Aitareya Upanishad | by Shankara | II i 1-6

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1.

auṁ puruṣe ha vā ayamādito garbho bhavati yadetadretaḥ .tadetatsarvebhyo'ṅgebhyastejaḥ saṁbhūtamātmanyeva''tmānaṁ bibharti tadyadā striyāṁ siñcatyathainajjanayati tadasya prathamaṁ janma .. 1..

This [person] is, at first, the germ in a man.
That which is the semen is here called the germ.
This semen is the vigour (tejas) drawn from all limbs.
The man bears the self (i.e. the semen) in the self (i.e. the body).
When he pours the semen into a woman, he gives it a birth.
This, indeed, is the first birth of the embodied soul.

This very man performs such karmas as sacrifice etc. owning to his self-identification with ignorance, desire, and action;

then he reaches the lunar region after passing from this world through smoke and the rest in succession;

and then, when the fruits of his action become exhausted, he reaches this world to become food after passing in succession through rain etc.;

- then he is poured as a libation in the fire that is man.

puruṣe ha vai, in that man indeed; ayam, that, transmigrating soul; āditaḥ garbhaḥ bhavati, is first conceived, in the form of semen after passing through the juice of food etc.

This is being stated by saying that he takes birth in that form in the text: “Yat etat retā

Yat etat retāḥ, that which is this semen; sambhūtam is accomplished, (extracted); as tejas, vigour, essence, of the body; sarvebhyaḥ aṅgebhya, from all the limbs, from all the component parts, such as the juice of the body that is the product of food.

Being identified with the man himself, this (semen) is called his self.

He bibharti, bears; that ātmānam self that has been conceived in the form of semen; ātmani eva, in his own self: - (in other words) he holds his own self (the semen) in his own body.

Yadā, when—when his wife is in the proper state; he siñcati, sheds, while in union; tat, that semen; striyām, in the wife – in the fire of the woman;

atha, then; the father; janayati, procreates; enat, this one—that was conceived by him as identified with himself.

Asya, of that transmigrating soul; tat, that, that issuing out of its own place, in the form of semen, when it is being poured out; is the prathamaṁ janma, the first birth—the first manifested state.

This fact was stated earlier by the text, “This self (that is the man), (offers) this self of his (that is the semen), to that self of his (that is the wife).

2.

tatstriyā ātmabhūyaṁ gacchati yathā svamaṅgaṁ tathā . tasmādenāṁ na hinasti .
sā'syaitamātmānamatra gataṁ bhāvayati .. 2..

That semen becomes one with the woman—
just like a limb of her own.
That is why it does not hurt her.
She nourishes this self of his that has come into her.

Tat, that, the semen; gacchati, becomes; ātmabhūyaṁ, non-different—from the wife into whom it is shed; yathā svam aṅgaṁ tathā, just like her own limb—her breast etc.—as it was in the case of the father.

Tasmāt, because of this fact; the foetus na hinasti, does not hurt—like a boil; enām, this one—the mother.

Since it has become a part of herself just like her breast etc., therefore it does not hurt her; this is the idea.

Sā, she, that pregnant woman; understanding etam ātmānam, this self, of her husband atra gatam, as having entered here—into her womb; bhāvayati, nourishes, protects it—by avoiding the food etc. that are injurious to the foetus and by accepting such food etc. as are favourable to it.

3.

sā bhāvayitrī bhāvayitavyā bhavati . taṁ strī garbha bibharti . so'gra eva kumāraṁ janmano'gre'dhibhāvayati .
sa yatkumāraṁ janmano'gre'dhibhāvayatyātmānameva tadbhāvayatyeṣaṁ lokānāṁ santatyā .
evaṁ santatā hīme lokāstadasya dvitīyaṁ janma .. 3..

