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 2.471
Sanskrit text and transliteration:
यज्ज्ञात्वा विन्दते विद्वानभयं हीत्यवादिषम् ।
तत्त्वेवाभयकृद्ब्रह्म स्यान्मोहादात्मनो भयम् ॥ ४७१ ॥
yajjñātvā vindate vidvānabhayaṃ hītyavādiṣam |
tattvevābhayakṛdbrahma syānmohādātmano bhayam || 471 ||
English translation of verse 2.471:
It has been said that having known Brahman the man of knowledge attains, indeed, fearlessness. Nevertheless, that very Brahman who causes fearlessness becomes a source of fear to the Self due to ignorance.
Notes:
In the light of what has been said above we must understand the meaning of the expression taitveva bhayam which occurs in the śruti text.
It was stated earlier that the wise man gets fearlessly established in Brahman which is adṛśya, anātmya, and so on (abhayaṃ pratiṣṭhāṃ vindate), and that he attains the state of fearlessness (abhayaṃ gato bhavati). While to the wise man Brahman is the fearless support, the very same Brahman (tat eva) is the source of fear to one who is ignorant. The central idea that the state of knowledge goes with the attainment of fearlessness and that the state of ignorance is connected with the state of fear is brought out through the method of anvaya and vyatireka.