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Īśopaniṣad with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 7
yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ | tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvam anupaśyataḥ
Translation. When, for one who knows ultimate reality (paramārthavastu), all beings have become the Self (ātman) alone,
then what delusion (moha), what sorrow (śoka) can there be for one who beholds the Self’s oneness (ekatva)?
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 |
|---|
| yasmin | yad | pass |
| sarvāṇi | sarva | pass |
| bhūtāni | bhūta | pass |
| ātmā | ātman | pass |
| eva | eva | pass |
| abhūt | bhū | pass |
| vijānataḥ | vijānat | pass |
| tatra | tatra | pass |
| kaḥ | kim | pass |
| mohaḥ | moha | pass |
| kaḥ | kim | pass |
| śokaḥ | śoka | pass |
| ekatvam | ekatva | pass |
| anupaśyataḥ | anupaśyat | 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 relative-correlative yasmin … tatra is rendered primarily as temporal, ‘when … then.’ Śaṅkara also expressly permits a locative construal, ‘in the Self … there/in it,’ so the temporal rendering is not exclusive.→ Temporal in the translation, while retaining the locative alternative in the notes.
isup [1]yasminkāle yathoktātmani vā
At the time when, or in the Self as described.
isup [1]tatra tasminkāle tatrātmani vā
There—that is, at that time, or in that Self.
Sarvāṇi bhūtāni is the subject and ātmā is its singular identity-predicate, with eva scoped over ātmā: all beings have become ‘the Self alone.’ Śaṅkara grounds this identity in vision of the ultimate Self, not in an ordinary physical transformation.→ All beings are realized as the Self alone through knowledge of ultimate reality.
isup [1]tānyeva bhūtāni sarvāṇi paramārthātmadarśanādātmaivābhūd
Those very beings, all of them, through the vision of the ultimate Self, became the Self alone.
Vijānataḥ and anupaśyataḥ are masculine genitive singular active participles used as genitives of reference: ‘for one who knows’ and ‘for one who beholds.’ The implicit object of vijānataḥ is ultimate reality, while anupaśyataḥ governs ekatvam.→ Genitives of reference, rendered idiomatically with ‘for one who …’.
isup [1]paramārthavastu vijānataḥ
For one who knows the ultimate reality.
isup [3]na tvātmaikatvaṃ viśuddhaṃ gaganopamaṃ paśyataḥ
But not for one who sees the pure, sky-like oneness of the Self.
Ko mohaḥ kaḥ śokaḥ consists of rhetorical questions denying the possibility of delusion and sorrow. Śaṅkara identifies both as effects of ignorance and as the seed of desire and action; their impossibility therefore signals the complete cessation of saṃsāra together with its cause.→ Rhetorical denial: ‘what delusion, what sorrow can there be?’
isup [2]śokaśca mohaśca kāmakarmabījam ajānato bhavati
Sorrow and delusion, the seed of desire and action, occur for one who does not know.
isup [3]śokamohayoravidyākāryayorākṣepeṇa asambhavapradarśanāt sakāraṇasya saṃsārasyātyantamevocchedaḥ pradarśito bhavati
By rhetorically rejecting sorrow and delusion, which are effects of ignorance, and demonstrating their impossibility, the complete cessation of saṃsāra together with its cause is shown.
Ekatvam is one neuter accusative singular abstract noun, the object of anupaśyataḥ. In context it means the oneness of the Self, not merely generic numerical unity and not the sequence eka + tvam (‘one’ + ‘you’).→ ‘The Self’s oneness,’ as the object of ‘beholds.’
isup [3]na tvātmaikatvaṃ viśuddhaṃ gaganopamaṃ paśyataḥ
But not for one who sees the pure, sky-like oneness of the Self.
Abhūt is an active aorist of bhū, ‘became/has become,’ not ‘was born.’ Its singular number is retained despite the neuter-plural subject because the construction presents all beings collectively under the singular predicate ātmā.→ Resultative English ‘have become,’ matching Śaṅkara’s construal of all beings as the Self alone.
isup [1]tānyeva bhūtāni sarvāṇi paramārthātmadarśanādātmaivābhūd
Those very beings, all of them, through the vision of the ultimate Self, became the Self alone.
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1yasminkāle yathoktātmani vā tānyeva bhūtāni sarvāṇi paramārthātmadarśanādātmaivābhūd ātmaiva saṃvṛtaḥ paramārthavastu vijānataḥ tatra tasminkāle tatrātmani vā ko mohaḥ kaḥ śokaḥ /
2śokaśca mohaśca kāmakarmabījam ajānato bhavati /
3na tvātmaikatvaṃ viśuddhaṃ gaganopamaṃ paśyataḥ ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka iti śokamohayoravidyākāryayorākṣepeṇa asambhavapradarśanāt sakāraṇasya saṃsārasyātyantamevocchedaḥ pradarśito bhavati