SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
mAthrAsparSAs thu kaunthEya SIthOshNa sukha dhu:kkadhA: |
AgamApAyinO ’nithyAs thAms thithikshasva bhAratha ||
word-by-word meaning (based on puththUr krishNamAchArya swAmy’s thamizh translation)
kaunthEya – Oh son of kunthI!
mAthrAsparSA: – when sense organs (ear, skin, eyes, tongue and nose) contact with thanmAthrAs (the subtle elements) Sabdha (sound), sparSa (touch), rUpa (vision), rasa (taste) and gandha (smell)
SIthOshNa sukha dhu:kkadhA: – they provide pleasure, pain which are caused by coolness, heat etc.
AgamApAyina: – by nature, they come and go
anithyA: – (during liberation) they (worldly pleasures/pains) are completely destroyed
bhAratha – Oh descendant of bharatha clan!
thAn – such contact of sense organs that give pleasure, pain
thithikshasva – you tolerate
Simple Translation (based on puththUr krishNamAchArya swAmy’s thamizh translation)
Oh son of kunthI! when sense organs (ear, skin, eyes, tongue and nose) contact with thanmAthrAs (the subtle elements) Sabdha (sound), sparSa (touch), rUpa (vision), rasa (taste) and gandha (smell), they provide pleasure, pain which are caused by coolness, heat etc. By nature, they come and go and (during liberation) they (worldly pleasures/pains) are completely destroyed (i.e., they are impermanent). Oh descendant of bharatha clan! you tolerate such contact of sense organs that give pleasure, pain.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
The sense-contacts, Kaunteya1! produce pleasures and pains through ‘cold-heat’2 experiences. They come and go, and are inconstant. Take them coolly, Bhārata3!
The qualities viz: sound, touch, color, taste, and smell, with their functioning seats viz., the senses, are called mātras (or tan-mātras), because they are the evolutes from mātras or the rudimentary elements. The contacts of the senses with sound etc., produce cold, heat, soft, hard, etc., experiences, and cause pleasures and pains4.
The expression “cold and heat”5 is to imply or typify the sum of all experiences. Bear them up with courage till you carry out your Śāstra-enjoined war etc., to completion. As these experiences accrue and depart, they are but fit to be tolerated (i.e., disregarded) by men of courage.
Also they are un-enduring (anitya), meaning that him, – whose karma (i.e., the fruit of deeds done) has ceased, (as in the case of the mukta, or the freed soul), – the ‘cold-heat’6 adventitious experiences can never disturb (or distract).
Is this passive or dull disposition to ‘cold-heats’ any use? The following verse tells us:
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- Son of Kunti = Arjuna. ↩
- 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. ↩
- Descendent of Bharata = Arjuna. … ↩
- 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. ↩
- 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. ↩
- 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. ↩