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 1.135
Sanskrit text and transliteration:
सर्वोपासनशेषस्य प्रणवस्याधुनोच्यते ।
उपासनमलं यस्माद् ब्रह्मणोः प्राप्तये द्वयोः ॥ १३५ ॥
sarvopāsanaśeṣasya praṇavasyādhunocyate |
upāsanamalaṃ yasmād brahmaṇoḥ prāptaye dvayoḥ || 135 ||
English translation of verse 1.135:
Meditation on Praṇava which forms part of all meditations is now explained, since it is the means for the attainment of the two forms of Brahman.
Notes:
Verses (135) to (142) cover the eighth anuvāka of the Upaniṣad which teaches meditation on Praṇava or Om. The latter must be meditated upon as para as well as apara Brahman. A person who meditates on Om attains Brahman, para or apara, in accordance with the kind of meditation he does.
Praṇava forms part of all rites and meditations enjoined by Scripture. Scripture-ordained actions are commenced by uttering the syllable Om. The Gītā (XVII, 24) says: “So with the utterance of Om are the acts of sacrifice, gift, and austerity, as enjoined in Scripture, always begun by the students of Brahman (i.e., the Veda).” Since Om has been accepted with faith, any instruction on Brahman which is not associated with it is not readily accepted by the intellect. Hence meditation on Praṇava as Brahman, the higher as well as the lower; and this meditation is for the benefit of the highest class of spiritual aspirants (uttamādhikārin).