यान्यनवद्यानि कर्माणि तानि सेवितव्यानि नो इतराणि ।
यान्यस्माकं सुचरितानि तानि त्वयोपास्यानि नो इतराणि ।
yāny anavadyāni karmāṇi tāni sevitavyāni no itarāṇi |
yāny asmākaṁ sucaritāni tāni tvayopāsyāni no itarāṇi |
(Taittirīya Upaniṣad: 1.11.2–3)
“Those acts which are unobjectionable are to be practiced, and not others. Those which are fine deeds of ours are to be honored by you, and not others.”
Commentary
This instruction is part of a set of instructions given by an ācārya to his students at the time of their graduation from guru-kula, whereafter they will leave and live the rest of their life in accord with what they have learned from the ācārya. The purport is that the ācārya’s instruction is not simply for his students to do whatever it is he has done or said, but rather that they should understand the intended meaning of the śāstra they have learned from him and act in accord with the intention of the śāstra. In this instruction, the ācārya is openly acknowledging that even his own actions or the actions of other persons learned in śāstra may not always be perfectly in line with the intention of śāstra and that a disciple is fundamentally instructed not to blindly follow whatever the ācārya or other persons recognized as learned in the śāstra may do or say, but rather to personally strive to understand the intention of the śāstra and act and speak in accord with that.
This purport has been shown by commentators on this Upaniṣād, such as Śrī Śaṅkarācāryapāda and Śrī Rāmānujācāryapāda.
yāny api ca anyāni anavadyāni aninditāni śiṣṭācāra-lakṣaṇāni karmāṇi, tāni sevitavyāni kartavyāni tvayā | no na kartavyāni itarāṇi sāvadyāni śiṣṭa-kṛtāny api | yāny asmākam ācāryāṇāṁ sucaritāni śobhana-caritāni āmnāyādy-aviruddhāni, tāny eva tvayā upāsyāni adṛṣṭārthāny anuṣṭheyāni niyamena kartavyānīty etat | no itarāṇi viparītāny ācārya-kṛtāny api |
(Bhāṣya of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya)
“Also, those (tāni) other acts (karmāṇi) which (yāni) are unobjectionable (anavadyāni), that is, non-condemned, and possessed of the characteristic of being the conduct of the learned (śiṣṭācāra), are to be practiced (sevitavyāni), that is, performed, by you. Others (itarāṇi), that is, those that are objectionable, even [if they are] those performed by the learned, are not (no) [to be practiced by you]. Only those (tāni) fine deeds (sucaritāni), that is, excellent deeds that are not contrary to the āmnāya (śāstric tradition) and so forth, of ours (asmākam), that is, of the ācāryas, are to be honored, that is, are [to be known to be] possessed of an unseen object [i.e., lead to otherworldly attainment] and to be performed by you, meaning, to be done with resolve [i.e., as a regulated practice]. Others (itarāṇi), that is, those [actions] that are contrary [to actions that are in accord with the intention of the śāstric tradition], even [if they are] those performed by ācāryas, are not (no).”
yāny asmākam iti śiṣṭācāreṣv api śruti-smṛti-virodha-śūnyatayā yāni sucaritāni tāny eva holākādīni grāhyāṇi, na lobhādi-mūla-caritāni ity arthaḥ |
(Bhāṣya of Śrī Rāmānujācārya)
“In regard to yāny asmākam … [i.e., the second statement in the aforementioned passage], even within the conduct of the learned (śiṣṭācāra), only those [actions] which are fine deeds by virtue of being free from contrariety to the Śruti and Smṛti, such as [the act of observing] Holākā [i.e., the festival known as Holi], are to be followed; deeds the basis of which is greed and so on are not. This is the meaning.”
The principle enjoined in this passage from the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, that of following the guru solely on the basis of the directives of the śāstra, has also been taught by Śrī Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura Mahāśaya in his Prema-bhakti-candrikā (100):
śrī-guru bhakata-jana, tāhāra caraṇe mana,
āropiyā kathā-anusāre |
sakhīra sarvathā mata, ha-iyā tāhāra yūtha,
sadāi vihare vraja-pure ||
“Śrī guru and the bhaktas [alt., śrī guru in the form of a bhakta]—fixing the mind at their feet according to the kathā, completely [following] the way of the sakhīs, and being [a part] of their group, always sport in the abode of Vraja.”
Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda comments:
kathā-anusāre—śāstra-kathānusāreṇa |
“According to the kathā” (kathā-anusāre) means according to the words (kathā) of the śāstra.”