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Īśopaniṣad with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 18
agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān | yuyodhy asmaj juhurāṇam eno bhūyiṣṭhāṃ te nama uktiṃ vidhema
Translation. O Agni, lead us by the good path, free from repeated coming and going,
to wealth—the enjoyment of the fruit of action (karmaphala-bhoga); O god, knowing all deeds or insights.
Separate from us—destroy—the crooked, deceitful sin.
To you may we render our fullest utterance of homage.
Grammar check: 17 words pass / 1 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 |
|---|
| agne | agni | pass |
| naya | nī | pass |
| supathā | supathin | pass |
| rāye | rayi | pass |
| asmān | mad | pass |
| viśvāni | viśva | pass |
| deva | deva | pass |
| vayunāni | vayuna | pass |
| vidvān | vidvas | pass |
| yuyodhi | yu | fail |
| asmat | mad | pass |
| juhurāṇam | juhurāṇa | pass |
| enaḥ | enas | pass |
| bhūyiṣṭhām | bhūyiṣṭha | pass |
| te | tvad | pass |
| namaḥ | namas | pass |
| uktim | ukti | pass |
| vidhema | vidh | 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.
Supathā is analyzed as the instrumental singular of the karmadhāraya compound supathin, ‘by the good path.’ Śaṅkara further restricts this to a path that excludes the southern route and repeated departure and return. Commentary line 2’s unproofread supratheti evidently refers to supathā; the quotation is retained without silent emendation.→ The compound supathin, ‘good path,’ interpreted as the route free from repeated coming and going.
isup [1]he agne! naya gamaya supathā śobhanena mārgeṇa /
O Agni, naya means ‘cause [us] to go’; supathā means ‘by the good path.’
isup [2]supratheti viśeṣaṇaṃ dakṣiṇamārganivṛttyartham /
The qualification—printed unproofread as supratheti—is intended to exclude the southern path.
isup [3]nirviṇṇo 'haṃ dakṣiṇena mārgeṇa gatāgatalakṣaṇenāto yāce tvāṃ punaḥ punargamanāgamanavarjitena śobhanena pathā naya /
Wearied of the southern path characterized by going and returning, I ask you: lead [me] by the good path devoid of repeated going and coming.
Rāye is a dative of goal or purpose: not wealth in the abstract alone, but enjoyment of the fruit of action. Asmān is the first-person plural object ‘us,’ whom the commentary further characterizes as endowed with the previously stated fruit of dharma.→ ‘Lead us to wealth—the enjoyment of the fruit of action.’
isup [4]rāye dhanāya karmaphalabhogāyetyarthaḥ, asmānyathoktadharmaphalaviśiṣṭān
Rāye means ‘to wealth,’ that is, to enjoyment of the fruit of action; asmān means us, qualified by the previously stated fruit of dharma.
Viśvāni vayunāni is the object of vidvān. Śaṅkara expressly leaves vayunāni twofold: all actions or all cognitions; vidvān means ‘knowing.’→ ‘Knowing all deeds or insights.’
isup [4]viśvāni sarvāṇi he deva! vayunāni karmāṇi prajñānāni vā vidvāñjānan /
Viśvāni means ‘all’; O god, vayunāni means actions or cognitions, and vidvān means knowing.
Yuyodhi is the active imperative of yu ‘separate,’ with an intensified contextual sense ‘remove, destroy’; it is not from yudh ‘fight.’ Asmat supplies the ablative ‘from us,’ while juhurāṇam qualifies enaḥ as crooked and deceitful.→ ‘Separate from us—destroy—the crooked, deceitful sin.’
isup [5]kiñca yuyodhi viyojaya vināśaya asmadasmatto juhurāṇaṃ kuṭilaṃ vañcanātmakamenaḥ pāpam /
Moreover, yuyodhi means ‘separate, destroy’; asmat means ‘from us’; juhurāṇam means crooked and deceitful; enaḥ means sin.
isup [6]tato vayaṃ viśuddhāḥ santa iṣṭaṃ prāpsyāma ityabhiprāyaḥ /
The intention is that, then purified, we shall attain what is desired.
Bhūyiṣṭhām modifies the feminine accusative uktim and means ‘more abundant’ or ‘fullest.’ Te is dative ‘to you.’ Together namaḥ and uktim denote an utterance of homage, not merely an arbitrary speech.→ ‘To you, our fullest utterance of homage.’
isup [8]bhūyiṣṭhāṃ bahutarāṃ te tubhyaṃ nama uktiṃ namaskāravacanaṃ vidhema namaskāreṇa paricarema ityarthaḥ /
Bhūyiṣṭhām means ‘more abundant’; te means ‘to you’; nama uktim means an utterance of salutation; vidhema means that we serve through homage.
Namaḥ is retained as a neuter accusative singular subanta rather than reclassified as an indeclinable. Its contextual relation to uktim is appositional or qualificatory; the commentary determines the phrase’s meaning but does not explicitly settle this morphological ambiguity.
→ Neuter accusative singular, following Vyākaraṇī, with the semantic value ‘homage.’
