्वीः प्रजाः पुरुषात्संप्रसूताः ॥ ५ ॥tasmādagniḥ samidho yasya sūryaḥ somātparjanya oṣadhayaḥ pṛthivyām |
pumānretaḥ siñcati yoṣitāyāṃ bahvīḥ prajāḥ puruṣātsaṃprasūtāḥ || 5 ||5. From him the Agni (Dyu loka) whose fuel is the sun; from the moon in the Dyu Loka, parjanya (clouds); from the clouds, the medicinal plant that grows on earth; from these, the male (fire) which sheds the semen on woman, thus gradually many living beings such as Brahmins, etc., are born of the Purusha.
Shankara’s Commentary:
Com.—‘From him,’ from the Purusha. ‘Agni,’ the Dyu loka, a kind of abode for man. That Agni is described. ‘Samidhah’ fuel; for which the sun is. as it were, a fuel; for, it is by the sun that the Dyu loka is lighted. From the moon emerging out of the Dyu loka parjanya, the second fire, is produced; and from the parjanya, the medicinal plants proceed, grow on earth: and from the medicinal plants offered to the purusha fire serving as the material cause the man (fire) sheds semen on the woman (fire). Thus gradually from the purusha are produced many living beings such as Brahmins, etc.; moreover, the helps to karma and their fruits also proceed from the Purusha.