This sutta is a unique fusion of high philosophy and cosmic drama, positing an unthinkable alliance between what in Christian terms would be called God and the Devil. Nonetheless, due to a plethora of textual difficulties and uncertain readings, caution in interpretation would be wise.

SN 6.4, which otherwise opens with the same events, is simply set in Sāvatthī with no mention of Ukkaṭṭhā, which is the same setting as MN 1, with which this sutta shares some themes. Both critique the sophisticated philosophy of the Kosalan brahmins, and hence are set in the town of their leader Pokkharasāti (DN 3:1.2.1).

Baka maintains the same wrong view at SN 6.4, where his past lives are revealed. The word baka means “stork” or “crane”. To search for a high divinity of this name in Brahmanism is to be disappointed, for instead we find a man-eating demon (rakṣasa) in bird form whose fate is to be slain by the hero Bhīma (or Kṛṣṇa). Pali stories tell of how the stork dozes peacefully as if meditating by the water, while in reality he is trying to fool fish into approaching so he can snatch them up (Ja 38, Ja 236). A cunning, large, white, high-flying, predatory bird who fakes meditation is a fitting image for the antagonist of these suttas.

The use of the impersonal pronoun (idaṁ) to refer to the self as divinity is a characteristic Upaniṣadic idiom: “you are that” (tat tvam asi, Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.8.7); “that self is divinity” (ayam ātmā brahma, Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 1.2); “I am that” (so’ham asmi, Īśa Upaniṣad 16); “this is that self hidden in all” (eṣa ta ātmā sarvāntaraḥ, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.4.1, etc.); “this, verily, is that” (etad vai tat, Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.1.5). | For idaṁ niccaṁ see eṣa nityo (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.23); for idaṁ dhuvaṁ see etad apramayaṁ dhruvam (4.4.20).

“Good fellow” (mārisa; Sanskrit mārṣa, māriṣa) is a special term of address used by deities and sometimes by kings. The term harks back to Sanskrit mādṛśa, “one like me”, in the sense of having a comparable status.

From this point the text diverges from SN 6.4:4.1.

Māra adopts the boast of Brahmā (DN 1:2.5.2). | It is rare for the Buddha to be addressed as “mendicant” (bhikkhu) and it is probably meant in a slighting sense.

This is a summary of the items in MN 1. | The “ascetics and brahmins” referred to here would include the ancient practitioners of movements such as Jainism, whose rejection of Vedism predates the Buddha.

“With breath cut off” (pāṇupacchedā) is a unique idiom for death in Pali, but compare Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.5.14: prāṇaṁ na vicchindyāt; Atharvaveda 19.58.1c: prāṇo’chinno.

This would be the ancient sages revered in the Vedic tradition.

“Lady Luck” is Siri, later famed as goddess of fortune and prosperity. The same idiom recurs at Thag 8.3:2.1. As to why someone would “fend her off” (see note on MN 37:7.3), Siri (Sanskrit śrī) is identified with Lakṣmī “the undeparting” (Śrī Sūkta 2, lakṣmīmanapagāminīm). Atharva Veda 7.115 opens with, “Fly away wicked Lakṣmī, vanish, fly hence”. Apparently 101 Lakṣmīs attach to a man when born, and the spell chases away the wicked (pāpi) while keeping the good (puṇya). In this case the Pali text does not draw directly from the Veda, as there is no close verbal parallel, and the Pali presents as irrational an action that makes good sense in the context of the Vedic passage. Rather, it would seem, the Pali draws from a more general cultural awareness. | For “falling over a cliff” see DN 12:78.2.

Normally Māra is believed to hold sway over all the sensual realms, while the jhānas (and their corresponding planes of rebirth) are beyond him (MN 25:12.1). Here his reach goes even further, as even the Brahmā realms, while freed from sensuality, are not freed from the attachment to continued existence.

One of Māra’s talents is making people believe that his malign ideas are in fact their own.

Note the use of kasiṇa in the sense “entire”.

The measuring of a Brahmā by their “light” (juti) shows the close connection between divinity and the stars.

