SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
manmanA bhava madhbhakthO madhyAjI mAm namaskuru |
mAm Evaishyasi sathyam thE pratijAnE priyO’si mE ||
word-by-word meaning
manmanA bhava – have your heart focussed on me constantly;
madhbhaktha: bhava – (moreover) have deep love for me;
madhyAjI bhava – (moreover) become my worshipper;
mAm – me
namaskuru – offer obeisances (with all your three faculties viz mind, speech and body);
mAm Evaishyasi – (by being like this) you will certainly reach me;
sathyam thE prathijAnE – I promise that this is the truth;
(because)
mE priya: asi – you are dear to me
Simple Translation
Have your heart focussed on me constantly; (moreover) have deep love for me; (that too) become my worshipper; (moreover) offer obeisances to me (with all your three faculties viz mind, speech and body); (by being like this) you will certainly reach me; I promise that this is the truth; (because) you are dear to me.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Be you of My thought, be My lover, My worshipper; do you prostrate to Me. To Myself you will come. In truth I promise (this) unto you; (for) you are sweet unto Me.'[1. Cp: Krishṇa giving this assurance to Draupadi: ‘Dyauh patet, pṛithivī śiryet, himavān śakati bhavet śushyet toyanidhiḥ Krishṇe! na me mogham vacho bhavet.’]
Manmanā bhava = ‘Be you etc.,’ expresses a Divine Command embodied in such Vedanta texts as:
‘This Transcendent Purusha, of the radiance of the Sun, Who is beyond tamas (matter), I know by meditation. Knowing Him thus, one becomes here immortal. There exists no other Road for Immortality.’[2. Tait: Araṇ: III-12: ‘Vedāham etam etc.’]
Be you of My thought: is with reference to one’s thought being of that kind which is implied by such expressions as vedana, dhyāna, upāsana etc., signifying an unbroken succession of memory, intensely made vivid, so much so as to approach the reality of a sensible experience; and this joined to deep devotion, —all directed to Me (as the Subject of this meditation.)
Mad-bhaktaḥ = My lover; inasmuch as I am to you dear, make your constant thought (or meditation) of Me intensely loving, (or full of the exuberance of your emotional nature.)
Mad-yāji = My worshipper. Yajana=pūjana=ārādhanam=worship (and therefore not a mere dry formal observance of ceremonial ritual such as Jyotishṭhoma, —Tāt-chan.) ‘My worshipper,’ should be read with ‘My lover’, implying that the worship or services rendered to Me should be full of love. Worship means the carrying out of the entire round of services which are incumbent on a liege (to his Sovereign and Master).
Mām namas-kuru:, namas = namanam=bending, implying the utmost attitude of reverence, love and humility to Me. Prostrate to Me is thus not a mere physical genuflection; but the physical is to constitute outwardly the sincere expression of the love etc., felt within, —Tāt-chan).
If your conduct be like this, then will you come to Myself. This is a Truth of which I give you assurance; about which I make you promise. It is not to be interpreted as a mere hollow persuasion addressed to you, by reason that you are My beloved. Was it not already stated thus?: ‘I am verily dear to the wise, and he too is dear to Me.’ (Gi: VII-17).
Where there is in his heart much love for Me, much love on My part there is for him; so much so that I should hardly bear separation from him; and therefore will join him to Myself. ‘You shall come to Myself’: is then Truth, and nothing but Truth, for which I pledge and vouch in the most positive manner.
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