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 2.306
Sanskrit text and transliteration:
वृत्तिप्रधानो वेदात्मा वृत्तिमान्स्यादथोत्तरः ॥ ३०६ ॥
vṛttipradhāno vedātmā vṛttimānsyādathottaraḥ || 306 ||
English translation of verse 2.306:
Since Brahman is the supreme, it is not referred to here by the Mantra. The manomaya which is in the form of the Vedas is mainly composed of the mental modes. And the next one (viz., the vijñānamaya) is the owner of the mental modes.
Notes:
It should not be thought that this Mantra text yato vāco nivartante refers to the supreme Brahman. Considering the fact that the topic here deals with the manomaya-kośa, it has to be said that it describes the nature of the manomaya-kośa, and not that of the supreme Brahman. Further, it can be shown on several grounds that what is stated by the Mantra text holds good with regard to the manomaya-kośa. First of all, the mind does not need speech or other senses for its manifestation, since it is directly illumined by the Witness-consciousness. It means that the mind does not fall within the scope of speech. That is why it has been said yato vāco nivartante, whence all words turn back. Nor can it be said that the mind is grasped by. itself. One and the same entity cannot at the same time be both the subject which knows and the object which is known. It is for this reason that the Mantra text says that, the mind, too, turns back without reaching it (aprāpya manasā saha). Thirdly, since the Sūtrātman, the cosmic being, is infinite, and since the mind is in essence identical with it, the word “Brahman” may be applied to manas. And lastly, a person who meditates on the manomaya as Brahman attains bliss which is Brahman as the fruit of the upāsanā, dwells in the state of Hiraṇyagarbha, and is not subject to fear at any time. This is the meaning of the remaining part of the Mantra text ānandaṃ brahmaṇo vidvān na bibheti kadācana. Therefore, the Mantra text quoted at the commencement of the fourth anuvāka of the Upaniṣad. deals with the manomaya-kośa.
The expression vṛttimān which occurs in the second line of the verse refers to the vijñānamaya-kośa.