Mandukya Upanishad Shankara Bhashya

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.9 Text सांसिद्धिकी स्वाभाविकी सहजा अकृता च या । प्रकृतिः सेति विज्ञेया स्वभावं न जहाति या ॥ ९ ॥ sāṃsiddhikī svābhāvikī sahajā akṛtā ca yā | prakṛtiḥ seti vijñeyā svabhāvaṃ na jahāti yā || 9 || 9. By prakṛti or the inherent nature of a thing is understood that which, when acquired, becomes completely part and parcel of the thing, that which is its very characteristic quality, that which is part of it from its very birth, that which does not depend upon anything extraneous for its origin and that which never ceases to be itself....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.10 Text जरामरणनिर्मुक्ताः सर्वे धर्माः स्वभावतः । जरामरणमिच्छन्तश्च्यवन्ते तन्मनीषया ॥ १० ॥ jarāmaraṇanirmuktāḥ sarve dharmāḥ svabhāvataḥ | jarāmaraṇamicchantaścyavante tanmanīṣayā || 10 || 10. All the Jīvas are, by their very nature, free from senility and death. They think, as it were, that they are subject to these and thus by this very thought they appear to deviate from their very nature. Shankara Bhashya (commentary) What is the basis of that Prakṛti whose change is imagined by the disputants?...

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.11 Text कारणं यस्य वै कार्यं कारणं तस्य जायते । जायमानं कथमजं भिन्नं नित्यं कथं च तत् ॥ ११ ॥ kāraṇaṃ yasya vai kāryaṃ kāraṇaṃ tasya jāyate | jāyamānaṃ kathamajaṃ bhinnaṃ nityaṃ kathaṃ ca tat || 11 || 11. The disputant, according to whom the cause itself is the effect, maintains that the cause itself is born as the effect. How is it possible for the cause to be unborn if it be said to be born (as the effect)?...

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.12 Text कारणाद्यद्यनन्यत्वमतः कार्यमजं यदि । जायमानाद्धि वै कार्यात्कारणं ते कथं ध्रुवम् ॥ १२ ॥ kāraṇādyadyananyatvamataḥ kāryamajaṃ yadi | jāyamānāddhi vai kāryātkāraṇaṃ te kathaṃ dhruvam || 12 || 12. If, as you say, the cause is non-different from the effect, then the effect also must be unborn. Further, how can the cause be permanent if it be non-different from the effect which is born? Shankara Bhashya (commentary) This verse is meant to make the meaning of the previous one clearer....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.13 Text अजाद्वै जायते यस्य दृष्टान्तस्तस्य नास्ति वै । जाताच्च जायामानस्य न व्यवस्था प्रसज्यते ॥ १३ ॥ ajādvai jāyate yasya dṛṣṭāntastasya nāsti vai | jātācca jāyāmānasya na vyavasthā prasajyate || 13 || 13. There is no illustration to support the view of him who says that the effect is born from the unborn cause. Again, if it be said that the effect is produced from a cause which is itself born then it leads to a regressus ad infinitum....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.14 Text हेतोरादिः फलं येषामादिर्हेतुः फलस्य च । हेतोः फलस्य चानादिः कथं तैरुपवर्ण्यते ॥ १४ ॥ hetorādiḥ phalaṃ yeṣāmādirhetuḥ phalasya ca | hetoḥ phalasya cānādiḥ kathaṃ tairupavarṇyate || 14 || 14. How can they, who assert that the effect is the cause of the cause and the cause is the cause of the effect maintain the beginninglessness of both the cause and the effect? Shankara Bhashya (commentary) The Śruti, in the passage, “When all this has, verily, become his Ātman” declares, from the standpoint of the Ultimate Reality, the absence of duality....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.15-16 Text हेतोरादिः फलं येषामादिर्हेतुः फलस्य च । तथा जन्म भवेत्तेषां पुत्राज्जन्म पितुर्यथा ॥ १५ hetorādiḥ phalaṃ yeṣāmādirhetuḥ phalasya ca | tathā janma bhavetteṣāṃ putrājjanma pituryathā || 15 || 15. Those who maintain that the effect is the cause of the cause and the cause is the cause of the effect, describe, as a matter of fact, the evolution after the manner of the birth of the father from the son....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.17 Text फलादुत्पद्यमानस्सन्न ते हेतुः प्रसिध्यति । अप्रसिद्धः कथं हेतुः फलमुत्पादयिष्यति ॥ १७ ॥ phalādutpadyamānassanna te hetuḥ prasidhyati | aprasiddhaḥ kathaṃ hetuḥ phalamutpādayiṣyati || 17 || 17. Your cause cannot be established if it be produced from the effect. How can the causey which is itself not established, give birth to the effect? Shankara Bhashya (commentary) How can there be no causal relation? It is thus replied:—The cause1 cannot have a definite existence if it is to be born of an effect which is, itself, yet unborn, and therefore which is non-existent like the horns of a hare....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.18 Text यदि हेतोः फलात्सिद्धिः फलसिद्धिश्च हेतुतः । कतरत्पूर्वनिष्पन्नं यस्य सिद्धिरपेक्षया ॥ १८ ॥ yadi hetoḥ phalātsiddhiḥ phalasiddhiśca hetutaḥ | kataratpūrvaniṣpannaṃ yasya siddhirapekṣayā || 18 || 18. If the cause is produced from the effect and if the effect is, again, produced from the cause, which of the two is born first upon which depends the birth of the other? Shankara Bhashya (commentary) Though any relation between cause and effect has been found to be an impossibility, yet it may be contended by the opponent that the cause and the effect, though not causally related, yet depend upon each other for their mutual existence....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.19 Text अशक्तिरपरिज्ञानं क्रमकोपोऽथ वा पुनः । एवं हि सर्वथा बुद्धैः अजातिः परिदीपिता ॥ १९ ॥ aśaktiraparijñānaṃ kramakopo'tha vā punaḥ | evaṃ hi sarvathā buddhaiḥ ajātiḥ paridīpitā || 19 || 19. The inability (to reply), the ignorance (about the matter) and the impossibility of (establishing) the order of succession (of the cause and the effect) clearly lead the wise to stick to their theory of absolute non-evolution (Ajāti)....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.20 Text बीजाङ्कुराख्यो दृष्टान्तः सदा साध्यसमो हि स । न हि साध्यसमो हेतुः सिद्धौ साध्यस्य युज्यते ॥ २० ॥ bījāṅkurākhyo dṛṣṭāntaḥ sadā sādhyasamo hi sa | na hi sādhyasamo hetuḥ siddhau sādhyasya yujyate || 20 || 20. The illustration of the seed and the sprout is itself a matter which is yet to be proved. The middle term (that is, the illustration) which is itself yet to be proved (to be true) cannot be used for establishing a proposition to be proved....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.21 Text पूर्वापरापरिज्ञानम् अजातेः परिदीपकम् । जायमानाद्धि वै धर्मात् कथं पूर्वं न गृह्यते ॥ २१ ॥ pūrvāparāparijñānam ajāteḥ paridīpakam | jāyamānāddhi vai dharmāt kathaṃ pūrvaṃ na gṛhyate || 21 || 21. The ignorance regarding the antecedence and the subsequence of the cause and the effect clearly proves the absence of evolution or creation. If the effect (Dharma, i.e., the Jīva) has really been produced from a cause, then why can you not point out the antecedent cause?...

