Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 741

Annals BORI, LXXVIII (1997)
तस्योपनिषत् सत्यस्य सत्यमिति which is there immediately followed by the words प्राणा वै सत्यं तेषामेष सत्यम्.
2. Stanza 23 of the same Brahmana reads as:
334
उपासतेऽक्षणि प्राणं रुद्राद्याः सप्त देवताः । अक्षीणा इति ता ज्ञात्वा नान्नश्चयमुपाश्नुते ||
This has been rendered as: "The seven gods Rudra and others wait on Präpa (residing) in the eye (etc.). Having known them as non-decreasing, a worshipper does not experience decrease in (lit. destruction of) food."
Comments:
(i) It is not known why the authors add (etc.) after the eye. It is warranted neither by the text of the Varttika nor by the BrUp. 2. 2. 2 on which the stanza is based. The Upanisad passage does not mention any other sense organ like ear, nose etc. besides the eye (akṣan). Moreover the Värttika 25 also emphatically states that the group of gods (Rudra and others) is only in the eye (अक्षग्वेव यत: पूर्व व्याख्यातो देवतागण:) (Unfortunately the authors' rendering of st. 25 is also not very happy.)
(ii) Upăsate has been rendered as wait on which means attend on, But this meaning is not intended here. Upasate of the Värttika stands for upatisthante of the Br. Up. 2. 2. 2 where it is further paraphrased as anvayatta 'connected with'. Obviously upäsare in the Värttika is used in its literal meaning to sit or be near. The most surprising thing is that the authors in a foot-note state offer worship to to be the literal meaning of upăsate !
(iii) The last quarter of the stanza nännakşayam upäinute is rendered as does not experience decrease in (lit. destruction of) food. In the first instance one does not know what the authors gain by adding (lit. destructtion of) into the brackets, especially when they in their Preface say that they have tried to avoid literal English rendering. Secondly, having rendered aksinah, with refence to the deities as non-decreasing' they say in a footnote Or, imperishable. This is not necessary and, perhaps, also wrong in the context. For, although imperishableness may be true of gods, it is not true of food. What is true of gods has to be true of food as well in the Varttika since the non-decrease of food results from the knowledge of the non-decreasing nature of gods.
3. The next stanza 24 reads as:
मूर्तिन प्रत्याहितं प्राणमुपयः प्राणसंज्ञकाः । रुद्राचा मध्यमं यस्मात् सततं पर्युपासते ।
Madhu Vidya/716