The works of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya

Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam

Bhashya

Bhashya

ननु सर्वत्र विषयस्यैव प्रलयोऽभिहितः, न तु करणस्य ;तत्र कोऽभिप्राय इतिं — बाढम् ; किंतु विषयसमानजातीयंकरणं मन्यते श्रुतिः, न तु जात्यन्तरम् ; विषयस्यैव स्वात्म-ग्राहकत्वेन संस्थानान्तरं करणं नाम - यथा रूपविशेष-स्यैव संस्थानं प्रदीपः करणं सर्वरूपप्रकाशने, एवं सर्व-विषयविशेषाणामेव स्वात्मविशेषप्रकाशकत्वेन संस्थानान्त-राणि करणानि, प्रदीपवत् ; तस्मात् न करणानां पृथक्प्रलयेयत्नः कार्यः ; विषयसामान्यात्मकत्वात् विषयप्रलयेनैवप्रलयः सिद्धो भवति करणानामिति ॥

In plain words

Someone might object: everywhere so far, only the object has been said to dissolve — nothing has been said about the organ that grasps it. What's the point of that silence? Fair question. But scripture treats the organ as belonging to the very same class as its object, not to some separate kind of thing. An organ is really nothing but the object itself, wearing a different shape, turned around to grasp itself. Take a lamp: it is simply a particular form configured so as to illuminate all forms — it is itself made of the same stuff it reveals. In the same way, every sense-object, simply by illuminating the particulars of its own nature, takes on a distinct shape that becomes its organ — exactly like the lamp. So there's no need for any separate act of dissolving the organs. Since an organ is, in its very nature, one with its general object, the moment the object dissolves, the organ's dissolution is already accomplished too.

Close to the Sanskrit

Objection: Everywhere [in the foregoing], only the dissolution of the object has been stated, not that of the instrument; what is the intention there? [Reply:] Granted; but the Śruti considers the instrument to be of the same class as the object, not of a different class. The instrument is nothing but a different configuration of the object itself, functioning as the apprehender of its own self — as, of a particular form, its very configuration, the lamp, is the instrument in the illumination of all forms, so, of all particular objects, precisely by virtue of illuminating the particulars of their own self, [they take on] different configurations [that serve as] instruments, just like the lamp. Therefore no separate effort need be made for the dissolution of the instruments; because the instrument has the very nature of the general object, the dissolution of the instruments is established simply by the dissolution of the object.