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

[V Subrahmanian]

Namaste Sri Jayashankar ji,

Very interesting post.  One is reminded of the Mandukya Karika 4.86 and the
bhashyam:  Here the Bhashyam seems to take both the śama and dama to mean
the same: upaśānti.

विप्राणां विनयो ह्येष शमः प्राकृत उच्यते ।
दमः प्रकृतिदान्तत्वादेवं विद्वाञ्शमं व्रजेत् ॥ ८६ ॥  4.86
विप्राणां ब्राह्मणानां विनयः विनीतत्वं स्वाभाविकं
यदेतदात्मस्वरूपेणावस्थानम् । एष विनयः शमोऽप्येष एव प्राकृतः स्वाभाविकः
अकृतकः उच्यते । दमोऽप्येष एव प्रकृतिदान्तत्वात् स्वभावत एव
चोपशान्तरूपत्वाद्ब्रह्मणः । एवं यथोक्तं स्वभावोपशान्तं ब्रह्म विद्वान् शमम्
उपशान्तिं स्वाभाविकीं ब्रह्मस्वरूपां व्रजेत् ब्रह्मस्वरूपेणावतिष्ठत
इत्यर्थः ॥

Here is the Swami Gambhirananda translation:


86. This is the modesty of the Brahmanas, this is called their natural
tranquility, and this is their natural self-restraint resulting from
spontaneous poise. Having known thus, one gets established in tranquility.

This continuance in the state of identity with the Self is the natural
vinayah, modesty; viprānām, of the Brahmanas. This is their humility, and
this is also ucyate, called; their prākrtah śamah, natural mental
tranquility. Damah, self-restraint, too, is this only; prakrtidantatvat,
because of (their) spontaneous poise, and because Brahman, too, is by
nature quiescent. Evam vidvān, having known thus, having known the
aforesaid Brahman as naturally tranquil; vrajet, one should attain; śamam,
tranquility, which is spontaneous and which is the very nature of
Brahman--that is to say one remains established in identification with
Brahman.

warm regards
subbu

On Tue, Aug 12, 2025 at 9:07 PM Jaishankar Narayanan <jai1971 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>
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