A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c6.s3.t1.2.2

c6.s3.t1.2.2

In a passage of the Chhāndogya Upanishad, the soul is understood as not of the size of a thumb, but of the measure of a span (S. 17. c). The soul is here called "prādeśamātra" and "abhivimāna." These words have occasioned a very great difficulty to the commentators. Śaṅkarāchārya, who understands the soul as all-pervading, cannot bring himself to be reconciled to the statement that the soul should be merely a span long, prādeśamātra.¹ Now the word prādeśa is really an important word. In the Amarakosha,² it is understood as meaning a span, as also in the Medinīkosha.³ Śaṅkarāchārya himself knew that the word prādeśa was "elsewhere" used in the sense of a span,⁴ which his scholiast Ānandagiri explains as being the meaning of the word in Jābālaśruti. According to Śaṅkara, the word prādeśa elsewhere signified not merely a span’s length but the span’s length from the forehead to the chin. This is a very significant fact as we shall presently see. In the Mahābhārata,¹ Bhīmasena has been described as being a span’s length taller than his younger brother Arjuna. In the Maitri Upanishad,² the word prādeśa has manifestly the same meaning. Under these circumstances it is but natural that the word prādeśa in the passage which we are discussing may be taken to mean a span, especially, as Śaṅkara points out, the span’s length between the forehead and the chin. The word “abhivimāna” has also caused a great deal of difficulty.