Mantra 17a

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Īśa-upaniṣad mantra 17a:

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vāyuranilamamṛtamathedaṃ bhasmāntaṃ śarīram |

vāyuḥ—the Prāṇa; anilam—sūtrātman; Brahma-abiding: “a” = Brahm, “nilaṃ” = abiding; amṛtam—immortal; atha—now then; idam—this (visible dense body); bhasmāntam—End-in-ashes, thrown into fire; śarīram—body.

17a. Though this body be reduced to ashes, the Indwelling Spirit, the Lord does not die, He is. immortal: nor does the jīva die. For the Vāyu has become immortal, because Brahman dwells in him (why should?????????????????? in which??? the??? dwells)

Commentary: The Bhāṣya of Madhva (Madhvācārya):

(English translation of Madhva’s 13th-century commentary called the Īśāvāsyopaniṣadbhāṣya or Īśopaniṣadbhāṣya)

Because the Supreme Lord is in Vāyu the Vāyu, has become an Immortal, (how great must He be whose very presence makes others immortal)—how great must be the Immortality of the Supreme then? The word anila [anilaḥ] is compounded of two words meaning Brahman, and nilayanam, abode. The Vāyu is called Anila [anilam] because it is the abode of Brahman (Brahama-dhāma): or because it is supported by Brahman.

Note.—It has been said before that the Supreme Lord dwelling in the jīva is eternal existence and of most auspicious form. A doubt arises: when the man dies and his body is reduced to ashes what becomes of the Lord? Does He also die like the jīva? This verse removes that doubt. Though this body is reduced to ashes, yet the Supreme Lord within it is not tainted with the faults of dying, etc., Why? Anila [anilaḥ], etc., When Vāyu, by merely taking refuge in Brahman, has become an Immortal, how can that Brahman, the giver of Immortality to others, be Himself subject to death? But how is Vāyu immortal? This is answered by Śrī Madhva by a quotation.

Vāyu is called Immortal, because His knowledge does not get obscured even in the Pralaya. (In the case of other jīvas there is an obscuration of consciousness in the Pralaya.)

Note.—The knowledge here refers to the functional knowledge obtained through the vṛttis or modifications of the vehicles. Such functional knowledge or Vṛttī-Jñana persists in the case of Vāyu alone in Pralaya. In the case of other jīvas, they cease to function then. The functional knowledge of Bhāratī also remains unaffected by Pralaya. In the Pralaya, Vāyu and Bhārati also go to sleep, but they are not completely unconscious, they dream. Their functional knowledge in the Pralaya is something like our dreams: i.e., their Manas remains active: though their external functioning ceases, while in the case of other jīvas, there is total unconsciousness in Pralaya, something like deep sleep.

For thus says Rāma Saṃhitā:—“The Lord Himself is the Chief Immortal, (others are immortal in a secondary sense only). The Supreme Self is alone the Eternal, with his Nada (or voice ever vibrating through the eternities of the Pralaya).

Note.—The word Immortal is primarily applied to the Lord alone, for two reasons, that His body never falls off: and His knowledge never gets obscured. Even the highest jīvas, like Vāyu, lose their bodies at the Pralaya; and there takes place some diminution in their knowledge. They cannot carry their consciousness intact through the Great Pralayic sleep. The word “sanātana” is another form of “sanādana” ‘Along with Nāda—whose Nāda constantly vibrates.’

Some take this verse as a prayer of the dying man; asking that his vital breath should leave his body and that the latter should be reduced to ashes; and that the vital breath should join the eternal. This explanation is open to the objection that a thing which is inevitable is never prayed for; and the reduction of the body to ashes is inevitable, and so there is no need for praying that it should be reduced to ashes. The real sense of the verse, which is not a prayer, but a statement of fact, is that when Vāyu has become immortal by the mere indwelling of the Lord in him; a fortiori the Lord must be immortal; and His immortality is beyond all questions.

But, says an objector, the verse has two words only “Vāyu” and “amṛta”. It does not say “in the Vāyu there is the Lord, and so the Vāyu is immortal.” How do you read all this meaning into it? To this it is answered, that the word anila [anilam] suggests the above explanation. This word literally means “that whose support or refuge is Brahman called [‘a’?]”. The Vāyu is called anila because he has the Lord for his Refuge.