She, being the nourisher, should be nourished [by her husband].
The woman nourishes the embryo.
Immediately after its birth he (the father)
nourishes [with natal ceremonies] the child,
which in the beginning was already born [as the embryo].
Nourishing the child from birth onward,
he thus nourishes himself for the continuation of these worlds.
For thus alone are these worlds perpetuated.
This is one’s second birth.

Sā, she; the bhāvayitrī, nourisher, of the self of her husband, conceived in her womb; bhāvayitavyā bhavati, becomes fit to be nourished, to be protected, by the husband; for no one can have any relation with another unless it be through reciprocity of benefit.

Strī, the wife; bibharti, bears; tam garbham, that foetus, by following the method of protecting the foetus mentioned earlier; agre, before its birth.

Sa, he, the father; bhāvayati, protects; kumāram, the son; agre eva, at the very start, as soon as he is born; janmanaḥ adhi, after the birth; through natal rites etc.

Yat, that; saḥ, he, the father; bhāvayati, protects; the kumāram, son; agre janmanaḥ adhi, at the very start, just after the birth; through natal rites etc.; tat, thereby; he bhāvayati ātmānam eva, protects his own self.

For it is the father’s self that takes birth as the son.
And so it has been said, “The husband enters into the wife” (Hari. III. Ixxiii, 31).

Now is being stated why the father protects himself after being born as the son: eṣām lokānām santatyai, for the continuance of these worlds, i.e. for their non-stoppage.

For these worlds will cease to continue if everyone should stop procreating sons etc.

The idea is this:

Since these worlds thus continue to flow like a current through the continuity of such acts as the begetting of sons, therefore these acts should be undertaken for the non-stoppage of the worlds, but not so for the sake of emancipation.

Tat, that fact, the issuing out; asya, of him, of the transmigrating soul; as a son from the mother’s womb; is the dvitīyam janma, second birth, the manifestation of the second state, relatively to his form as semen.

4.

so'syāyamātmā puṇyebhyaḥ karmabhyaḥ pratidhīyate . athāsyāyāmitara ātmā kṛtakṛtyo vayogataḥ praiti .
sa itaḥ prayanneva punarjāyate tadasya tṛtīyaṁ janma .. 4..

He (the son) who is the one self (body) of his [father’s]
is made his [father’s] substitute for [performing] virtuous deeds.
Then the other self (body) of his [father’s],
having accomplished his duties and reached his age departs [from this world].
So departing hence, he is born again.
This is his third birth.

Saḥ ayam ātmā, that self that is the son; asya, of his, of the father; puṇyebhyaḥ karmabhya, for the performance of virtuous deeds, as prescribed by the scriptures; pratidhīyate, is substituted, by the father, in his own place, for the accomplishment of all that was the father's duty.

Similarly, it is seen in the Vājasaneyaka, in the portion dealing with the substitution (of the son), that on being instructed by the father, the son admits thus:

I am Brahman (i.e. the Vedas), I am the sacrifice” (Bṛ. l. v. 17).

Atha, after that, after the father's responsibility has been entrusted to the son, ayam itaraātmā, this other self, that is the father; asya, of this one, of the son;

kṛtakṛtya, becoming freed from duties, from the 3 debts (to gods, to seers, and to Manes) having all his duties fulfilled; vayogata, having advanced in age being afflicted with decrepitude; praiti, dies.

Saḥ itaḥ prayan eva as soon as he departs from here, no sooner does he leave the body than; he punaḥ jāyate, takes birth again; by adopting another body according to the results of his actions (by moving from one body to the other) just like a leech.

Tat, that, the birth that he gets after death; is asya, his tṛtīyaṁ janma, third birth.

Objection:

Is it not a fact that for the transmigrating soul the first birth is in the form of semen from the father? And his second birth has been stated to be as a son from the mother.

The turn now being for stating the 3rd birth of that very soul (which became the son), why is the birth of the dead father enumerated as the 3rd?

Answer:

That is not wrong: for the intention is to speak of the identity of the father and the son.

