jyotiś caraṇābhidhānāt: Jyotiś refers to the Supreme Brahman
Vyāsadeva concludes that jyoti in this passage also means Brahman, arguing that jyoti is described as having feet, proving that jyoti is a transcendental person.
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Sūtra 1.1.24 - Jyotiś refers to the Supreme Brahman
jyotiś caraṇābhidhānāt
jyotiḥ: light, effulgence; caraṇa: feet; abhidhānāt: because of the mention.
Because the light (jyoti) is described as having feet, it must refer to the Supreme Brahman.
Commentary: The central word in the sūtra is “jyoti”, light. This sūtra brings the conclusion of another discussion from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. Vyāsadeva concludes that jyoti in this passage also means Brahman, arguing that jyoti is described as having feet, proving that jyoti is a transcendental person.
The context of the passage in question is the teachings about Gāyatrī (chapter 3.12 of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad) and the guardians of heaven (chapter 3.13). Ranga Rāmānuja explains that the Gāyatrī metric is divided into four parts (catuṣpāda), each with six syllables (ṣaḍ-vidha), like in the mantra “indraḥ śacipatiḥ, balena pīḍitaḥ, duścyavano vṛṣā, samitsu sā sahih“, which has exactly 24 syllables, divided into four parts. Similarly, Brahman has four parts: all beings, the Earth, the body, and the heart. When represented in the living being, Brahman has the qualities of speech (in the sense of śabda, or Vedic knowledge) and deliverance. Brahman on the Earth has the qualities of sustaining all living beings and keeping them inside the universe, while Brahman as the body and heart has the quality of sustaining the vital air and keeping it inside the body.
Just like in the previous passages, the Chāndogya Upaniṣad uses the word Gāyatrī to mean Brahman, describing Gāyatrī as all beings that exist, transcendental sound, and so on, and from there, associating certain characteristics of the Gāyatrī metric with qualities of the Lord. Brahman manifests in the form of sound, or speech, imparting the perfect Vedic knowledge that delivers all beings, prescribing what is beneficial and forbidding what is dangerous. Similarly, Brahman is described as the Earth, because Brahman is the source of the power of maintenance that supports all beings. One can say that the planet Earth supports everyone, but in reality, the planet is just a mass of matter that doesn’t have the power to support anything. The power to sustain comes from the Supreme Lord, and thus, Brahman is the Earth. Similarly, Brahman is the body, because the body supports and contains the vital airs as well as the senses. The capacity of the body to sustain life thus comes from Brahman. Finally, Brahman is the heart, the center of all energies of the body, and the seat for the soul, which is in turn, also one of the energies of the Lord, His marginal potency. In this way, everything that exists is part of the Lord, and nothing is separated from Him.
Finally, the passage describes that all these descriptions are not the complete greatness of the Lord. The greatness of the Lord far surpasses all that is described. The Lord has four parts, or feet (pāda). Of these, one foot forms the whole material creation, with all the living beings in the numerous material universes, while the other three feet form the spiritual sky, with all the spiritual planets and all the perfect beings who dwell there.
The Chāndogya Upaniṣad then describes the five doors to heaven and their five guardians. These five doors are described as present in the heart, emphasizing that the way to reach higher realms is by purifying one’s consciousness, and not by some mechanical means of transportation. “Heaven” in this case can mean both the celestial planets or the spiritual world, according to the mentality of the worshiper. The same process of worship can bring one to one or the other, according to one’s desire.
Each door is connected with one of the five vital airs (prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, udāna, samāna), one of the senses, and a particular deity. One who sees these deities as demigods can reach the celestial planets, but one with a higher understanding, who sees them as manifestations of the Lord, can reach the spiritual world, which is the final purpose of the passage.
The eastern door is connected with prāna, the eye, and the Sun (Surya). The southern door is connected with vyāna, the ear, and the Moon (Candra). The left ear is used to hear about transcendental knowledge, which gives it a very central role in self-realization. The western door is connected with apāna, the voice, and the fire (Agni). These are the tools for performing Vedic sacrifices that can elevate us. The northern door is connected with samāna, the mind, and rain (Parjanya, or Indra). The mind should be engaged in meditating on the Lord. The upward door is connected with udāna, the air and ākāśa (Brahman), the source and maintainer of everything, and the giver of liberation. The text offers different material blessings for meditating in these four aspects, but the deeper purpose is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious and attain the abode of the Lord.
