तान्होवाचैते वै खलु यूयं पृथगिवेममात्मानं वैश्वानरं विद्वांसोऽन्नमत्थ यस्त्वेतमेवं प्रादेशमात्रमभिविमानमात्मानं वैश्वानरमुपास्ते स सर्वेषु लोकेषु सर्वेषु भूतेषु सर्वेष्वात्मस्वन्नमत्ति ॥ ५.१८.१ ॥
In plain words
He said to them, "You eat your food knowing this Self, Vaiśvānara, as though it were divided. But he who worships this Self, Vaiśvānara, as of the measure of a span and yet beyond all measure — he eats food in all the worlds, in all beings, in all selves.
The commentators
Chāndogyopaniṣadbhāṣyam· bhāṣya
तान् यथोक्तवैश्वानरदर्शनवतो ह उवाच- एते यूयम्, वै खल्वित्यनर्थकौ, यूयं पृथगिव अपृथक्सन्तममुमेकं वैश्वानरमात्मानं विद्वांसः अन्नमत्थ, परिच्छिन्नात्मबुद्ध्येत्येतत्-हस्तिदर्शन इव जात्यन्धाः । यस्त्वेतमेवं यथोक्तावयवैः द्युमूर्धादिभिः पृथिवीपादान्तैर्विशिष्टमेकं प्रादेशमात्रं प्रादेशैः द्युमूर्धादिभिः पृथिवीपादान्तैः अध्यात्मं मीयते ज्ञायत इति प्रादेशमात्रम् । मुखादिषु वा करणेष्वत्तृत्वेन मीयत इति प्रादेशमात्रः । द्युलोकादिपृथिव्यन्तप्रदेशपरिमाणो वा प्रादेशमात्रः । प्रकर्षेण शास्त्रेण आदिश्यन्त इति प्रादेशा द्युलोकादय एव तावत्परिमाणः प्रादेशमात्रः । शाखान्तरे तु मूर्धादिश्चिबुकप्रतिष्ठ इति प्रादेशमात्रं कल्पयन्ति । इह तु न तथा अभिप्रेतः, 'तस्य ह वा एतस्या- त्मनः' इत्याद्युपसंहारात्। प्रत्यगात्मतया अभिविमीयतेऽहमिति ज्ञायत इत्यभिविमानः तमेतमात्मानं वैश्वानरम्-विश्वान्नरान्नयति पुण्यपापानुरूपां गतिं सर्वात्मैष ईश्वरो वैश्वानरः, विश्वो नर एव वा सर्वात्मत्वात्, विश्वैर्वा नरैः प्रत्यगात्मतया प्रविभज्य नीयत इति वैश्वानरः तमेवमुपास्ते यः, सोऽन्नमन्नादी सर्वेषु लोकेषु द्युलोकादिषु सर्वेषु भूतेषु चराचरेषु सर्वेष्वात्मसु शरीरेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धिषु, तेषु हि आत्मकल्पनाव्यपदेशः, प्राणिनामन्नमत्ति, वैश्वानरवित्सर्वात्मा सन् अन्नमत्ति। न यथा अज्ञः पिण्डमात्राभिमानः सन् इत्यर्थः ॥
In plain words
To those who held the views of Vaiśvānara just described, he said: 'You know this Vaiśvānara Self, which is one and not separate, as though it were separate, and so you eat your food'; the words vai and khalu add nothing to the sense. You eat, that is, as though your self were limited, like men blind from birth trying to see an elephant. But take one who worships Him in this way, as He has been described, with heaven for His head and earth for His feet, as one, and as prādeśamātra. Prādeśamātra, because within the body He is measured and known through these regions from heaven, the head, down to earth, the feet; or because He is measured as the one who eats, in the mouth and the other organs; or because His measure is the span of the regions from heaven to earth; or because heaven and the rest are called prādeśas, being what scripture pre-eminently points to, and He has just that measure. Another recension takes prādeśamātra to mean the span from the crown of the head to the chin, but that is not meant here, as the closing words 'Of this very Self' show. He is abhivimāna, because as the inner Self He is known as 'I'. This Self is Vaiśvānara: the Lord who is the Self of all and leads all men to the destiny their merit and sin have earned; or He is all men Himself, being the Self of all; or He is carried, shared out as the inner Self, by all men. Whoever worships Him in this way eats food in all worlds, in heaven and the rest, in all beings moving and unmoving, and in all the selves, body, senses, mind and intellect, since these are what people call a self. He eats the food of every living being. Knowing Vaiśvānara, he is the Self of all, and he eats food as that; not as the ignorant man does, who takes himself to be nothing more than a lump of body.
Close to the Sanskrit
To them, who had the vision of Vaiśvānara as stated, he spoke: 'You here' (vai and khalu are without meaning) 'you, knowing this one Vaiśvānara Self, which is not separate, as though separate, eat food', that is, with the notion of a limited self, like men blind from birth in the seeing of an elephant. But he who worships this one thus: distinguished by the members as described, from heaven as head to earth as feet, one, prādeśamātra; 'prādeśamātra' because it is measured, known, within the body by the prādeśas, from heaven as head to earth as feet; or it is prādeśamātra because it is measured as the eater in the instruments, the mouth and the rest; or prādeśamātra is that whose measure is the regions from heaven to earth; or the prādeśas are heaven and the rest, because they are taught (ādiśyante) pre-eminently (prakarṣeṇa) by scripture, and having just that measure it is prādeśamātra. In another recension, however, they take prādeśamātra as from the crown of the head to the chin; but here it is not so intended, because of the conclusion beginning 'Of this very Self'. Abhivimāna: because it is measured, known, as 'I', as the inner Self. This Self, Vaiśvānara: this Lord, the Self of all, leads all men (viśvān narān) to the destiny that answers to their merit and sin, hence Vaiśvānara; or he is himself all men, being the Self of all; or he is led, divided out as the inner Self, by all men: hence Vaiśvānara. He who worships him thus eats food in all worlds, in heaven and the rest, in all beings, moving and unmoving, in all selves, body, senses, mind and intellect, for it is to these that the notion of self is applied: he eats the food of living beings; knowing Vaiśvānara, being the Self of all, he eats food; not as the ignorant man, identified with a lump of body alone: this is the meaning.