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.22 Text स्वतो वा परतो वाऽपि न किंचिद्वस्तु जायते । सदसत्सदसद्वाऽपि न किंचिद्वस्तु जायते ॥ २२ ॥ svato vā parato vā'pi na kiṃcidvastu jāyate | sadasatsadasadvā'pi na kiṃcidvastu jāyate || 22 || 22. Nothing, whatsoever, is born either of itself or of another. Nothing is ever produced whether it be being or non-being or both being and non-being. Shankara Bhashya (commentary) For this reason, also, nothing whatsoever is born....

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.23-24 Text हेतुर्न जायतेऽनादेः फलं चापि स्वभावतः । आदिर्न विद्यते यस्य तस्य ह्यादिर्न विद्यते ॥ २३ ॥ heturna jāyate'nādeḥ phalaṃ cāpi svabhāvataḥ | ādirna vidyate yasya tasya hyādirna vidyate || 23 || 23. The cause cannot be produced froth an effect which is without beginning, nor is the effect born of its-own nature (itself). That which is Without beginning is necessarily free from birth. प्रज्ञप्तेः सनिमित्तत्वमन्यथा द्वयनाशतः । संक्लेशस्योपलब्धेश्च परतन्त्रास्तिता मता ॥ २४ ॥...

Mandukya Karika, verse 4.25 Text प्रज्ञप्तेः सनिमित्तत्वमिष्यते युक्तिदर्शनात् । निमित्तस्यानिमित्तत्वम् इष्यते भूतदर्शनात् ॥ २५ ॥ prajñapteḥ sanimittatvamiṣyate yuktidarśanāt | nimittasyānimittatvam iṣyate bhūtadarśanāt || 25 || 25. From the point of view of logical reason a cause for the subjective impression must be assigned. But from the standpoint of the highest Reality or the true nature of things, we find that the (so-called) cause (of the subjective impression) is, after all, no cause....