The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara reads a thousand as “infinite”. The Puruṣa pervades the world and extends beyond it. The ten finger-breadths can indicate his limitlessness or, in an inward reading, the place of the heart above the navel.
Śaṅkarānanda connects the thousand limbs with both cosmic and individual levels. The Puruṣa encompasses the Brahmāṇḍa, yet the entire visible world is only a small part of his all-encompassing reality, designated as “ten fingers”.
Nārāyaṇa explains the transcendence by saying that the Puruṣa fully pervades the earth and extends beyond every measurable span of ten fingers. The image therefore expresses not a limited extension but the supremacy of the omnipresent one.
Vijñānabhagavat offers several interpretations of the ten fingers: Hiraṇyagarbha and Virāj, ten psychocosmic factors, the ten senses, or the directions. In each version, the Puruṣa exceeds the entire limited system of ten and rests in his immutable greatness.
<1: Vers 14–15 = Ṛgv. 10,90,1–2 (erklärt Gesch. d. Phil. I, 152).>
<1: This stanza = RV. 10. 90. 1; VS. 31. 1; SV. 1. 618; TA. 3. 12. 1; AV. 19. 6. 1.>
<1: Vers 14–15 = Ṛgv. 10,90,1–2 (erklärt Gesch. d. Phil. I, 152).>
<1: This is a famous verse of the Rig-veda, X, 90, 1; repeated in the Atharva-veda, XIX, 6, 1; Yag. Saṃh. XXXI, 1; Taitt. Ār. III, 12, 1. Śaṅkara explains ten fingers’ breadth by endless; or, he says, it may be meant for the heart, which is ten fingers above the navel.>
The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara understands past, present and future as the Puruṣa himself. He rules both deathless liberation and everything that grows through food and appears in the visible world.
Śaṅkarānanda stresses that the Puruṣa is not Lord merely in name. He also establishes the lawful processes of what arises and grows through food. At the same time, he governs liberation and encompasses all three times.
Nārāyaṇa distinguishes the immortality of liberation from mere longevity in a heavenly world. The Puruṣa transcends every state that is immortal only by comparison and is therefore Lord over every life sustained by food.
Vijñānabhagavat explains the temporal world as a projection of Avidyā upon the Puruṣa. Anna can mean Māyā: through it the One appears to grow in opposite forms. The same Lord sustains this appearance and ends Saṃsāra in knowledge.
<1: Vers 14–15 = Ṛgv. 10,90,1–2 (erklärt Gesch. d. Phil. I, 152).>
<1: This stanza = RV. 10. 90. 2; VS. 31. 2; SV. 1. 620; AV. 19. 6. 4; TA. 3. 12. 1, with variants.>
<1: Vers 14–15 = Ṛgv. 10,90,1–2 (erklärt Gesch. d. Phil. I, 152).>
<1: Sāyaṇa, in his commentary on the Rig-veda and the Taitt. Ār., gives another explanation, viz. he is also the lord of all the immortals, i. e. the gods, because they grow to their exceeding state by means of food, or for the sake of food.>
The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara first ascribes to the One all hands, feet and sense organs of living beings. The subsequent denial of organs of his own, however, prevents bodily limitation. This method makes omnipresence visible without materialising it.
Śaṅkarānanda understands the universal body as presence in the limbs of all beings. The Lord pervades the world through his Brahman-form; he grows through food without thereby becoming a single body dependent on food.
Nārāyaṇa reads the limbs on every side as the Lord's unhindered power of action and consciousness. Because no sensory process occurs outside his presence, he can act everywhere without depending on a particular organ.
Vijñānabhagavat makes all hands and feet of beings the limbs of Īśvara. As figures created by a magician depend on the magician's power, the Lord pervades the bodies produced by Māyā inside and out without being limited by them.
<1: Wieder, wie oben Vers 11, eine Paraphrase.>
<1: This stanza = BhG. 13. 13.>
<1: Wieder, wie oben Vers 11, eine Paraphrase.>
<1: The gender changes frequently, according as the author thinks either of the Brahman, or of its impersonation as Īśa, Lord.>
<2: Śaṅkara explains loka by nikāya, body.>
The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara lets all sensory processes appear in the Self while still denying that the Self has organs of its own. In its reading bṛhat, the Self is not only Lord and ultimate refuge but also the “great” ground from which the whole order proceeds.
Śaṅkarānanda understands sensory knowledge and its objects as appearances in the Lord. He himself is free from organs and Avidyā, and guides and protects the world. As suhṛt, he helps without expecting anything in return and therefore cannot be accused of partiality.
Nārāyaṇa interprets the Guṇas of the senses as objects and their manifestation in consciousness. The Lord remains free from the organs. śaraṇa designates him as a protecting refuge and suhṛt as a dependable friend.
Vijñānabhagavat distinguishes the witness of all sensory functions from organ, activity and object. The self-luminous Lord is bound to none of them, although nothing appears outside his consciousness. He remains controller, refuge and benevolent friend of the whole.
<1: The first two lines occur as BhG. 13. 14 a, b.>
<1: Of the external senses as well as the internal sense, the mind. These qualities are for instance sound, colour, &c.; doubt, determination, &c.>
The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara enumerates the body's nine gates as the seven openings of the head and the two lower openings. Paramātman appears within it as the embodied knowing self, moves out to receive external objects, and yet remains ruler of the moving and the unmoving.
Śaṅkarānanda understands Haṃsa as the Jīva limited by Buddhi who wanders through the nine bodily openings to external objects. The sentence, however, leads back to identity: the same Haṃsa is in truth the controller of all moving and unmoving beings.
Nārāyaṇa identifies the nine-gated city with the body. There the Self appears to play, act and meditate while the senses run outwards. As inner Lord, however, it governs all higher and lower forms of life.
Vijñānabhagavat has Haṃsa pass through waking, dream and deep sleep, as well as this world, the next and different births. He acts under Karma and Māyā, while Paramātman remains untouched by every state as the immutable, space-like controller.
<1: Das Subjekt des Erkennens, indem es durch die Sinne wahrnimmt, „schweift gleichsam“ nach außen, lelāyati iva, wie es in der ursprünglichen Stelle Bṛh. 4,3,7 heißt, woher wohl mit dem Ausdrucke die Vorstellung entlehnt ist.>
<1: That is, in the body, cf. Kaṭha 5. 1 and BhG. 5. 13.>
<1: Das Subjekt des Erkennens, indem es durch die Sinne wahrnimmt, „schweift gleichsam“ nach außen, lelāyati iva, wie es in der ursprünglichen Stelle Bṛh. 4,3,7 heißt, woher wohl mit dem Ausdrucke die Vorstellung entlehnt ist.>
<1: Cf. Kaṭh. Up. V, 1.>
<1: Vid. Bhag. G. 5, 13, where the commencement is the same, “navadvāre pure dehī.”>
<2: Here derives Śankara the word “Hansa” “hanti avidyātmakam kāryam” he destroys the effect of the ignorance, while above he explains it by “hanti, gacchanti adhvānam iti haṃsa,” it is called hansa, because it travels along the road.>
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