- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Om, Oh Gods, may we, with our ears, hear what is auspicious; Oh ye! fit to be worshipped, may we, with our eyes, see what is auspicious; may we enjoy the life allotted to us by the gods, offering our praise with our bodies strong of limb. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Om, adoration to the Paramâtman, This Brâhmana is begun for the purpose of explaining at length the drift that has been expressed by the mantras. The story of the sage questioning and the sage replying is for the purpose of eulogising knowledge. Thus it praises knowledge, by saying that it should be acquired by men who have been observing Brahmacharya and residing in the house of the preceptor for a year, and who have performed tapas, and that it should be imparted by preceptors but little short of omniscient, like Pippalâda, etc., and not by anybody whosoever; and by the indication of such means as Brahmacharya their observance is directed; Sukesa by name and son of Bhâradvâja; Saibyah, son of Sibi; Satyakâma by name; Sauryâyani ] the son of Sûrya (sun) is Saurya and his son is Sauryâyani. This form (with a long vowel ending) is Vedic license; Gârgya, one born of the family of Gârga; Kausalya by name. Âsvalâyana, the son of Asvala; Bhârgava, one born of the family of Bhrigu; strictly the gôtrâpatyam of Bhrigu (vide, Pânini); Vaidarbhi, born in Vidarbha; Kabandhî by name; Kâtyâyana, son of Kâtya; his great-grandfather being alive, the suffix denoting uva pratyayam is used (vide, Pânini). All these intent on Brahman, i.e., believing in the Apara Brahman as supreme and devoted to its practice seeking after the highest Brahman, i.e., wishing to attempt, as they could, to attain that eternal knowable, approached the worshipful preceptor Pippalâda, with loads of samit in their hands, for the purpose of knowing that, thinking that he would explain all to them. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

The seer said to them, who had thus approached him, though you have already performed tapas by controlling your senses, still again, live another year here especially careful about Brahmacharya and faith and well intent on serving your preceptor; then, as you please, i.e., without restraining your desire, ask questions, every one of you, on subjects on which you may wish to know. If we know what is asked about (the word ‘if’ is intended to show that the preceptor was not conceited, not that there was any doubt as to his knowledge, as is apparent from his answering the questions), we shall explain to you all you ask about. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Then, i.e., after a year, Kabandhi having approached Kâtyâyana asked ‘Oh, worthy master, whence do these creatures, Brahmins and the rest, arise?’ This question is intended to elicit what results are attained and what path is gone through, by combining Aparavidya and Karma. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

To him who thus interrogated, he replied for solving the doubt. Wishing to create creatures out of himself, the lord of creatures, the âtman of all thinking to create the universe, acting according to the word filled with the thought, being Hiranyagarbha born at the beginning of this Kalpa and being the lord of all created beings and things immoveable and moveable, revolved in his mind the knowledge acquired in the previous birth, the drift of which is revealed by the srutis. Having thus brooded over the knowledge, imparted by the srutis produced a pair, a couple—necessary for creation,—the moon, i.e., food and prâna, fire (sun), i.e., the eater. Thinking that agni (sun) and the moon, i e., (the eater and the food) respectively would create diverse creatures, he created the sun and the moon, in the order beginning with anda (globe). (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Here the sun is prâna, the eater, the fire the moon is the food, the moon is, indeed, food. This pair, the eater and the food really one, different aspects of the lord of creatures. The distinction is really one of secondary and primary. How? all this gross and subtle, is, indeed, in one aspect food, both having form and formless, the eater and the food. Therefore, when a dinner is made, i.e., what has form and what has not; (the former) is food being eaten by what is formless. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Similarly, though formless the prâna, i.e., the eater, is all, and food also is prâna; how? Now the sun rising, i.e., becoming perceivable by the eyes of living beings, lights up the east with his light; by thus pervading all with his light makes all the lives in the east one with his own self, all living beings being pervaded by his all-pervading rays of light; similarly also, when he lights the south, the west, the north, the nadir, the zenith, the inter-space, the cardinal points and those between them, he bathes all lives in all those directions in his all-pervading light. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

This is he, the eater, life, the âtman of all, Assuming all forms, being the âtman of the universe, prana and fire. This is the eater, who rises every day making all cardinal points his own. This, now explained, has also been told by the mantra also. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Visvarûpam, having all forms; Harinam, shining; jâtavêdasam, omniscient; the highest stay] to whom all lives cling; sole-light] the eye, as it were of all living beings, having no second. Tapantam, giving heat. This sun, their own âtman, the knowers of Brahman, the seers have known. Who is it that they have known? Having a thousand rays, having many rays; existing in a hundred forms, i.e., existing in many forms in different living beings. This sun, the life of all creation, rises. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

How the pair—the moon, having form, the food and the prana, the formless, the eater, the sun, could create all creatures is explained. This pair alone is time, the year is the lord of creatures, because the year is accomplished by the pair which together are the lord of creatures; the year being a combination of tithîs, days and nights accomplished by the moon and the sun, is said to be of the nature of the pair, food and eater being no other than they. How is that? Of the year the lord of creatures, are two paths, the southern and the northern. These are the two well-known paths, each extending over six months, by which the sun goes south and north, distributing worlds among those who perform karma alone and those who combine karma with worship. The second tadu, i.e., the tadu in ‘tadupâsate’ is an adverbial adjunct. Those among the Brâhmins and the rest who follow only what is done, as Ishtam (sacrifices) and pûrtam (pious acts) and not what is not made, i.e., nothing eternal, attain the world of the moon, i.e., the world of food, a portion of the lord of creatures, who is both food and eater, the worlds of the moon being in the nature of one made, i.e., not eternal. They, after consumption there of what has been done, return, i.e., enter this world or something worse, as is said. As these devotees, i.e., the house-holders, the seers of heaven, desirous of offspring achieve as the fruit by the sacrificial and pious acts, the moon, i.e., the lord of creatures in the form of food; therefore, they attain what was performed by them, i.e., the food, i.e., the moon to which the southern route leads. This is the food, the moon, to which the route of the manes leads. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

