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Īśopaniṣad with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 10
anyad evāhur vidyayān yad āhur avidyayā | iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nas tad vicacakṣire
Translation. Quite distinct indeed, they say, is the result produced by knowledge (vidyā);
distinct, they say, is the result produced by ritual action (avidyā).
Thus have we heard the word of the wise teachers,
who explained that to us—both action and knowledge.
Grammar check: 14 words pass / 0 flagged / 0 beyond the checkerPāṇini-verified
Every word's claimed grammar is re-derived with vidyut-prakriya, software implementing Pāṇini's rules. Flags are shown, never hidden; some are the text taking epic or Vedic liberties the classical rules do not generate.
Word by word
| surface | lemma | grammar |
|---|
| anyat | anya | pass |
| eva | eva | pass |
| āhuḥ | ah | pass |
| vidyayā | vidyā | pass |
| anyat | anya | pass |
| āhuḥ | ah | pass |
| avidyayā | avidyā | pass |
| iti | iti | pass |
| śuśruma | śru | pass |
| dhīrāṇām | dhīra | pass |
| ye | yad | pass |
| naḥ | mad | pass |
| tat | tad | pass |
| vicacakṣire | cakṣ | pass |
How the commentary settled it
Where the verse alone is ambiguous, the reading follows Śaṅkara's commentary; the deciding lines are quoted below each decision.
The malformed sequence vidyayān yad is read as vidyayā + anyat, yielding the parallel construction ‘a distinct result by vidyā … a distinct result by avidyā.’→ Restore vidyayā + anyat. The commentary interprets anyat with vidyayā as a separate result and subsequently treats both knowledge and action as the subject matter explained.
isup [1]anyatpṛthageva vidyayā kriyate phalam
‘Different—quite separate—is the result produced by knowledge.’
isup [7]tatkarma ca jñānaṃ ca
‘That—both action and knowledge.’
Both occurrences of anyat predicate distinctness of an understood phalam, and eva intensifies that distinctness rather than meaning ‘by knowledge alone.’→ Supply ‘result’ and construe eva with anyat/pṛthak: ‘quite distinct indeed is the result.’
isup [1]anyatpṛthageva vidyayā kriyate phalam
‘Different—quite separate—is the result produced by knowledge.’
Vidyā is knowledge whose stated fruit is the divine world, whereas avidyā is contextually ritual action (karma), whose fruit is the ancestral world.→ ‘Knowledge (vidyā)’ and ‘ritual action (avidyā).’ This avoids importing the general Vedāntic meaning ‘metaphysical ignorance’ where the commentary expressly contrasts jñāna and karma.
isup [1]vidyayā devalokaḥ
‘By knowledge, the divine world.’
isup [3]karmaṇā kriyate karmaṇā pitṛlokaḥ
‘[The result] is produced by action; by action, the ancestral world.’
isup [7]tatkarma ca jñānaṃ ca
‘That—both action and knowledge.’
Iti summarizes the preceding two claims, while dhīrāṇām is the genitive source/possessor of an understood vacanam dependent on śuśruma.→ ‘Thus have we heard the word of the wise.’
isup [6]ityevaṃ śuśruma śrutavanto vayaṃ dhīrāṇāṃ dhīmatāṃ vacanam /
“Iti means ‘thus’; śuśruma means ‘we have heard’; [we heard] the statement of the wise, the intelligent.”
Ye refers to the wise as teachers, and naḥ is dative plural, ‘to us,’ rather than accusative ‘us.’→ The teachers are the subject of vicacakṣire, and naḥ means ‘to us,’ following the explicit gloss asmabhyam.
isup [7]ye ācāryā no 'smabhyaṃ tatkarma ca jñānaṃ ca vicacakṣire
‘Those teachers who explained to us that—both action and knowledge.’
Tat is the object of vicacakṣire and collectively covers both karma and jñāna; vicacakṣire means ‘explained,’ not merely ‘saw distinctly.’→ ‘Who explained that to us—both action and knowledge.’
isup [7]tatkarma ca jñānaṃ ca vicacakṣire vyākhyātavantasteṣāmayamāgamaḥ pāramparyāgata ityarthaḥ
‘They explained that—both action and knowledge; this received teaching of theirs has come down through the succession: such is the meaning.’
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1anyatpṛthageva vidyayā kriyate phalamityāhurvadatti"vidyayā devalokaḥ"(bṛ.u.1 /
26 /
316) "karmaṇā kriyate karmaṇā pitṛlokaḥ"(bṛ.u.1 /
45 /
516) iti śruteḥ /
6ityevaṃ śuśruma śrutavanto vayaṃ dhīrāṇāṃ dhīmatāṃ vacanam /
7ye ācāryā no 'smabhyaṃ tatkarma ca jñānaṃ ca vicacakṣire vyākhyātavantasteṣāmayamāgamaḥ pāramparyāgata ityarthaḥ