That son, too, just like his father, entrusts his responsibility to his son (in his own turn) and then departing from here takes birth immediately after.

The Upaniṣad thinks that this fact which is stated with regard to another (viz. the father) is implied here (with regard to the son) also; for the father and the son have the same self.

5.

taduktamṛṣiṇā garbhe nu sannanveṣāmavedamahaṁ devānāṁ janimāni viśvā śataṁ mā pura āyasīrarakṣannadhaḥ śyeno javasā niradīyamiti . garbha evaitacchayāno vāmadeva evamuvāca .. 5..

About this a rishi has said:

“While still lying in the womb,
I came to know all the births of the gods.
A hundred strongholds, as if made of iron, confined me,
yet I burst through them all swiftly, like a hawk.”

Vāmadeva spoke, in this wise, even while lying in the womb.

Transmigrating in this way, ever involved in the chain of birth and death through the manifestation of the 3 states, everyone remains merged in the ocean of this world.

If he ever succeeds somehow, in any of the states, to realise the Self as revealed in the Vedas, he becomes freed then and there from all worldly bondages and gets all his duties fulfilled.

The Upaniṣad says that tat, this fact; uktam, was declared; ṛṣiṇā, by the seer, by the (following) mantra; also:  Garbhe nu san, while still in the womb, of my mother.

The (indeclinable) word nu implies deliberation.

By virtue of the fruition of my meditations in many previous births, aham, I; anvavedam, knew; had the knowledge of; viśvā janimāni, all the births; eṣām devānām, of these gods—of Speech, Fire, etc. What a good luck!

Śatam, a hundred, many; āyasīḥ (or rather āyasya) pura, citadels made of iron, that is to say impenetrable bodies as though made of iron; arakṣan mā, kept me guarded; adha, in the lower worlds; guarded me from getting freed from the meshes of the world.

(Or adhaḥ, later on); śyena, like a hawk; javasā, forcefully, through the power generated by the knowledge of the Self; niradīyam, I came out, by tearing through the net. O the wonder!”

Vāmadeva, Vāmadeva, the seer; garbhe eva śayāna, while still lying in the womb; uvāca, said; etat, this; evaṁ, in this way.

6.

sa evaṁ vidvānasmāccharīrabhedādūrdhva utkramyāmuṣmin svarge loke sarvān kāmānāptvā'mṛtaḥ samabhavat samabhavat .. 6..

Thus endowed with Knowledge,
he, becoming one with the Supreme Self
and soaring aloft on the dissolution of the body,
obtained all desires in the heavenly world
and became immortal—yea, became immortal.

Sa, he, the seer Vāmadeva; evaṁ vidvān, having known thus, known the Self as spoken of earlier; became ūrdhva, uplifted, identified with the supreme Self;

and asmāt śarīrabhedāt, after the destruction of this body—of this body that is conjured up by ignorance, that is impenetrable like iron; on the dissolution of the succession of bodies—subject to many evils consisting in birth, death, etc.—

- through the power generated by the tasting of the knowledge of the supreme Self; that is to say, on the destruction of the body following the destruction of such causes as ignorance that are the seeds of the creation of the body;

he ūrdhvaḥ (san), having already become identified with the supreme Self; (then) utkramya, having ascended higher up as compared with the lowly worldly state, becoming established in the state of the pure, all-pervasive Self, shining with knowledge;

amuṣmin, in that Reality, which was described as ageless, deathless, immortal, fearless, and omniscient, which has no cause or effect; inside or outside, which is of the nature of the unalloyed nectar of consciousness;

he became merged like the blowing out of a lamp.

He samabhavat, became; amṛta, immortal; svarge loke, in his own Self, in his own reality; sarvān kāmān āptvā, after the attainment of all desires;

that is to say, after having got all the desirable things, even earlier (when still living), by virtue of his becoming desireless through the knowledge of the Self.

The repetition in “he became” is to show the end of the knowledge of the Self together with its fruit and its illustration.