15.6 No sun lights it Krishna speaks
न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः
यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम
na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śhaśhāṅko na pāvakaḥ
yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama
The sun does not light it, nor the moon, nor fire. Having gone there, one does not return. That is my highest dwelling.
Explanation
Not lit by the sun, the moon, or fire.
Three sources of light named and refused — and the chapter will hand all three back in 15.12 as borrowed from him. Here the point is that the highest dwelling is not illuminated by anything, because it is what illumination is.
Then the closing clause, stated plainly: that is my own dwelling. The impersonal description and the personal claim again placed side by side.
Word by word
- na
- neither
- tat
- that
- bhāsayate
- illumine
- sūryaḥ
- the sun
- na
- nor
- śhaśhāṅkaḥ
- the moon
- na
- nor
- pāvakaḥ
- fire
- yat
- where
- gatvā
- having gone
- na
- never
- nivartante
- they return
- tat
- that
- dhāma
- abode
- paramam
- supreme
- mama
- mine
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