SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
sargANAm Adhir anthaS cha madhyam chaivAham arjuna |
adhyAthmavidhyA vidhyAnAm vAdha: pravadhathAm aham ||
word-by-word meaning
arjuna – Oh arjuna!
sargANAm – among the created entities
Adhi: – the creators (who are the cause)
antha: – the destroyers (at the end)
madhyam cha – those who sustain (in between creation and destruction)
aham Eva – I am only
vidhyAnAm – among vidhyA (knowledge)
adhyAthma vidhyA – adhyAthma vidhyA, which is knowledge about the AthmA (self/soul) and paramAthmA
aham Eva – I am only
pravadhathAm – among those debaters (who do three types of debate namely jalpa, vidhaNdA and vAdha)
aham – I am
vAdha: – argument (which is aimed at establishing the truth)
Simple Translation
Oh arjuna! Among the created entities, I am the creators (who are the cause), the destroyers (at the end) and those who sustain (in between creation and destruction); among vidhyA (knowledge), I am the adhyAthma vidhyA, which is knowledge about the AthmA (self/soul) and paramAthmA; among those debaters (who do three types of debate namely jalpa, vidhaNdA and vAdha), I am argument.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘I am, Arjuna! the Beginning, the End, also the Middle of creation. Of sciences, (I am) the Science of ātma; of the debaters, I am the argument.’
Creation means the sum of things created. Of this, I am the Beginning, i.e., Cause; i.e., I Myself am the Creator of everything created, then and there.
Similarly I am their End, i.e., I am Myself the Destroyer, then and there, of whatever things come to be destroyed.
Similarly am I the Middle meaning Protector; i.e., whatever things are being protected, then and there, I am the Protector.
Vāda is right argument employed in order to arrive at truth or truthful decision, differing from what are called Jalpa[1. Jalpa and Vitandā are both absurd ways of arguing, beyond even the rules of fallacy. Monier Williams describes Jalpa as ‘the argument in which a disputant tries to assert his own opinion and to refute that of his adversary by overbearing reply or wrangling rejoinder. Vitandā consists in idly carping at the arguments or assertions of another without attempting to establish the opposite side of the question.] and Vitandā[2. Jalpa and Vitandā are both absurd ways of arguing, beyond even the rules of fallacy. Monier Williams describes Jalpa as ‘the argument in which a disputant tries to assert his own opinion and to refute that of his adversary by overbearing reply or wrangling rejoinder. Vitandā consists in idly carping at the arguments or assertions of another without attempting to establish the opposite side of the question.].
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