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Īśopaniṣad with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 9
andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'vidyām upāsate | tato bhūya iva te tamo ya uvidyāyāṃ ratāḥ
Translation. Into blind darkness enter
those who devote themselves solely to non-knowledge (avidyā), that is, ritual action;
into what is, as it were, a still greater darkness than that
enter those, however, who delight solely in knowledge (vidyā), that is, knowledge concerning a deity.
Grammar check: 15 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 |
|---|
| andham | andha | pass |
| tamas | tamas | pass |
| praviśanti | viś | pass |
| ye | yad | pass |
| avidyām | avidyā | pass |
| upāsate | ās | pass |
| tatas | tatas | pass |
| bhūyas | bhūyas | pass |
| iva | iva | pass |
| te | tad | pass |
| tamas | tamas | pass |
| ye | yad | pass |
| u | u | pass |
| vidyāyām | vidyā | pass |
| ratāḥ | rata | 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.
andham is an adjective agreeing with accusative tamas, and the phrase denotes ‘blind darkness,’ specifically darkness whose nature is non-seeing; it is not two coordinate substantives.→ Adjectival andham modifying tamas; the whole phrase is the object of praviśanti.
isup [15]tatra andhaṃ tamaḥ adarśanātmakaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti /
Here, ‘blind darkness’ is darkness whose nature is absence of vision; they enter it.
avidyā is not translated here as abstract spiritual ignorance. Śaṅkara explicitly identifies it with karma, more particularly the class of rites exemplified by Agnihotra, and marks its isolated performance with eva/kevalā.→ ‘Non-knowledge (avidyā), that is, ritual action,’ with ‘solely’ supplied from the commentary's kevalām and eva.
isup [16]ke? ye 'vidyāṃ vidyāyā anyā avidyā tāṃ karma ityarthaḥ,
Who? Those who [practice] avidyā: avidyā is other than vidyā; it means ritual action.
isup [17]karmaṇo vidyāvirodhitvāt ; tāmavidyāmagnihotrādilakṣaṇāmeva kevalāmupāsate
Because action is opposed to knowledge, they attend solely to that avidyā characterized by Agnihotra and the like.
upāsate is interpreted contextually as being intent upon and performing the rites denoted by avidyā, rather than as literally worshipping ignorance.→ ‘devote themselves solely to’ ritual action.
isup [17]tāmavidyāmagnihotrādilakṣaṇāmeva kevalāmupāsate tatparāḥ santo 'nutiṣṭhantītyabhiprāyaḥ /
They upāsate solely that avidyā characterized by Agnihotra and the like—the intention is that, being intent upon it, they perform it.
tatas establishes the first blind darkness as the standard of comparison, while bhūyas is a neuter accusative singular comparative agreeing with tamas. Although iva is retained as ‘as it were,’ Śaṅkara glosses bhūya iva as bahutaram eva, ‘indeed much greater.’ The second praviśanti is syntactically omitted but supplied by the commentary.→ ‘Into what is, as it were, a still greater darkness than that [they enter].’
isup [18]tatastasmādandhātmakāttamaso bhūya iva bahutarameva te tamaḥ praviśanti
Than/from that darkness of a blind nature, they enter darkness that is, as it were, greater—indeed much greater.
vidyā is restricted to knowledge concerning a deity and is explicitly distinguished from knowledge of the supreme Self. The particle u is contrastive, paraphrased as tu, and vidyāyām ratāḥ means ‘those delighting solely in such knowledge.’ The relevant portion of unproofread line 18 contains a duplicated ye, but its gloss ye tu and its definition of vidyā are clear.→ ‘those, however, who delight solely in knowledge (vidyā), that is, knowledge concerning a deity.’
isup [5]devatāviṣayaṃ jñānaṃ karmasambandhitvenopanyastaṃ na paramātmajñānam /
Knowledge having a deity as its object is presented in association with action, not knowledge of the supreme Self.
isup [18]ye u ye tu vidyāyāmeva devatājñāna eva ratāḥ abhiratāḥ /
Those u—that is, those however—who are delighted, deeply delighted, solely in vidyā, solely in knowledge of a deity.
