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 2.376
Sanskrit text and transliteration:
श्रौतं सृष्ट्यादिविषयमीश्वरालोचनं तपः ।
कार्यत्वाल्लौकिकस्येह तपसोऽसम्भवो भवेत् ॥ ३७६ ॥
śrautaṃ sṛṣṭyādiviṣayamīśvarālocanaṃ tapaḥ |
kāryatvāllaukikasyeha tapaso'sambhavo bhavet || 376 ||
English translation of verse 2.376:
The tapas which śruti speaks of is the thought of Īśvara relating to creation. The tapas (meaning penance) of the common parlance is out of place here (in the case of Brahman), since it is an effect (which is to come after creation).
Notes:
In verses (371) to (375) the two śruti texts so'kāmayata, bahu syāṃ prajāyeyeti were explained. The subsequent text sa tapo’tapyata is now taken up for explanation.
The Upaniṣad says that Brahman practised tapas. The word tapas does not mean here penance or austerity as it is ordinarily understood in common parlance, but reflection or thought (ālocana [ālocanam]). Tapas in the usual sense of austerity is possible only after the creation of the world involving the distinctions of varṇa and āśrama. So the tapas of Brahman before creation has to be explained as reflection or thought concerning creation.