itare tvarthasāmānyāt ..3.3.14..

itare tvarthasāmānyāt ..3.3.14..

 

.. Itare, the other (qualities mentioned in the Taittiriya Upanishad). .. Tu, but. .. Artha, result, object, namely, Release. … Samanyat, on account of the equality, or sameness.

 

14. The other attributes of Brahman (taught in the Taittiriya Upanishad) are to be combined, however; because meditation on them leads to the same result. — 375.

 

COMMENTARY

 

The other attributes of Brahman, mentioned in the Taittiriya Upanishad, in that Anandavalli, are however to be combined. For example, the attributes of all-pervadingness, intelligent joyfulness, world causation, Supreme Lordliness, etc., (described as the attributes of the Anandamaya Brahman) both before and after the passage describing this Anandamaya bird (of Taittiriya Upanishad, II, V) are to be combined. For example, the all-pervadigness of Brahman is mentioned in the following lines immediately preceding the description of the bird:

Different from this, which consists of understanding, is the other inner Self, which consists of bliss. The former is filled by this. It also has the shape of man.

This shows the all-pervadingness of the Lord. This quality must be combined. Similarly, Taittiriya Upanishad., II., 1, shows that the Lord is intelligent and causes the joy of others:

He who knows the Brahman attains the highest (Brahman). On this the following verse is recorded: ‘He who knows Brahman, which is (i. p., cause, not effect), which is conscious, which is without end, as hidden in the depth (of the heart), in the highest ether, he enjoys all blessings, at one with the omniscient Brahman’.

The Creatorship of the Lord is mentioned in Taittiriya Upanishad., II., 6. (a subsequent passage of the same).

He wished, may I be many, may I grow forth. He brooded over himself (like a man performing penance). After he had thus brooded, he sent forth (created) all, whatever there is.

The Supreme Lordliness is shown in Taittiriya. Upanishad, II., 8:

From terror of it (Brahman) the wind blows, from terror the sun rises; from terror of it Agni and Indra, yea Death runs as the fifth.

Those attributes of all-pervadingness, creatorship, etc., must be combined, in every meditation of Brahman. Why? Because Artha-samanyat. Because the Artha or the result is common or one. Meditation on Brahman leads to Moksha or emancipation. When Brahman is meditated, with the qualities mentioned in the Vedanta texts, such as, possessing strength, creatorship, and friendliness towards all and being the refuge of all, the saviour of all, etc., then the man obtains the great Artha or object of life, namely, release. Meditating on Brahman, with the above qualities of all-pervadingness, etc., also leads to the same result. Therefore, these qualities, mentioned in the Taittiriya Upanishad, are to be combined.

What is the object of describing the Anandamaya Brahman as a bird, in the allegory of the Taittiriya Upanishad? In other allegories of the Upanishads, some distinct purpose is served by the parable. Thus in the Katha Upanishad, the soul is figured as a charioteer, body as a chariot, etc. The object of this figurative description is to teach, that the person meditating, must control his body, senses and mind. What is the object of this bird-allegory of the Taittiriya Upanishad? In fact, says the objector, we see no such object: and without any purport in view, the Vedas never enter into allegorical descriptions. What is then the purport? The answer to this question is given in the next Sutra.