Vidhema is the first-person plural optative of the simplex root vidh ‘worship, serve, honour.’ The commentary’s paricarema rules out Vyākaraṇī’s derivation from vi + dhā. The homage substitutes for fuller service that the speakers cannot presently perform.→ ‘May we render service through homage.’
isup [7]kintu vayamidānīṃ te na śaknumaḥ paricaryāṃ kartum /
But now we are unable to perform service for you.
isup [8]vidhema namaskāreṇa paricarema ityarthaḥ /
Vidhema means ‘may we serve through homage.’
The requested path and result are not translated as immediate absolute liberation through supreme Self-knowledge. Śaṅkara places these requests in the sphere of action combined with worship (upāsanā), with only relative immortality as the relevant result.→ The action-and-upāsanā setting; the translation therefore speaks of karmic fruit and does not introduce absolute liberation.
isup [32]amṛtamaśnuta ityāpekṣikam amṛtam /
‘He attains immortality’ means relative immortality.
isup [33]vidyāśabdena paramātmavidyāgrahaṇe hiraṇmayenetyādinā dvāramārgādiyācanamanupapannaṃ syāt /
If vidyā meant knowledge of the supreme Self, the requests concerning the gate, path, and so forth beginning with ‘golden’ would be inappropriate.
isup [34]tasmādupāsanayā samuccayo na paramātmavijñāneneti yathāsmābhirvyākhyāta eva mantrāṇāmartha ityuparamyate
Therefore the combination is with worship, not with knowledge of the supreme Self; thus the meaning of the mantras is exactly as we have explained.
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1he agne! naya gamaya supathā śobhanena mārgeṇa /
2supratheti viśeṣaṇaṃ dakṣiṇamārganivṛttyartham /
3nirviṇṇo 'haṃ dakṣiṇena mārgeṇa gatāgatalakṣaṇenāto yāce tvāṃ punaḥ punargamanāgamanavarjitena śobhanena pathā naya /
4rāye dhanāya karmaphalabhogāyetyarthaḥ, asmānyathoktadharmaphalaviśiṣṭān viśvāni sarvāṇi he deva! vayunāni karmāṇi prajñānāni vā vidvāñjānan /
5kiñca yuyodhi viyojaya vināśaya asmadasmatto juhurāṇaṃ kuṭilaṃ vañcanātmakamenaḥ pāpam /
6tato vayaṃ viśuddhāḥ santa iṣṭaṃ prāpsyāma ityabhiprāyaḥ /
7kintu vayamidānīṃ te na śaknumaḥ paricaryāṃ kartum /
8bhūyiṣṭhāṃ bahutarāṃ te tubhyaṃ nama uktiṃ namaskāravacanaṃ vidhema namaskāreṇa paricarema ityarthaḥ /
9'avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtamaśnute /' (ī.u.11) 'vināśena mṛtyuṃ tīrtvāsambhūtyāmṛtamaśnute' (ī.u.14) iti śrutvā kecitsaṃśayaṃ kurvanti /
10atastannirākaraṇārthaṃ saṃkṣepato vicāraṇāṃ kariṣyāmaḥ /
11tatra tāvaktinnimittaḥ saṃśaya ityucyate /
12vidyāśabdena mukhyā paramātmavidyaiva kasmānna gṛhyate 'mṛtatvañca /
13nānuktāyāḥ paramātmavidyāyāḥ karmaṇaśca virodhātsamuccayānupapattiḥ /
14satyam /
15virodhastu nāvagamyate virodhāvirodhayoḥ śāstrapramāṇakatvāt /
16yathāvidyānuṣṭhānaṃ vidyopāsanañca śāstrapramāṇakaṃ tathā tadvirodhāvirodhāvapi /
17yathā ca na hiṃsyātsarvā bhūtānīti śāstrādavagataṃ punaḥ śāstreṇaiva bādhyate 'dhvare paśuṃ hiṃsyāditi /
18evaṃ vidyāvidyayorapi syāt /
19vidyākarmaṇośca samuccayaḥ /
20na"dūramete viparīte viṣūcī avidyā yā ca vidyā"(ka.u.1 /
212 /
224) iti śruteḥ /
23vidyāṃ cāvidyāṃ ceti vacanādavirodha iti cet?
24na ; hetusvarūpaphalavirodhāt /
25vidyāvidyāvirodhāvirodhayorvikalpāsambhavātsamuccayavidhānādavirodha eveti cet?
26na? sahasambhavānupapatteḥ /
27krameṇaikāśraye syātāṃ vidyāvidye iti cet?
28na ; vidyotpattau avidyāyā hyāstatvāttadāśraye 'vidyānupapatteḥ /
29na hyagniruṣṇaḥ prakāśaśceti vijñānotpattau yasminnāśraye tadutpannaṃ tasminnevāśraye śīto 'gniraprakāśo vetyavidyāyā utpattirnāpi saṃśayo 'jñānaṃ vā"yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūdvijānataḥ /
30tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ"(ī.u.7) iti śokamohādyasambhavaśruteḥ /
31avidyāsambhavāttadupādānasya karmaṇo 'pyanupapattim avocāma /
32amṛtamaśnuta ityāpekṣikam amṛtam /
33vidyāśabdena paramātmavidyāgrahaṇe hiraṇmayenetyādinā dvāramārgādiyācanamanupapannaṃ syāt /
34tasmādupāsanayā samuccayo na paramātmavijñāneneti yathāsmābhirvyākhyāta eva mantrāṇāmartha ityuparamyate