SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
kAraNam guNasangO’sya sadhasadhyOnijanmasu
word-by-word meaning
asya – for this purusha (AthmA)
sath asath yOni janmasu – for being born in higher births (such as dhEva (celestial)) and lower births (such as animal, plant)
kAraNam – cause
guNa sanga: – the attachment towards joy and sorrow which are caused by sathva, rajas and thamas qualities
Simple Translation
For this purusha, the cause for being born in higher births (such as dhEva (celestial)) and lower births (such as animal, plant) is the attachment towards joy and sorrow which are caused by sathva, rajas and thamas qualities.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Attachment to qualities (gunas) is the cause of births in good and evil wombs.’
This soul, born in a series of retrospective births among devas, man etc., —all variations of matter-forms,— delights in (or evinces attachment for) guṇa-sated pleasures etc., varying in their sātvika and other characteristics according to the incidents of such births; and in so doing launches into activities, good or evil, in order to procure for itself such pleasures. In order then to reap the fruits of such good or evil acts, it is inevitably born again in good or evil wombs (respectively). Born, he acts again; acting, he is born again. This circumvolution never stops till he will take to the culture of the virtues: ‘Reverence etc.,’ (vide, Gi: XIII-7 to 11) leading to soul-acquisition.
Hence, it is declared:
‘Attachment to guṇas is the cause of births in good and evil wombs.’[1. Cp: Bh: Gi: III-27; Tat: Tra: Chit 34: ‘Guṇa-samsarga kṛitam;’ Yoga Sū: II-17; ‘Drashtṛi &c;’ Vish: Pur: I-2-1 and VI-7-22, and Bhāg: VI-17-29. ‘Dehinām &c.’]
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