SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
dhEhino ‘smin yathA dhEhE kaumAram yauvanam jarA |
thathA dhEhAnthara prApthir dhIras tathra na muhyathi ||
word-by-word meaning
asmin dhEhE – (that which resides) in this body
dhEhina: – for the AthmA (soul)
kaumAram – childhood
yauvanam – youth
jarA – old-age
yathA (bhavanthi) – like how it is occurring
thathA – in the same manner
dhEhAnthara prApthi: – (once this body is given up) begetting another body will also occur
dhIra: – one who is wise
thathra – this transmigration of soul
na muhyathi – does not get bewildered
Simple Translation
Just like how the AthmA (soul) (that which resides) in this body goes through childhood, youth and old-age, in the same manner, the soul will beget another body (once this body is given up). The one who is wise does not get bewildered in this transmigration of soul.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
As are childhood, youth and senility in this body, so is translation to other bodies. No wise man[1. Dhīra is translated as wise man from the root ‘dhiyā ramante‘.] errs (or gets deluded) in that.
As, dwelling in a single body itself, the dweller (ātmā) does not grieve at the transition taking place from infancy to youth etc., believing that in that transition the ātmā is in any way lost (i.e., affected), so no man who is wise will, similarly, regret at having to pass from one body to another, knowing that (as is the case in the single body) ātmā ever endures.
What practically one has to do (in these circumstances) is this: Ātmās are eternal. Bound down by deeds (karma[2. Karma is either past deeds or present work. Done with motive, it binds; motiveless, leaves one free.]) done in the eternal past, they incarnate in bodies such as are determined[3. This is reaping what is sown.] by karma; with these very bodies, they have to work out liberation from bondage by engaging in Sastra-sanctioned works (karma) such as undertaking a war etc., appropriate to the (several) castes (in which they may find themselves born), but performing them with no desire for the ultimate fruit thereof.
To men who are so environed, the experiences of pleasure and pain are unavoidable, inasmuch as they are the product of ‘colds and heats’[4. The sense-contacts with external phenomena is sensations which are the sense-with-mind-contacts, ‘cold-heat’, etc., and then follow the reactions, pleasures and pains.] which the senses sensate by coming in contact with external objects. Hence one needs to tolerate such experiences happening to one during the prosecution, and until termination, of any work undertaken.
This is explained in the following verse.
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