Bhashya
सः वै अयम् यः एवं संसरति आत्मा- ब्रह्मैव पर एव,यः अशनायाद्यतीतः ; विज्ञानमयः- विज्ञानं बुद्धिः, तेन उपलक्ष्यमाणः, तन्मयः ; ' कतम आत्मेति योऽयं विज्ञानमयः प्राणेषु ' इति हि उक्तम् ; विज्ञानमयः विज्ञानप्रायः, यस्मात् तद्धर्मत्वमस्य विभाव्यते- ' ध्यायतीव लेलायतीव ' इति ; तथा मनोमयः मनःसंनिकर्षान्मनोमयः ; तथा प्राणमयः, प्राणः पञ्चवृत्तिः तन्मयः, येन चेतनः चलतीव लक्ष्यते ; तथा चक्षुर्मयः रूपदर्शनकाले; एवं श्रोत्रमयः शब्दश्रवणकाले ।एवं तस्य तस्य इन्द्रियस्य व्यापारोद्भवे तत्तन्मयो भवति ।एवं बुद्धिप्राणद्वारेण चक्षुरादिकरणमयः सन् शरीरारम्भकपृथिव्यादिभूतमयो भवति ; तत्र पार्थिवशरीरारम्भे पृथिवीमयो भवति ; तथा वरुणादिलोकेषु आप्यशरीरारम्भे आपोमयो भवति ; तथा वायव्यशरीरारम्भे वायुमयो भवति ; तथा आकाशशरीरारम्भे आकाशमयो भवति ; एवम् एतानि तैजसानि देवशरीराणि ; तेष्वारभ्यमाणेषु तन्मयः तेजोमयो भवति ।अतो व्यतिरिक्तानि पश्चादिशरीराणि नरकप्रेतादिशरीराणि च अतेजोमयानि ; तान्यपेक्ष्य आह- अतेजोमय इति ।एवं कार्यकारणसंघातमयः सन् आत्मा प्राप्तव्यं वस्त्वन्तरं पश्यन्- इदं मया प्राप्तम्, अदो मया प्राप्तव्यम्- इत्येवं विपरीतप्रत्ययः तदभिलाषः काममयो भवति ।तस्मिन्कामे दोषं पश्यतः तद्विषयाभिलाषप्रशमेचित्तं प्रसन्नम् अकलुषं शान्तं भवति, तन्मयः अकाममयः ।एवं तस्मिन्विहते कामे केनचित्, सकामः क्रोधत्वेन परिणमते, तेन तन्मयो भवन् क्रोधमयः ।स क्रोधः केनचिदुपायेन निवर्तितो यदा भवति, तदा प्रसन्नम् अनाकुलं चित्तं सत् अक्रोध उच्यते, तेन तन्मयः ।एवं कामक्रोधाभ्याम् अकामक्रोधाभ्यां च तन्मयो भूत्वा, धर्ममयः अधर्ममयश्च भवति ; न हि कामक्रोधादिभिर्विना धर्मादिप्रवृत्तिरुपपद्यते, 'यद्यद्धि कुरुते कर्म तत्तत्कामस्य चेष्टितम्' इति स्मरणात् ।धर्ममयः अधर्ममयश्च भूत्वा सर्वमयो भवति- समस्तं धर्माधर्मयोः कार्यम्, यावत्किञ्चिद्व्याकृतम्, तत्सर्वं धर्माधर्मयोः फलम्, तत् प्रतिपद्यमानः तन्मयो भवति ।किं बहुना, तदेतत् सिद्धमस्य-- यत् अयम् इदंमयः गृह्यमाणविषयादिमयः, तस्मात् अयम् अदोमयः ; अद् इति परोक्षं कार्येण गृह्यमाणेन निर्दिश्यते ; अनन्ता हि अन्तःकरणे भावनाविशेषाः ; नैव ते विशेषतो निर्देष्टुं शक्यन्ते ; तस्मिंस्तस्मिन् क्षणे कार्यतोऽवगम्यन्ते- इदमस्य हृदि वर्तते, अदः अस्येति ; तेन गृह्यमाणकार्येण इदंमयतया निर्दिश्यते परोक्षः अन्तःस्थो व्यवहारः- अयमिदानीमदोमय इति ।संक्षेपतस्तु यथा कर्तुं यथा वा चरितुं शीलमस्य सोऽयं यथाकारी यथाचारी, सः तथा भव-ति; करणं नाम नियता क्रिया विधिप्रतिषेधादिगम्या, च-रणं नाम अनियतमिति विशेषः ।साधुकारी साधुर्भवतीति यथाकारीत्यस्य विशेषणम्; पापकारी पापो भवतीति च यथा-चारीत्यस्य ।ताच्छील्यप्रत्ययोपादानात् अत्यन्ततात्पर्यतैव त-न्मयत्वम्, न तु तत्कर्ममात्रेण- इत्याशङ्कयाह- पुण्यः पु-ण्येन कर्मणा भवति पापः पापेनेति ; पुण्यपापकर्ममात्रेणैव त-न्मयता स्यात्, न तु ताच्छील्यमपेक्षते ; ताच्छील्ये तु तन्मय-त्वातिशय इत्ययं विशेषः ।तत्र कामक्रोधादिपूर्वकपुण्यापुण्य-कारिता सर्वमयत्वे हेतुः, संसारस्य कारणम्, देहात् देहा-न्तरसंचारस्य च; एतत्प्रयुक्तो हि अन्यदन्यद्देहान्तरमुपा-दत्ते; तस्मात् पुण्यापुण्ये संसारस्य कारणम्; एतद्विषयौ हि विधिप्रतिषेधौ; अत्र शास्त्रस्य साफल्यमिति ॥
In plain words
He, this one who wanders on and on like this — the Self — is nothing but brahman, the supreme itself, forever beyond hunger and thirst and everything of that kind. 'Made of understanding' — understanding here just means intellect; marked out by it, he's said to be made of it. That's exactly what scripture asks and answers: 'Which one is the Self? — this one made of understanding, right there among the vital breaths.' 'Made of understanding' means understanding is what predominates in him, because you can actually see that quality show up — as when someone 'seems lost in thought, seems to waver.' In the same way he's 'made of mind,' simply because of how close mind sits to him. And 'made of breath' — breath, with its five functions, is what he's made of there, and that's what makes a conscious being look like it's moving. He's 'made of the eye' the instant he's seeing something, and 'made of the ear' the instant he's hearing something. In fact, whatever sense happens to be active, that's what he becomes made of, right then. Working through intellect and breath, being made