Taittiriya Upanishad Bhashya Vartika
by R. Balasubramanian | 151,292 words | ISBN-10: 8185208115 | ISBN-13: 9788185208114
The English translation of Sureshvara’s Taittiriya Vartika, which is a commentary on Shankara’s Bhashya on the Taittiriya Upanishad. Taittiriya Vartika contains a further explanation of the words of Shankara-Acharya, the famous commentator who wrote many texts belonging to Advaita-Vedanta. Sureshvaracharya was his direct disciple and lived in the 9...
Verse 2.248
Sanskrit text and transliteration:
ब्रह्मविद्योडुपेनैव कोशानर्थमहोदधेः ।
निनीषन्ती परं पारं स वा इत्यभ्यधादथ ॥ २४८ ॥
brahmavidyoḍupenaiva kośānarthamahodadheḥ |
ninīṣantī paraṃ pāraṃ sa vā ityabhyadhādatha || 248 ||
English translation of verse 2.248:
Then, desiring to help man reach the farthest shore of the great ocean of sheath (kośa) full of evil only through the raft of Brahman-knowledge, śruti has said: “He, verily, (is this man consisting of the essence of food).”
Notes:
Ānandagiri says that the word atha which occurs in the second line of the verse means “after ascertaining that man alone is qualified for jñāna and karma and not other animals.” The idea conveyed in this verse is that śruti endeavours to help man, who alone is qualified for knowledge and rites, to overcome the transmigratcry existence by means of Brahman-knowledge.
The śruti text which says that man comes into existence from food (annātpuruṣaḥ) has already been explained. The subsequent text, “He, verily, is this man consisting of food” (sa vā eṣa puruṣo'nnarasamayaḥ) is now taken up for explanation.