'Sabbatopabham' - A potential Vedic parallel?

[Ravi]

Hi,

This post is not to say anything on the interpretation of the famous phrase ‘vinnanam anidassanam anantam sabbatopabham’.

I only want to draw attention to the fact that I stumbled across a phrase in the Satapatha Brahmana (a Vedic text) which seems to help clarify the meaning of ‘sabbatopabham’.

This passage is a parallel to the more famous ‘Sandilya Vidya’ in the Chandogya Upanishad but the wordings are slightly different.

Here is the passage from the Satapatha Brahmana with its early English translation:

“10.6.3.[1]
satyam brahmetyupāsīta atha khalu kratumayo’yam puruṣaḥ sa
yāvatkraturayamasmāllokātpraityevaṃkraturhāmuṃ lokam pretyābhisambhavati
10.6.3.[2]
sa ātmānamupāsīta manomayam prāṇaśarīram bhārūpamākāśātmānaṃ
kāmarūpiṇam manojavasaṃ satyasaṃkalpaṃ satyadhṛtiṃ sarvagandhaṃ sarvarasaṃ sarvā anu diśaḥ prabhūtaṃ sarvamidamabhyāptamavākkamanādaraṃ yathā vrīhirvā yavo vā śyāmāko
vā śyāmākataṇḍulo vaivamayamantarātmanpuruṣo hiraṇmayo yathā
jyotiradhūmamevaṃ jyāyāndivo jyāyānākāśājjyāyānasyai pṛthivyai jyāyāntsarvebhyo
bhūtebhyaḥ sa prāṇasyātmaiṣa ma ātmaitamita ātmānam pretyābhisambhaviṣyāmīti
yasya syādaddhā na vicikitsāstīti ha smāha śāṇḍilya evametaditi”

Source: Satapatha-Brahmana 10

Translation:

“1. Let him meditate upon the ‘true Brahman.’ Now, man here, indeed, is possessed of understanding, and according to how great his understanding is when he departs this world, so does he, on passing away, enter yonder world.

2. Let him meditate on the Self, which is made up of intelligence, and endowed with a body of spirit, with a form of light, and with an etherial nature, which changes its shape at will, is swift as thought, of true resolve, and true purpose, which consists of all sweet odours and tastes, which holds sway over all the regions and pervades this whole universe, which is speechless and indifferent ;even as a grain of rice, or a grain of barley, or a grain of millet, or the smallest granule of millet, so is this golden Purusha in the heart; even as a smokeless light, it is greater than the sky, greater than the ether, greater than the earth, greater than all existing things;–that self of the spirit (breath) is my self: on passing away from hence I shall obtain that self. Verily, whosoever has this trust, for him there is no uncertainty. Thus spake Sândilya, and so it is.”

Source: Satapatha Brahmana Part IV (SBE43): Tenth Kâ<I&g... | Sacred Texts Archive

Discussion:

The phrase in question is “sarvā anu diśaḥ prabhūtaṃ” which the translation gives as “holds sway over all the regions”. I rather think ‘prabhutam’ is used in the sense of ‘abounding’ in all directions. This is one of its dictionary meanings.

Incidentally, ‘sabbatopabham’ is interpreted in the attakatha in one place as “sabbato vā tathā pabhūtameva, na katthaci natthīti sabbatopabhaṃ” = “everywhere abounding, not absent anywhere” (my translation).
This is offered as the second interpretation after the more common “sabbatopabhanti sabbaso pabhāsampannaṃ” referring to luminosity.

The same word “prabhutam” of sanskrit which is ‘pabhutam’ in Pali is used in the commentary in a similar context of pervading everywhere..

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence; But I found it interesting enough to share in this forum.

[Sphairos]

It is a very nice finding and a possible parallel / source!

[sujato]

Interesting passage, it’s very Upanishadic in tone and doctrine. If you look at the preceding and following sections of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, they revert to more familiar discussions of ritual symbolism, which is entirely absent here. The footnote references Chāndogya 3.14, where we find a very similar passage, also attributed to Śāṇḍilya.

The sense of “abounding” or “pervading” in Pali is normally paribhāvita. We don’t seem to find pabhūta or pabhaṁ in this sense elsewhere, but it could be a poetic variant. What we do find, though, is the idea of deep meditation creating a pervasive abundance, most characteristically in the passage on the brahmaviharas. And at somewhere like MN 99:24.4 this is compared to a horn-blower who makes himself heard in every direction.

Returning to the Vedic context, there seems to be a Rig Vedic phrase that’s relevant, RV_7.77.3c, viśvam anu prabhūtā. Notice the use of anu together with a word for “all” (viśva instead of ŚB’s sarva).

Here’s the relevant line (Jamison/Brereton translation):

Dawn has just been seen, decorated with (the sun’s) rays, bringing brilliant bounties, projecting through all (the world).

As so often, the Rig Veda is employing solar imagery, which has echoed through to the Upaniṣadic notions of the Self and consciousness. Here the sense “projecting” is similar to “abounding”, but as the brilliance of the Sun, it’s not far in meaning from both “ruling over” and “illuminating”. The Sun “projecting” over the whole world is simply a way of describing how it “radiates” over the whole world.

Poetically, these senses are all part of the cluster of meanings associated with the Sun and later the transcendent consciousness. Normally, of course, the Suttas strive to eliminate such ambiguities, as when they speak of the “cessation of consciousness”. Nonetheless, given the amount of ink spilled over the years on this one word, it’s not unreasonable to posit that here, in a line Buddhist poetry, the text allowed itself to play with a Vedic ambiguity.