Bhashya
महाचक्रं व्याख्यातम् ।तस्य नाभ्यां क्षीरोदार्णवशायिनः उपविष्टम्य वा नृकेसरिणः क्रमप्राप्तं पञ्चममङ्गम् अस्त्राख्यं वक्ष्यामः ।नन्वेवं साङ्गोपासनामपरिसमाप्य कोऽयं मध्ये ध्येयप्रश्नोपक्रमः पिशाचजल्पितमिव — किं ध्यानं किं दैवतं कान्यङ्गानि कानि दैवतानि किं छन्दः क ऋषिरिति ध्यानदेवताङ्गाङ्गदेवताच्छन्दर्षीणां प्रश्नः ? अत्रोच्यते — अत्र किल आख्यायिकायां प्रजापतिः विरतेभ्यो देवेभ्यः सामद्वारिकामेकामुपासनां परिसमाप्य तूष्णीं बभूव श्रोतॄणां बोधं परीक्षितुम् — किं प्रागुक्त एवार्थे अवान्तरविशेषं पृच्छन्ति अन्यदप्यर्थजातं तदुपयोगि, न वेति ।अनेनाभिप्रायेण मध्य एव प्रश्नोपक्रमः ।तत्र षट्प्रश्नाः ।प्रथमप्रश्ने जानीयादिति प्रागुक्तविधौ उपरिष्टाच्चोपनिषत्स्वा समाप्तेर्ज्ञानमात्रं ध्यानं वेति प्रश्नः ।जानीयादिति विधावभ्यासस्य ध्यानस्याश्रवणात्तत्रोत्तराप्रदानात् ' अप्रतिषिद्धमनुमतं भवति ' इति न्यायाज्जानीयादित्यत्र ध्यायेदित्यर्थः ।ध्यायतिः ज्ञानाभ्यासे वर्तते ।किं दैवतं किं छन्द क ऋषिरिति प्रश्नत्रये नारसिंहानुष्टुभतद्धितश्रवणात्स्वस्य च ब्रह्मणः प्रजापतेः कथकत्वेन दैवतच्छन्दर्षित्वेनोत्तरम् , ' यस्य वाक्यं स ऋषिर्या तेनोच्यते सा देवता ' इत्याश्वलायनस्मरणात् ।इति-शब्दः
In plain words
The Great Wheel is finished. Next, at its navel, we take up the fifth limb, the one called the Weapon -- it belongs, in its proper turn, to Nṛkesarin, reclining or seated on the Ocean of Milk. But someone objects: 'Wait -- you haven't even finished describing the worship with all its limbs, and now you stop to ask what looks like six random questions, like a ghost muttering to itself: What is the meditation? Who is the deity? What are the limbs? Whose deities are they? What's the metre? Who is the seer? Why here, in the middle of everything?' Here is the answer: in the old story, Prajāpati taught the gods one complete meditation through the sāman -- and then simply stopped talking. He wanted to see what they would do with the silence: would they ask a sharper question about what he'd just taught, or wander off into something unrelated? That is exactly why the questions sit where they do -- in the pause he left on purpose. Six questions follow. The first asks whether 'one should know' -- the phrase that governs everything from here to the end of these teachings -- means bare knowledge or actual meditation. Since that phrase never explicitly mentions the practice that meditation really is, and since nothing rules it out either, the old principle applies: what isn't forbidden is allowed. So 'one should know' really means 'one should meditate' -- the verb carries the sense of dwelling in that knowledge, not just possessing it. The next three questions -- deity, metre, seer -- answer themselves from the words already on the page: 'Nārasiṃha' gives the deity, 'Anuṣṭubh' gives the metre, and Prajāpati himself, as the one telling the story and as Brahmā, is the seer. This follows the old rule from Āśvalāyana: whoever speaks the verse is its seer, and whoever is addressed by it is its deity.
Close to the Sanskrit
The Great Wheel has been explained. On its navel we shall next state the fifth limb, called the Weapon, which belongs in due sequence to Nṛkesarin, who lies upon or is seated upon the Ocean of Milk. Now [an objection is raised]: if so, without having completed the worship together with its limbs, what is this beginning of a question about the object of meditation, inserted in the middle, as if it were the babbling of a ghost -- namely: What is the meditation? What is the deity? What are the limbs? What are their deities? What is the metre? Who is the seer? -- a single question about the meditation, the deity, the limb, the deity of the limb, the metre, and the seers? Here it is replied: here indeed, in the narrative, Prajāpati, having completed for the withdrawn gods one single worship conveyed through the sāman, fell silent, in order to test the understanding of the hearers -- whether they would ask a subordinate distinction within the very topic already stated, or some other matter useful to it, or not. With this intention, the beginning of the questions falls exactly in the middle. There are six questions. In the first question -- whether, in the injunction already stated as 'one should know,' extending up to the conclusion of the Upaniṣads that follow, mere knowledge or meditation is meant -- this is the question. Since, in the injunction 'one should know,' the repeated practice that is meditation is not heard, and since no answer is given there, by the maxim 'what is not prohibited is approved,' it follows that at the word 'one should know' the meaning is 'one should meditate.' The verb 'dhyāyati' operates in the sense of the repeated practice of knowledge. As for the three questions -- What is the deity? What is the metre? Who is the seer? -- the answer is: because 'Nārasiṃha,' 'Anuṣṭubh,' and the derivative word are heard, and by Prajāpati's own status as Brahmā and as the narrator, [the answer is] deity, metre, and seer respectively -- by the remembered rule of Āśvalāyana: 'He whose utterance it is, he is the seer; and she by whom it is addressed, she is the deity.' The word 'iti' [marks the close of this].