SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
yadhA samharathE chAyam kUrmO’ngAnIva sarvaSa: |
indhriyANIndhriyArthEbhyas thasya pragyA prathishtithA ||
word-by-word meaning (based on puththUr krishNamAchArya swAmy’s thamizh translation)
yadhA – when
ayam – this individual
indhriyANi – senses (which try to reach out to worldly pleasures)
kUrma: angAni iva – Like a tortoise’s limbs (which are drawn inside)
sarvaSa: – in all manners
indhriyArthEbhya: – from the aspects such as [worldly pleasures based on] Sabdham (sound)
samharathE – draws himself inward
thasya – his
pragyA – knowledge
prathishtithA – firmly situated (He is also a sthitha pragya).
Simple Translation (based on puththUr krishNamAchArya swAmy’s thamizh translation)
When this individual draws himself inward from the aspects such as [worldly pleasures based on] Sabdham (sound) in all manners like a tortoise’s limbs (which are drawn inside), his knowledge is firmly situated (He is also a sthitha pragya).
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘His will is installated, who like the tortoise indrawing its limbs, abstracts the senses from their pursuit after objects of sense.’ 1
When one, in the manner of the tortoise contracting its members, indraws his senses running out to contact their sensual objects of pleasure, and who pins his mind to (think on) ātmā, he also is a ‘sthita-prajñaḥ’.
These are the four stages of wisdom-culture (or will-culture), each of which develops, in order, back from its precedent stage. 2
The difficulty of following this wisdom-course and how to attain the same is now stated:
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