SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
dhu:kham ithyEva yath karma kAyaklESabhayAth thyajEth |
sa kruthvA rAjasam thyAgam naiva thyAgapalam labhEth ||
word-by-word meaning
kAya klESa bhayAth – fearing the trouble caused for the body
dhu:kham ithi Eva – due to being sorrowful
karma – karmas such as nithya karma (daily rituals), naimiththika karma (periodical rituals) etc
yath thyajEth – if abandoned
sa: – he
rAjasam thyAgam kruthvA – due to abandoning by the influence of rajO guNam (passion)
thyAga palam – knowledge which is the result of sAthvika thyAgam (renunciation of an act out of sathva guNam)
na Eva labhEth – will never attain.
Simple Translation
If one abandons karmas such as nithya karma (daily rituals), naimiththika karma (periodical rituals) etc, fearing the trouble caused for the body and due to [those karmas] being sorrowful, due to abandoning by the influence of rajO guNam (passion), he will never attain the knowledge which is the result of sAthvika thyAgam (renunciation of an act out of sathva guNam).
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Whoso, from fear of bodily fatigue, abandons work as of pain, such abstention is Rājasa; no benefit from abandonment doth he derive.’
Doubtless, work by steps conduct to Moksha (release); but as it involves pain (or trouble) in the shape of having to earn money (etc.,) for its accomplishment, and (involves) chastisement of body in the shape of undergoing great fatigue, it is agonizing to the mind. Dreading this, should one confine himself to the practice of meditation alone (jñan-ābhyāsa) for achieving Yoga (=self-Cognition or God- cognition), refraining from doing the āśrama-proper duties, such as the Mahāyajñas etc., such abstention by him from Work is due to Rajas; and such abstention is contrary to the sense of the Śāstras.
The benefit from abandonment, or the acquisition of wisdom (—which he supposes as arising from surceasal of works—) never accrues to him. So it is shown further on:
‘That intellect, Pārtha! which apprehends wrongly is Rājasa’ (Gi: XVIII-31).
And, forsooth, work does not by any visible means produce mind-purity, but by the medium of Bhagavān’s grace.
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