यः शून्यवादिनां शून्यो भासको योऽर्कतेजसाम् । वक्ता मन्ता ऋतं भोक्ता द्रष्टा कर्ता सदैव सः ॥ ७ ॥
yaḥ śūnyavādināṁ śūnyō bhāsakō yō’rkatējasām | vaktā mantā ṛtaṁ bhōktā draṣṭā kartā sadaiva saḥ || 7 ||
Translation
emptiness to those who teach the void; who is the light of the very splendours of the sun; the speaker, the thinker, the truth, the enjoyer, the seer, the doer: he always is.
Word by word
- yaḥ
- who
- śūnya
- the void
- vādināṁ
- to those who teach
- śūnyō
- (śūnyaḥ) emptiness
- bhāsakō
- (bhāsakaḥ) the light
- yō
- (yaḥ) who
- arka
- of the sun
- tējasām
- of the splendours
- vaktā
- the speaker
- mantā
- the thinker
- ṛtaṁ
- the truth
- bhōktā
- the enjoyer
- draṣṭā
- the seer
- kartā
- the doer
- sadā
- always
- ēva
- indeed
- saḥ
- he
Meaning
To those who teach that all is void (śūnyavāda), he is the void: what is left when every thing has been denied. Then the list turns from names to functions. He lights the sun's light itself, as the Kaṭha Upaniṣad says: by his shining all this shines. Every act in us, speaking, thinking, enjoying, seeing, doing, has him as its subject; the commentary adds that he is the one who always speaks the truth and thinks it. One can test it quietly: in every act there is a knowing that the act is going on, and that knowing does not itself come and go with the act.