By the northern route, they reach the sun, a part of the lord of creation, the prana, the eater. By what? by tapas, i.e., by control over the senses, more particularly by Brahmacharya, by faith and by knowledge regarding the self of the lord of creation, i.e., worship of Prajâpati; seeking after the self, i.e., the prana, the sun, the stay of the universe, i.e., realising the sun in the form ‘I am he,’ they gain, i.e., reach the sun. This is certainly the common abode of all lives, their support; this is immortal, i.e., indestructible and, therefore, fearless, not full of fear of increase or diminution like the moon. This is the highest goal of those who resort to mere worship and of those who combine karma and worship. They da not return from hence, as followers of mere karma do: Hence, this is, the obstacle of the ignorant; for, the ignorant obstructed by the sun do not attain the year, i.e., the sun, i.e., the prana. He, the year, in the nature of time, is an obstacle to the ignorant About that, is the following verse. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Having five feet] the five seasons are, as it were, the feet of the sun which is no other than the year. With these seasons as ‘feet,’ the year moves. This analogy makes but one of the hêmanta and the sisira seasons. Father] he is called father because he is the creator of all. Having twelve forms] the twelve months are the forms, i.e., limbs or component parts of the year. In a place higher than Dyulôka (sky), i.e., in the third heaven. Purishinam, full of water. They say] those who know Time say. The same, some others who know Time say, is omniscient; and that the world is fixed to the wheel of Time, ever on the move, in the form of seven horses and having six seasons. They say that all the universe is fixed there as spokes in a wheel. Whether having five feet and twelve limbs, or whether possessed of seven wheels and six spokes, in any view, the year, of the nature of Time, the lord of creation, in the form of the sun and the moon, is the cause of the universe. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

The lord of creation, i.e., the year, in which this universe inheres, ends in its component part, the month. The month, indeed, the lord of creation above described, is also in the nature of a pair; of the lord of creation, i.e., the month, one portion, i.e., the dark half, is food, i.e., the moon. The other part, i.e., the light half, is the sun, the eater, the fire. Because, they see everything as prâna, marked by the light half; therefore, these seers who see the prâna, though performing sacrifices in the dark half, perform them, only in the light half, as they do not see the dark half, as distinct from prâna (the light half). But others see not the prâna and only see the unseeing dark half. Those others perform sacrifices, only in the dark half, though they do them in the light half. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

And that lord of creation, i.e., the month, culminates in his component parts, the day and night as before explained. Of him, the day is, indeed, prâna; the eater, the fire; the night, indeed, is food, as before explained. Those spill their prâna, i.e., the day, that is, waste it by separating it from the selves. Who? Those ignorant men, who by day have carnal intercourse with woman, who is the cause of sexual pleasures. This being so, the prohibition that it should not be done is a rule laid down by the way. If they have intercourse by night, in season, that is Brahmacharyam indeed. That being praiseworthy, the mandate that one should approach his wife during rita, in season, is also, by the way, enjoined. What is relevant here is this, i.e., the lord of creation in the form of day and night becomes such as corn, grain, etc. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Thus modified in this order, food is the lord of creation. How? From that is semen virile, the seed in man, the cause of creation. From that, sprinkled in woman, these creatures, such as men, etc., are produced. What was asked for, from whence are creatures produced, has thus been determined, that these creatures are produced by couples, beginning with the sun and the moon and ending with the day and the night, through food, blood and semen virile. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

Thus, this being so. Of those householders (Vai and Ha are two particles, remembrances of well-known things), who obey the vow of Prajâpati (lord of creation), i.e., who approach their wives in due season, their visible fruits (in this world) is this. What? They produce a couple, i.e., son and daughter. The invisible fruits (pertaining to the future world) are also to them alone, performing sacrificial and pious acts and making gifts. This Brahmalôka, i.e., the world of the moon, to which the route of the manes leads, is to those in whom tapas, i.e., the vow of a snâtaka, etc., Brahmacharyam, i.e., abstinence from sexual intercourse except in season, and truth, i.e., abstinence from falsehood abide always without any deviation. (Ⅴ)

- Shri Shankaracharia commentary :

But to whom is that state of lower Brahman marked by the sun, reached by the northern route, untainted, i.e., pure, not tainted like the Brahmalôka of the moon, subject to increase and diminution, is explained. They in whom fraud does not exist, as necessarily it does in householders, resulting in many conflicting modes of conduct; those for whom-falsehood is not unavoidable, as it is in the case of householders on account of play, mirth, etc.; similarly, those in whom there is no dissimulation as in householders. Dissimulation consists in disclosing one’s self in one manner and acting otherwise. It is of the nature of duplicity in behaviour. To those men duly fitted, i.e., the Brahmachârin, the hermit and the sanyâsin in whom, from absence of cause, these faults, such as duplicity, etc., do not exist, is this untainted Brahmalôka, according to the means they employ. Thus, this is the goal of those who combine karma with knowledge (worship). The Brahmalôka previously explained and marked by the moon is for those who perform mere karma. (Ⅴ)