SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
yam hi na vyathayanthi EthE purusham purusharshabha |
samadhu:kha sukham dhIram sO ’mruthathvAya kalpathE ||
word-by-word meaning
purusharshabha – Oh leader among men!
EthE – these contacts with worldly pleasures/pains
samadhu:khasukham – being neutral towards such pleasures/pains
dhIram – being bold
yam purusham – that man
na vyathayanthi – does not disturb mental strength
sa: – that man only
amruththvAya kalpathE – will be qualified to be liberated
Simple Translation
Oh leader among men! for that man who is neutral towards contacts with such pleasures/pains and being bold and whose mental strength is not disturbed, that man only will be qualified to be liberated.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
That bold1 man, O man-chief, who looks on pain as equal with pleasure, and whom, these (‘colds and heats’) cannot molest, is verily made for immortality2!
Be it mild or acute, no arrow-hits can torment a person of courage, – one who is able to look upon an inevitable pain as equal to pleasure. That is the person to whom the discharge of duties, incumbent on his status (caste, occupation, etc.) in society, – such as engaging in war (for a Kshatriya)- without anticipating any benefits therefrom – paves the way to immortality. Such a person wins immortality, Arjuna! not you who cannot suffer pain. That conduct (or character) i.e. bearing (up, or patient suffering without complaint) is a necessary sign of the eternality of ātmās (souls).
Whether it be the eternality of ātmās, or the decaying character of the bodies that is regarded, it has been shown by verse: viz:
‘The wise, grieve not either as respects bodies, or as respects ātmās, etc.’, (Bh: Gi: II-11)
that no cause, in any case, exists for regret.
This subject will now be expanded:
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