[Advaita-l] nAsadIya sUkta in the taittirIya brAhmaNa - part 2

[Venkatraghavan S]

Namaste Subbuji,
You are welcome, although the task is still incomplete. There are 7 rcas in
total, and I have posted the bhAShya to only 2 thus far. As and when I get
time to type out the remaining, I will post them.

The bhAShya to the first mantra in the sUkta (in the email with part 1 in
its subject) makes a reference to an unmanifest state before creation.
sAyaNAchArya says: किन्तु काचिदव्यक्तावस्थासीत् | सा च विस्पष्टत्वाभावान्न
सती जगदुत्पादकत्वेन सद्भावान्नाप्यसती नो सदासीदिति यत्सङ्ग्रहेणोक्तम् तदेव
प्रपञ्च्यते ।

The third mantra and bhAShya which I will post to the list shortly, also
discusses this.

Regards,
Venkatraghavan


On 10 Mar 2017 6:54 a.m., "V Subrahmanian" <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Venkat ji, for posting this sūkta with bhāṣyam and translation. Does
the mantra/bhāṣya talk about the unmanifest state that is generally
admitted to obtain prior to creation?

In the Mahopaniṣat is the statement: ‘एको नारायणः’.  Sri Brahmānanda in his
commentary to the Advaita Siddhi of Sri Madhusudana Saraswati has said that
this ‘Nārāyaṇa’ prior to creation is ‘chinmātra’ svarūpam, that is, is Pure
Consciousness, formless, nirguna Brahman.



regards
subbu

2017-03-08 0:37 GMT+05:30 Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>:

> अथ द्वितीयामृचामाह -
> Now, in the second rca, the following is said -
> न मृत्युरमृतं तर्हि न | रात्रिया अह्न आसीत्प्रकेत:
> आनीदवातं स्वधया तदेकम् | तस्माद्धान्यं न पर: किञ्च नाऽऽस इति | *
>
> sAyaNa bhAShya:
>
> *तर्हि* तस्मिन्महाप्रलयकाले प्राणिनां *मृत्युर्ना*ऽऽसीत्तेषामेवाभावात् |
>
> Then, at the time of the great dissolution, there was no death, because
> there were no living beings.
> अत एवा*मृतं* जीवनमपि नाऽऽसीत् | Therefore, there was no amritam, or life
>
> either.
> रात्रिया: प्रकेतश्चिह्नम् चन्द्रनक्षत्रादि, अह्न: प्रकेत: सूर्यस्तदुभयमपि
> नाऽऽसीत् | The moon and stars are the symbols of the night, and the sun is
> the illuminator of the day. Neither was present.
> किन्तु *तत्स*र्वोपनिषत्प्रसिद्ध*मेक*म्ब्रह्म वस्तु *स्वधया*
> स्वस्मिन्नाश्रितया सर्वजगत्कारणरूपया मायया सहितमा*नीच्चे*ष्टितवत् | But,
>
> that One Brahman, the entity well known through all the upaniShads was
> present, "svadhayA", that is, it was holding mAya, the cause for the entire
> universe, within itself, and existed there as though breathing
> नात्र चलनं चेष्टा किन्तु सद्भावमात्रमित्यभिप्रे*त्यावातमि*ति विशेष्यते |
> No
>
> actual action is implied here, on the contrary, to indicate that the
> purport of the mantra is to only convey the existence (of Brahman), the
> mantra qualifies the "AnIt" (breathing) with avAtam ("without air").
> वायुरहितं निश्चलमित्यर्थ: | The absence of air here indicates that (Brahman
> is) unchanging.
> *तस्मादे*कस्माद्ब्रह्मणोऽन्यत्किञ्च किमपि *परमु*त्कृष्टं *नाऽऽस*
>
> नैवाऽऽसीत् | Therefore, apart from the one Brahman, there is nothing else
> that can be considered its superior.
> जगतो निषिद्धात्वान्निकृष्टं पूर्वमेव निराकृतम् | Because the world has
> already been negated, there is nothing inferior to Brahman either.
> तस्मादुत्कृष्टं निकृष्टं च किमपि ब्रह्मव्यतिरिक्तं नाऽऽसीत् | Therefore,
> apart from Brahman, there is no entity superior or inferior to it.
>
> * For those interested, this portion of the nAsadIya mantra is also
> discussed by shankara bhagavatpAda in the bhAShya to BS 2.4.8.
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>