[Advaita-l] shanta and danta in The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Bhashya 4.4.23

[Jaishankar Narayanan]

Namaste,

In his Bhashya to the famous Brihadranyaka Upanishad vakya

...तस्मादेवंविच्छान्तो दान्त उपरतस्तितिक्षुः समाहितो भूत्वात्मन्येवात्मानं
पश्यति...॥ ४.४.२३ ॥

...tasmādevaṃvicchānto dānta uparatastitikṣuḥ samāhito bhūtvātmanyevātmānaṃ
paśyati...॥ 4.4.23 ॥

Shankaracharya gives the meaning for 'shama' and 'dama' differently as

तस्मात् एवंवित् शान्तः बाह्येन्द्रियव्यापारत उपशान्तः, तथा दान्तः
अन्तःकरणतृष्णातो निवृत्तः

tasmāt evaṃvit śāntaḥ bāhyendriyavyāpārata upaśāntaḥ, tathā dāntaḥ
antaḥkaraṇatṛṣṇāto nivṛttaḥ

Normally 'shama' is understood as 'mano-nigraha' (Mastery of Mind) and
'dama' as 'bāhyendriya-nigraha' (Mastery over external sense organs and
organs of action) from texts like Tattvabodah, Vedanta Saara,
Vivekachudamani etc., but here Shankara has interchanged the meanings and
is taking 'śāntaḥ' as one who has ceased the activities of his external
organs (sense organs and organs of action) and 'dāntaḥ' as one who has
averted the longings of his internal organ (mind).

According to the Dhatupaata both the roots have the same meaning दमु उपशमे
and शमु उपशमे i.e. to grow calm; to stop, cease. So Bhashyakara could have
taken 'shama' as 'bāhyendriya-nigraha', which leads to 'dama' which is
'mano-nigraha', as 'śāntaḥ' appears before 'dāntaḥ' in the Upanishad Vakya.

Kanchi Mahaperiyava Swami Chandrashekarendra Saraswati has also discussed
this in the book Deivathin Kural Volume 6. He says that the interchanging
of the meanings of 'shama' and 'dama' by Shankaracharya in his Bhashya has
caused some controversy. He opines that after becoming a Sanyasi one of the
first texts that Shankara authored were the Bhashyas on Upanishads. So in
the Brihadranyaka Bhashya he has given the meaning of shama and dama, in
keeping with the sequence in which they appear, as 'bāhyendriya-nigraha'
and 'mano-nigraha' respectively as both roots have the same meaning in
general. But later as he travelled across India he came to know the
particular meanings associated with 'shama' and 'dama' and gave the
generally accepted meanings in his prakarana granthas like Vivekachudamani.

Interestingly Sureshvaracharya in his vArtika has actually said that dama
is 'bahiṣkaraṇaceṣṭāyā nivṛtti' and shama is 'antaḥkaraṇaceṣṭāyā nivṛtti'
and the 'sequence in meaning' (arthakrama) is more powerful (balīyān) than
'sequence in reading' (pāṭhakrama)

दान्तो भूत्वा ततः शान्तस्ततश्चोपरतो भवेत् ||
अर्थक्रमो बलीयान्स्याद्यतः पाठक्रमादिह || ४.४.१२०३ ||

dānto bhūtvā tataḥ śāntastataścoparato bhavet ||
arthakramo balīyānsyādyataḥ pāṭhakramādiha || 4.4.1203 ||

क्रियानिवृत्तिविषये प्रयोगो जगतीक्ष्यते ||
अभिधानस्य शान्तादेः प्रत्यक्षेणेह सर्वतः || ४.४.१२०४ ||

kriyānivṛttiviṣaye prayogo jagatīkṣyate ||
abhidhānasya śāntādeḥ pratyakṣeṇeha sarvataḥ || 4.4.1204 ||

बहिष्करणचेष्टाया निवृत्तौ दान्त उच्यते ||
दान्तोऽश्वो गौर्गजो वाऽपि प्रयोगस्तत्र वीक्ष्यते || ४.४.१२०५ ||

bahiṣkaraṇaceṣṭāyā nivṛttau dānta ucyate ||
dānto'śvo gaurgajo vā'pi prayogastatra vīkṣyate || 4.4.1205 ||

अन्तःकरणचेष्टाया निवृत्तौ शान्त उच्यते ||
शान्तो भिक्षुस्तपस्वीति तत्प्रयोगसमीक्षणात् || ४.४.१२०६ ||

antaḥkaraṇaceṣṭāyā nivṛttau śānta ucyate ||
śānto bhikṣustapasvīti tatprayogasamīkṣaṇāt || 4.4.1206 ||

with love and prayers,
Jaishankar