Restraining all the external senses, and alone, one should seek the Brahman. Giving up work, one should not exert mentally. One should also (while thus engaged) avoid experiencing joy at praise, or anger at blame.
O Kshatriya! By conducting oneself in this way, according to the successive steps indicated in the Vedas, one may, even here, attain to the Brahman. This, O learned one, is all that I tell you.
The primary (pure) Seed (of the universe), called Mahayasas, is destitute of accidents, is pure (free from ignorance and other traits) Knowledge, and blazes with effulgence. It leads the senses, and it is in consequence of that Seed that Surya (the sun) shines. The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). It is in consequence of that Seed (which is Joy’s self) that the Brahman becomes capable of creation and it is through it that the Brahman increases in expansion. It is that Seed which entering into luminous bodies gives light and heat. Without deriving its light and heat from any other thing, it is self-luminous, and is an object of terror to all luminous bodies.
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis(in consciousness). The body composed of the five gross elements, that are themselves sprung from the five subtler ones is upheld (realized) in consciousness by both the individual creature (endued with life) and the Soul (Iswara). (These two, during sleep and the universal dissolution, are deprived of consciousness). The Brahman, on the other hand, never bereft of consciousness, upholds both these two, and also the earth and the heaven.
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). The perfect is raised out of the Perfect. It (being raised) out of the Perfect is called the Perfect. The perfect is withdrawn from the Perfect, and the Perfect alone remains.
What is meant is that the individual self is part of the Supreme Self. What is considered Perfect is what is not limited by space, time, etc. As being part of the Perfect in its Essence, the individual soul is also perfect. When the individual self is withdrawn from the whole aggregate of the body, senses, etc presided over by the self, it still appears to be the pure Self only.
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). The Seed upholds the two gods, the earth and the heaven, the directions and the whole universe. It is from that Seed those directions (points of the compass) and waters spring. Even the vast seas have derived their origin from it.
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). The body is like a car destined to destruction. Its acts, however, are undying. (The body is perishable, but action done by the self while in the body leaves its effect, in the form of samskaras.) Tied to the wheels of that car (which are represented by the acts of past
lives), the senses, as steeds, lead, through the region of consciousness.
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). The form of that One cannot be displayed by any comparison. None ever beholds Him by the eye. They, who know Him by knowledge and by the faculties such as the mind and the heart, become immortal (a direct consciousness in self of its unity or identity with the Supreme Self).
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). The stream of illusion is terrible. Guarded by the gods, it has twelve collections. (The twelve collections relate to the five organs of action, the five senses of perception, the mind and the understanding). Drinking of its waters and beholding many sweet things (fruits of action) in its midst, men swim along to and fro. This stream flows from that Seed.
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). Destined to sojourn to and fro, the creature-soul, having reflected, enjoys (in the other world) only part of the fruits of its acts. It is Iswara pervading everything in the universe that has ordained sacrifices.
Shankara explains the concept thus: There may be a difficulty to understand if action performed here is to have part of its fruit in the next world (life), as the fruit is far removed in time from the action. The answer is, ‘the Lord, the Supreme Being, can effect this; and taking His existence into account, there is no more difficulty. The Lord has arranged things so that each being receives part of this food in the next world (life), which is the fruit of its own action’. Then the question arises, ‘do these beings always continue taking the honey (fruits of action) and migrating (from life to life), or are they ever released? The answer is, ‘those, verily, who have knowledge are possessed of wings, those who are not possessed of knowledge are devoid of wings’. (Those possessed of knowledge get released from the cycle of life and death).
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). Souls divested of knowledge, coming to the Aswatha of golden leaves (for beneficial and pleasant experiences, and possessions such as wife, son, etc, attractive at first sight), there become possessed of wings (possessed of the knowledge of the Brahman),
and fly away happily (obtaining final emancipation). (The ‘selfs’ are compared to birds in the famous passage in Mundaka-Upanisad).
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). It is from that Seed that both the consumer and the consumed (called Agni and Soma) have sprung, and it is in it that the living organisms with the senses rest. Everything should be regarded to have sprung from it. That Seed called in the Vedas TAT, we are unable
to describe.
The Eternal One endued with divinity is beheld by yogis (in consciousness). The vital air called Apana is swallowed up by the air called Prana; Prana is swallowed up by the Moon, the Moon by the Sun, and the Sun by the Supreme Soul.
According to Shankara, the author here explains the Yoga by which the Supreme Self is to be attained. The Moon means the mind, the Sun the understanding, as they are the respective deities of those organs. One swallowing the other ultimately results in one remaining in the condition of being identified with the Brahman.
