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 2.663
Sanskrit text and transliteration:
अज्ञानादि त्रयं तावज्ज्ञातर्यपि न विद्यते ।
किमङ्ग सर्वदाऽलुप्तचक्षुष्यात्मनि केवले ॥ ६६३ ॥
ajñānādi trayaṃ tāvajjñātaryapi na vidyate |
kimaṅga sarvadā'luptacakṣuṣyātmani kevale || 663 ||
English translation of verse 2.663:
The three, viz., ignorance, error, and doubt are not certainly possible even in respect of the knower, (because he is directly present before the Witness-consciousness). Such being the case, what more need to be said in respect of the eternally luminous, pure Self?
Notes:
The knower (jñātā) is directly illumined by the Witness-self; so neither ignorance, nor error, nor doubt is possible in respect of the knower. If ignorance, etc., are not possible with regard to both the cognition and the cognizer, it would follow that they are not equally possible even with regard to the Witness-consciousness, which reveals both the cognition and the cognizer. The Witness-consciousness is self-luminous in the sense that, while it reveals other things, it is not revealed by any other thing. In short, there is no need of “another knowledge” as stated by the opponent for the purpose of removing ignorance, etc., in respect of the cognizer, cognition, and the Witness-consciousness.