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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...

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

अन्यदृष्टाविवातोऽत्र � नियोगो मनागपि �
मोहप्रध्वंसमात्रेण निवृत्ते रोगहानिवत् � ३८ �

anyadṛṣṭāvivāto'tra na niyogo manāgapi |
mohapradhvaṃsamātreṇa nivṛtte rogahānivat || 38 ||

English translation of verse 2.38:

There is, therefore, no need for an injunction at all, as there is (the need) in the state of duality (based on ignorance) inasmuch as here (when Brahman-knowledge is attained) the evil (viz., bondage) gets removed by the mere destruction of ignorance, (in the same way as a sick man becomes his normal self) on the destruction of the disease.

Notes:

That the attainment of Brahman is real and not figurative may be argued in a different way. Even the knower of Brahman, according to this argument, is enjoined to practise meditation on Brahman (brahma-Բ) with a view to attain Brahman. Just as the attainment of heaven (svarga) through the performance of sacrifice is real, so also the attainment of Brahman through the practice of meditation, it may be contended, is real.

This argument is wrong as it is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of Brahman-knowledge. There is scope for injunction so long as persists giving rise to distinctions such as the knower and the known. But when Brahman-knowledge arises, ignorance is destroyed; and along with ignorance, its effect, viz., bondage, also gets removed. There is, therefore, no need for the practice of meditation on the part of the knower of Brahman (brahmavid), one in whom Brahman-knowledge has dawned. It means that there is no scope for injunction once Brahman-knowledge has taken place. Ѵǰṣa, according to Advaita, is remaining in one’s own state (ū屹ٳ-ṣaṇa-ǰṣa�). Just as a person remains in his normal condition when the ailment he is suffering from is removed, so also the ī remains in its own state as the ever-free, self-luminous Brahman when , as well as its effect, is removed.

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