परमं यो महत्तेजः परमं यो
महत्तपः ।
परमं यो महद्ब्रह्म परमं यः
परायणम् ॥ १५॥
paramaṁ yō
mahattejaḥ paramaṁ yō mahattapaḥ,
paramaṁ yō
mahadbrahma paramaṁ yaḥ parāyaṇam. (15)
He is the
supreme goal, the most exalted and brilliant light, the sovereign ruler, and
the limitless Brahman.
The second question "which is the ultimate goal", is being answered here.
He is parama (exalted) and mahat-tejas,
the preeminent light. While the sun, moon, and stars are worldly luminaries,
the mahad-tejas is the svaprakāśa Ātmā or para brahma, the
greatest of all shining objects. In his commentary, Śaṅkarācārya reveals
the Lord as the sarvāvabhāsaka, the supreme Illuminator of all. His
essential nature is recognized as caitanya-lakṣaṇa, for He is the very
embodiment of pure Consciousness. While He illumines everything in this
universe, He remains ever self-effulgent, unillumined and unaffected by any
external object.
Śaṅkara quotes from the Śruti: yena sūryaḥ
tapati tejasā iddhaḥ—"That illumined by whose light the sun
shines." This is spoken of by the devatās as the jyotiṣāṃ jyotiḥ,
the Light of all lights. Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, nor the
lightnings can illumine that Brahman; indeed, how can this fire light
It? Everything shines only after that Self alone, which is the light of all
lights. By Its light alone, all this is illumined. "Know that light which
resides in the sun and illumines the entire world, and that which resides in
the moon and the fire, to be Mine alone," says Bhagavān in the Gītā.
He is the paramaṁ mahat the most exalted and
the greatest tapas. The term tapas signifies tapati,
ājñāpayati īṣṭe iti tapaḥ—the one who commands, ordains, and has absolute
mastery over all. It is by His divine mandate and order alone that the entire
universe functions. Through His delegation of power, all the devatās
perform their respective roles; thus, the eyes perceive and the ears hear, with
everything moving exactly as it is has to move. Under His supreme mandate,
every element of creation fulfills its purpose. No one possesses the capacity
to transgress His order. For instance, should one touch fire, even without
prior knowledge, the fire will invariably burn; such is the nature of His
divine order. He is the one whose law cannot be violated without receiving the
inevitable result prescribed by the order itself.
Residing within all bhūtas and across all lokas
as the antaryāmī Īśvara, the cetana Ātmā, through the power of
His māyā, yamayati—He ordains and rules. Out of the awe of His
supreme mandate, the wind maintains its constant motion, and the sun rises
daily in the eastern sky without ever deviating from its course. Agni
and Indra fulfill their designated roles, and Mr̥tyu, the Lord of
death, carries out his functions with unceasing diligence. It is not fear in a
worldly sense, but rather the inexorable and precise divine order that compels
each planet to remain steadfastly in its own orbit.
He is paramaṁ mahad-brahma. The word Brahman
signifies that which is limitless and big; thus, mahat brahma indicates
that He is greater than the greatest, with nothing existing beyond Him.
Everything is contained within that reality, for there is absolutely nothing
apart from It. Furthermore, He is parama, revealed by the Śruti
as satyaṁ jñānam anantam—the absolute truth of all existence and
limitless in every respect.
He alone is parāyaṇam, the ultimate refuge and the
final destination. The inclusion of the word parama alongside parāyaṇam
signifies that it is the final destination where the journey of the jīva
come to an end, from which there is no return. Ordinarily, every end serves
merely as a point of departure for a new beginning, and every destination
becomes a starting point for further pursuits. For instance, if a person
attains svargaloka, that sphere itself becomes the point from which one
must eventually return to martya-loka. What, then, is the final
destination? It must be that from which, once reached, there is no coming back.
That is solely para-brahman, which is none other than oneself. If one
has to travel to reach a place, one must inevitably return; yet, since the
destination is one’s own essential nature, one does not truly go anywhere, and
consequently, there is no coming back.
When the ultimate goal is none other than one’s own
essential nature, yet you seek to attain it, such a gain can be accomplished
only through knowledge. Indeed, if the individual were truly separate from the
Lord, then Īśvara would be limited. Therefore, the Lord is extolled as parāyaṇa;
He is the final end, gaining which one recognizes one’s own identity with the
Lord. This is the greatest of all human achievements, for being limitless,
there remains nothing further to be accomplished.
Through the repeated use of the word parama
throughout these verses, every relative and finite reality is negated. Thus,
the one who is paramaṁ tejaḥ—the most exalted light, paramaṁ tapaḥ—the
supreme Ruler, and paramaṁ brahma—the limitless Reality, is that very
Lord who is the paramaṁ parāyaṇam, the ultimate refuge of all beings.
This is the final destination said Yudhiṣṭhira.
Om Tat Sat