of the eye and the other organs, he goes on to become made of earth and the other elements that build the body. Take shape in an earthly body, and he's made of earth; take shape in a watery body, in the worlds of Varuṇa and the like, and he's made of water; an airy body, and he's made of air; a body of pure space, and he's made of space. And when those luminous divine bodies come together, he becomes made of fire itself. Bodies apart from these — animals and the rest, or beings in hell or as hungry ghosts — don't have that fire in them, which is exactly why scripture calls them 'without fire.' Made this way of the whole tangle of cause and effect, the Self looks at some further thing still to be had and thinks, 'This I've already got, that I still need to get' — and that upside-down thought, plus the wanting that comes with it, is what makes him 'made of desire.' But someone who sees the flaw in that desire, and lets the wanting for it die down, finds his mind turning clear, untroubled, at peace — made of that peace, he becomes 'made of non-desire.' And when something blocks that desire instead, the desirous person turns into anger, and made of that, he becomes 'made of anger.' Once that anger is talked down by some means or other, the mind goes clear and calm again — that state is called 'non-anger,' and made of it, that's what he is. Made this way of desire and anger, and then of their absence, he goes on to become made of merit and made of demerit — because nothing like merit ever gets done without desire and anger driving it, exactly as the old verse says: 'Whatever action anyone performs, that is desire itself at work.' Made of merit and demerit, he becomes 'made of everything' — every single thing that ever shows up in the world is simply the fruit of merit and demerit, and taking in all of that fruit is what makes him made of it. In short: he's made of 'this' — whatever he's grasping right now — and by the same logic he's made of 'that' too, whatever lies beyond his immediate grasp. 'That' means anything hidden from view, pointed to only by some visible effect, because the countless flickers of intention inside the mind can never be named one by one — we only catch them moment to moment through what they do: 'this is on his mind,' 'that's on his mind.' That's how a hidden inner state gets pointed to as 'made of this' — 'he's made of that, right now.' But to put it simply: whatever his habit is, in acting or in behaving, that is exactly what he becomes — someone who acts a certain way, behaves a certain way, ends up that way. 'Doing' means a fixed act, the kind spelled out by rule; 'behaving' means something looser, not fixed like that. 'Act well and you become a good person' is what 'acts a certain way' is getting at, and 'act badly and you become a bad person' is what 'behaves a certain way' is getting at. And because scripture reaches for a word that signals settled habit, becoming that way clearly takes real, sustained commitment, not just a single deed — and anticipating exactly that doubt, the text spells it out plainly: 'one becomes virtuous through virtuous action, sinful through sinful action.' A single act of merit or sin is already enough to make you that, in some measure — habit isn't required for that much. But where there is habit, that quality of being made of it runs far deeper — that's the whole difference. And this, ultimately, is the reason the whole business of merit and sin, itself driven by desire and anger and the rest, is the very cause of being made of everything, the cause of the whole wandering existence, and of passing from body to body: driven on by it, a person keeps taking one body after another. So merit and demerit really are the cause of saṃsāra — and that is exactly what the rules for what to do and what not to do are about. That is where scripture proves its worth.