After this, comes the mantra 3.13.7 of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, which is the center of the discussion of this sūtra:
atha yad ataḥ paro divo jyotir dīpyate viśvataḥ pṛṣṭheṣu sarvataḥ pṛṣṭheṣv, anuttameṣūttameṣu lokeṣu
idam vāva tad yad idam asminn antaḥ puruṣe jyotiḥ
“That light (jyoti) which shines above heaven, higher than everything in the highest worlds, beyond which there are no other worlds. That light that forms the background on which all universes and all planets—from the highest to the lowest—rest, is the same light which is within the heart of all living beings.”
What is this light, or jyoti, mentioned here? Would it be the light generated by the Sun, fire, and other sources? One could be tempted to conclude that it is ordinary light because the verse doesn’t directly mention anything else connected with it.
However, the verse in the previous section of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (3.12.6) mentions that the light has feet:
tāvān asya mahimā tato jyāyāmś ca pūruṣaḥ
pādo ’sya sarvā bhūtāni tri-pād asyāmṛtam divīti
“Such is His greatness, but the Lord (Puruṣa) is greater still. He is greater than everything that has been described. All material universes and all living beings are just His one foot. The other three feet form the immortal and eternal spiritual world.”
This verse comes immediately after the description of the glories of Gāyatrī. It’s thus clear that this verse also speaks about Gāyatrī, who is described as a person (Puruṣa). This same personality is later described using the term jyoti, and thus both the words gāyatrī and jyoti refer to the same being, who is, in turn, described as a person, and not as some impersonal sound or light.
However, even if we dismiss the usage of the word “pūruṣa”, the personality of the Lord is still clear from the context. Ordinary light has no feet; therefore, the verses must be speaking about something else. Therefore, the correct answer is that the light referred to is the Supreme Brahman. This conclusion is reinforced by the other attributes described in the verse, like being beyond heaven and being present inside the hearts of all living beings. These are well-known qualities of the Supreme Lord. It would be awkward, to say the least, to try to apply these characteristics to ordinary light.
By proving that the mention of ākāśa, prāna, gāyatrī, jyoti, and other terms used in the different Upaniṣads applies to the Supreme Lord, the Govinda-bhāṣya proves that indeed the Lord is the main topic and goal of the scriptures, making it very difficult to sustain any impersonal or atheistic interpretation of the texts.
Back to the passage, jyoti is described as having four feet (pāda), which is a word frequently used to describe parts. The Supreme Brahman has four feet, or parts, just like each of the chapters of the Vedānta-sūtra has four pādas. The first foot is the material world, which represents one-quarter of the creation, and the other three feet are the spiritual world, which represents the other three-quarters.
In his purport to SB 2.9.10, Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions that: “The kingdom of God, or the atmosphere of the Vaikuṇṭha nature, which is called the tripād-vibhūti, is three times bigger than the material universes and is described here, as also in the Bhagavad-gītā, in a nutshell. This universe, containing billions of stars and planets, is one of the billions of such universes clustered together within the compass of the mahat-tattva. And all these millions and billions of universes combined constitute only one-fourth of the magnitude of the whole creation of the Lord. There is the spiritual sky also; beyond this sky are the spiritual planets under the names of Vaikuṇṭha, and all of them constitute three-fourths of the entire creation of the Lord. God’s creations are always innumerable.”
Kṛṣṇa is not different from His energy; therefore, it is not incorrect to describe the energy as a part of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has three main energies: the internal potency, the external potency, and the marginal potency. The internal potency forms the spiritual sky, which corresponds to three-quarters of the total creation (the three feet), while the material energy corresponds to one-quarter (the one foot). The marginal potency is composed of the souls who can choose between being situated on one or another. The light mentioned in the sūtra refers to the effulgence of Kṛṣṇa, the Brahmajyoti. The energy is not different from the energetic; therefore, when the sūtra speaks about the light, it is ultimately speaking about Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person.
One could argue that “atha yad ataḥ paro divo jyotir” (3.13.7) doesn’t immediately appear after “tāvān asya mahimā tato jyāyāmś ca pūruṣaḥ” (3.12.6). These two texts are separated by a few verses and appear in separate sections of the Upaniṣad. However, Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa argues that they are brought together by the joint mention of the spiritual world, as well as by the use of the relative and co-relative pronouns yat and tat. This indicates that both texts describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
We can also observe that verses between 3.12.6 and 3.13.7 describe ākāśa, which was already established as being the Supreme Brahman, as well as describing the four feet or parts of the Supreme Lord (mentioned on 3.12.6) and the five doors to heaven. Text 3.13.7 then describes what is beyond the celestial planets, the “paro divo jyotir” (which can be interpreted as “the light over the spiritual sky” or “the light beyond the celestial planets”), which is now also proved to indicate the Supreme Lord.
Therefore, the argument of Vyāsadeva that jyoti is the Lord, because the light is described as having feet, holds true.
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