The verse's condemnations apply to the isolated pursuit of either ritual action or deity-knowledge and serve Śaṅkara's argument for their combination. They are not absolute declarations that either scripturally prescribed practice is intrinsically forbidden or fruitless.→ Read both clauses with the scope ‘solely,’ preserving the commentary's samuccaya argument.
isup [4]iha tu samuccicīṣayā avidvadādinindā kriyate /
Here, however, censure of the unknowing and others is made with the intention of combining [knowledge and action].
isup [9]tayorjñānakarmaṇoriha ekaikānuṣṭhānanindā samuccicīṣayā na nindāparaiva ekaikasya pṛthakphalaśravaṇāt
Here the performance of either one alone—knowledge or action—is censured for the sake of combining them; the passage is not devoted to censure as such, since a separate result is taught for each.
isup [14]na hi śāstravihitaṃ kiñcidakartavyatāmiyāt /
For nothing enjoined by scripture can become something not to be done.
isup [19]tatrāvāntaraphalabhedaṃ vidyākarmaṇoḥ samuccayakāraṇamāha
Here it states a subordinate difference in the results of knowledge and action as the reason for combining them.
The second relative pronoun has pausal form ye, though the checked mūla prints the Vedic sandhi form ya before u. Śaṅkara's paraphrase ye u confirms the underlying nominative plural.→ surface ye; surface_in_sandhi ya; lemma yad, Pum Prathama Bahu.
isup [18]ye u ye tu vidyāyāmeva
Those u—that is, those however—who are solely in vidyā.
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1kathaṃ punarevamavagabhyate na tu sarveṣām iti /
2ucyate--akāminaḥ sādhyasādhanabhedopamardena 'yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūddhijānataḥ /
3tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ ' iti yadātmaikatvavijñānam[uktam ṭatanna kenacitkarmaṇā jñānāntareṇa vā hyamūḍhaḥ samuccicīṣati /
4iha tu samuccicīṣayā avidvadādinindā kriyate /
5tatra ca yasya yena samuccayaḥ sambhavati nyāyataḥ śāstrato vā tadihocyate yaddaivaṃ vittaṃ devatāviṣayaṃ jñānaṃ karmasambandhitvenopanyastaṃ na paramātmajñānam /
6"vidyayā devalokaḥ"(bṛ.u.1 /
75 /
816) iti pṛthakphalaśravaṇāt /
9tayorjñānakarmaṇoriha ekaikānuṣṭhānanindā samuccicīṣayā na nindāparaiva ekaikasya pṛthakphalaśravaṇāt"vidyayā tadārohanti" "vidyayā devalokaḥ"(bṛ.u.1 /
105 /
1116) "na tatra dakṣiṇā yanti" "karmaṇā pitṛlokaḥ"(bṛ.u.1 /
128 /
1316) iti /
14na hi śāstravihitaṃ kiñcidakartavyatāmiyāt /
15tatra andhaṃ tamaḥ adarśanātmakaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti /
16ke? ye 'vidyāṃ vidyāyā anyā avidyā tāṃ karma ityarthaḥ,
17karmaṇo vidyāvirodhitvāt ; tāmavidyāmagnihotrādilakṣaṇāmeva kevalāmupāsate tatparāḥ santo 'nutiṣṭhantītyabhiprāyaḥ /
18tatastasmādandhātmakāttamaso bhūya iva bahutarameva te tamaḥ praviśanti, ke? karma itvā ye u ye tu vidyāyāmeva devatājñāna eva ratāḥ abhiratāḥ /
19tatrāvāntaraphalabhedaṃ vidyākarmaṇoḥ samuccayakāraṇamāha ; anyathā phalavadaphalavatoḥ sannihitayoraṅgāṅgitaiva syāt ityarthaḥ