Prashna Upanishad with Shankara’s Commentary
by S. Sitarama Sastri | 1928 | 19,194 words
The Prashna Upanishad is a series philosophical poems presented as questions (prashna) inquired by various Hindu sages (Rishi) and answered by Sage Pippalada. The questions discuss knowledge about Brahman, the relation of the individual (Purusha) with the universal (Atman), meditation, immortality and various other Spiritual topics. This commentar...
Verse 4.2
तस्मै स हो वच । यथ गार्ग्य मरीचयोऽर्कस्यास्तं गच्छतः सर्वा एतस्मिंस्तेजोमण्डल एकीभवन्ति । ताः पुनः पुनरुदयतः प्रचरन्त्येवं ह वै तत् सर्वं परे देवे मनस्येकीभवति । तेन तर्ह्येष पुरुषो न शृणोति न पश्यति न जिघ्रति न रसयते न स्पृशते नाभिवदते नादत्ते नानन्दयते न विसृजते नेयायते स्वपितीत्याचक्शते ॥ २ ॥
tasmai sa ho vaca | yatha gārgya marīcayo'rkasyāstaṃ gacchataḥ sarvā etasmiṃstejomaṇḍala ekībhavanti | tāḥ punaḥ punarudayataḥ pracarantyevaṃ ha vai tat sarvaṃ pare deve manasyekībhavati | tena tarhyeṣa puruṣo na śṛṇoti na paśyati na jighrati na rasayate na spṛśate nābhivadate nādatte nānandayate na visṛjate neyāyate svapitītyācakśate || 2 ||
2. To him, he said: ‘Just as, O Gargya, the rays of the setting sun all become one in this orb of light and go out again when he rises again, so all of these become one in the highest Deva, i.e., the mind; then, therefore, the man hears not, sees not, smells not, tastes not, feels not, speaks not, takes not, delights mot, abandons not, moves not; they say ‘he sleeps.’
Shankara’s Commentary:
Com.—To him, the preceptor said: ‘O Gargya, hear what you ask for; just as the rays of the suit disappearing become all one in the orb of light, i.e., become one and indistinguishable, and when the same sun rises again and again become dispersed; as in this illustration, so all that crowd of objects and senses become one in the highest Deva (having light) i.e., mind (as the eye and other senses are under the control of the mind, mind is said to be the highest sense), during sleep and become indistinguishable, like the rays in the orb of light, and when he wakes go out of the mind to perform their own functions, as the rays from the orb of light. As during sleep, the ear and other senses capable of knowing sound, etc., become, as it were, one in the mind, their activity as senses having ceased, therefore, during sleep this man called Devadatta, etc., hears not, sees not, smells not, tastes not, feels not, speaks not, takes not, delights not, abandons not, moves not; men of worldly understanding say ‘he sleeps.’