UPANISHAD MANDUKYA : Chapter-1. Agama Prakarana ( The Scriptural Treatise ) Sri Gaudapada's glossary begins : Karika Slokam-s 1 to 9. Slokam-1.

 22/03/2018

Chapter-1. Agama Prakarana ( The Scriptural Treatise )

Sri Gaudapada's glossary begins :

Karika Slokam-s 1 to 9.

Slokam-1.

Bahis-prajno vibhur-visvo hyantah-prajnastu taijasah,
ghana-prajnas-tatha prajna eka eva tridha smrtah.

bahih prajno = who is conscious of the external;
vibhuh = all pervasive;
visvah = visva;
hi = whereas;
antah prajnah = who is conscious of the internal;
tu = but;
taijasah = is taijasa;
ghana prajnah = (is) mass of consciousness;
tatha = and;
prajnah = is prakma;
ekah eva = sama entity only;
tridha = (in) three different ways;
smrtah = (is) thought of.

Visva, the first quarter ( pada ) is he, who is All-pervading and who experiences the external, the gross objects ( the Waker ).
Taijasa, the second quarter ( pada ), is he, who cognizes the internal, the subtle bodies ( the Dreamer ).
Prajna is he, who is a mass of consciousness.
He is one alone who is thus known as three, in the three different planes of consciousness.

Discussion-1.

This slokam  belongs to the Karika ( glossary ) of the Gaudapada.
In this slokam, we are for the first time coming in contact with the glosser and his contribution in describing and explaining to us the highly packed fully pregnant scriptural text.
Till now, we have been discussing the first six mantra-s of this great scriptural text-book of twelve mantra-s.
After descibing the sixth, here the glosser is entering the stage to give us the summary of the main points of deep significances which the mantra-s have hinted at.

Th Upanishads are extremely brief and in our introduction, we have already pointed out the particular style adopted by the Rishi-s in the Sanatana Dharmam scriptures.

Because of their brevity, for the ordinary folk, they demand a lot of explanations, since without explanations the scripture would read meaningless and even absurd.

To be continued ...