Close to the Sanskrit
He indeed, this one who thus transmigrates — the Self — is brahman itself, the supreme itself, who has transcended hunger and the like. 'Made of vijñāna' — vijñāna is the intellect; marked out by that, he is 'made of that.' For it has been said: 'Which is the Self? — this one who is made of vijñāna, among the vital breaths.' 'Made of vijñāna' means abounding chiefly in vijñāna, since its character is discerned in this one, as in 'it seems to think, it seems to waver.' Likewise 'made of mind' — he is called 'made of mind' because of his proximity to the mind. Likewise 'made of breath' — breath, having five functions, he is made of that, by which the conscious one appears as if moving. Likewise, 'made of the eye' at the time of seeing form; similarly 'made of the ear' at the time of hearing sound. Thus, at the arising of the activity of each respective sense organ, he becomes made of that very organ. Thus, through the medium of intellect and breath, being made of the instruments beginning with the eye, he becomes made of the elements beginning with earth that constitute the body. There, at the formation of an earthly body, he becomes made of earth; likewise, in the worlds beginning with Varuṇa, at the formation of a watery body, he becomes made of water; likewise, at the formation of an airy body, he becomes made of air; likewise, at the formation of an ethereal body, he becomes made of ether. Thus, these fiery divine bodies — when these are being formed, he, made of that, becomes made of fire. Different from these, the bodies of cattle and the like, and the bodies of hell-beings, departed spirits and the like, are non-fiery; with reference to those the text says 'non-fiery.' Thus, being made of the aggregate of effect and cause, the Self, seeing an object still to be attained as something separate — 'this has been attained by me, that is to be attained by me' — this inverted notion, together with the longing for it, becomes 'made of desire.' For one who sees a fault in that desire, when the longing for that object has subsided, the mind becomes clear, untroubled, at peace; made of that, he is 'made of non-desire.' Likewise, when that desire is thwarted by something, the desirous one turns into anger; made of that, he becomes 'made of anger.' When that anger is turned back by some means, then the mind, being clear and undisturbed, is called 'non-anger'; made of that, he is made of that. Thus, having become made of desire and anger, and of non-desire and non-anger, he becomes made of merit and made of demerit; for engagement in merit and the like is not possible without desire, anger and the like, on the authority of the traditional verse: 'Whatever action one performs, that is the striving of desire.' Having become made of merit and made of demerit, he becomes 'made of everything' — whatever is manifested is entirely the effect of merit and demerit; obtaining all of that, which is the fruit of merit and demerit, made of that, he becomes made of everything. What need of more? This is established of him: that this one is made of 'this' — made of the object etc. being currently apprehended — therefore this one is made of 'that' also. 'That' refers to what is beyond direct perception, indicated only through an effect that is itself apprehended; for the particular mental impressions in the inner organ are countless; they indeed cannot be specified individually; at each respective moment they are known only through their effect — 'this is present in his heart,' 'that is present in him' — thus; by that apprehended effect, the imperceptible state residing within is indicated by way of being 'made of this' — 'this one is now made of that,' thus. But in brief: as is his habitual manner of acting, or as is his habitual manner of behaving, he — this one, who acts thus, who behaves thus — becomes accordingly. 'Doing' means a fixed action, knowable through injunction and prohibition and the like; 'conduct' means something not so fixed — this is the distinction. 'One who does good becomes good' — this is the illustration of the word 'yathākārī'; and 'one who does evil becomes evil' — this is the illustration of 'yathācārī.' Because the suffix denoting habitual disposition is used, being 'made of that' is precisely through utter absorption alone, and not merely through that single action — anticipating this doubt, the text says: 'One becomes meritorious through meritorious action, sinful through sinful action.' By meritorious or sinful action alone, being made of that would result; it does not depend on habitual disposition; but in the case of habitual disposition there is an intensification of that state — this is the distinction. There, the performance of merit and demerit preceded by desire, anger and the like is the cause of the state of being made of everything, the cause of transmigratory existence, and of the passage from one body to another. For, impelled by this, he takes on one different body after another; therefore merit and demerit are the cause of transmigratory existence; injunction and prohibition indeed have these as their object; herein lies the fruitfulness of scripture.