MS reads añño kāyo (“another realm”), but the PTS and BJT reading aññe tayo kāyā is supported by the Chinese parallel (MA 78 at T i 548a28). Possibly this change was necessitated by the addition of a fourth realm below.

PTS and BJT have tyāhaṁ (= te ahaṁ), consistent with their plural reading, as opposed to MS’s singular tamahaṁ. This shows that this variation, which is not decided by the commentary, was a deliberate editorial choice.

Here ābhassarā is masculine plural, hence not an adjective of kāyo but a reference to the “gods” of that realm. MS is inconsistent in this point, for below we find subhakiṇho and vehapphalo as singular adjectives, where PTS and BJT consistently use the plural form.

Brahmā also forgets his origins at DN 1:2.2.1.

MS adds a fourth class here, abhibhū (“the Vanquisher”), which is not supported by PTS or BJT, or the Chinese parallel.

This difficult passage directly echoes MN 1:3.3. | Anubhūta has its normal sense of “experiences”, “undergoes” (Thig 10.1:8.2, more commonly paccanubhūta, eg. MN 79:8.1, SN 15.1:1.14). Commentary has appattaṁ, “not attained” (i.e. not within the scope of absorption). | That which “falls within the scope of experience characterized by earth” (yāvatā pathaviyā pathavattena ananubhūtaṁ) is sense experience and the four absorptions; that which does not fall in such a scope are the formless attainments and especially Nibbana. | For nāhosiṁ (prefer over MS nāpahosiṁ) the commentary glosses “grasps”. The sense is that he does not identify. | For abhivadati, compare Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.14, which says that so long as there is the appearance of duality, one sees, hears, smells, “speaks about” (abhivadati), “conceives” (manute), and “cognizes” (vijānāti) particulars. Notice that this employs abhivadati alongside manute, just as abhivadati in the Pali appears alongside where maññati appears in MN 1:3.3.

This whole passage seems designed to culminate with “experience characterized by all” (sabbassa sabbattena ananubhūtaṁ) in answer to Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.5.19, which says that “this self that experiences all is divinity” (ayam ātmā brahma sarvānubhūḥ). In surpassing even the “experience of all” the Buddha unequivocally asserts his superiority to the Upaniṣadic teaching.

The close -ti in MS edition indicates the end of Baka’s speech, but this is not found in PTS or BJT editions. If the close -ti is accepted here, then the next paragraph is spoken by the Buddha and it should also end with close -ti, but no edition has this. We would also expect the Buddha to use a vocative, but there is none. The only reading that is both coherent and attested is that Baka’s speech begins here and ends when he says he will vanish. This is supported by the Chinese parallel, which while lacking an exact equivalent, attributes a similar claim to Brahmā (MA 78 at T i 548b11).

These two lines, which appear to be an independent, free-floating expression of the Upaniṣadic view, are quoted at DN 11:85.18. Baka is asserting that what the Buddha has described is none other than the domain of “infinite consciousness”, which is one of the highest attainments attributed to Brahmanical sages. | “Where no form appears” (anidassanaṁ) here is a synonym for “formless” (see eg. MN 21:14.8, “space is formless and invisible”, ākāso arūpī anidassano). Normally the colors and images seen in the “form” absorptions are described as “visible” (eg. DN 16:3.29.1), so this indicates the formless attainments.

Since he believes the dimension of infinite consciousness is that which the Buddha speaks of, he mistakenly assumes he has the power.

This is a dramatic expression of the philosophical gulf between the Buddha and Baka. Baka’s power manifests as “light”, whereas the Buddha demonstrates invisibility.

The Buddha shifts the focus from the attainment of a state of exalted consciousness to the cessation of existence.

Following Bodhi and Critical Pali Dictionary in reading vibhavesi. | The ca here answers to the last line of the verse.

The verb upanesi here is used above at MN 49:5.12 in the opposite case, where Māra “presents” Brahmā’s assembly to the Buddha.

There is no record of Baka’s conversion.