SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
thasmAth thvam indhriyANyAdhau niyamya bharatharishabha |
pApmAnam prajahi hyEnaṁ gyAna vigyAna nASanam ||
word-by-word meaning
hE bharatha rishabha – Oh leader of bharatha clan!
thasmAthhi – as previously said, since gyAna yOga is difficult to perform
thvam – you (who naturally engages in activities of senses due to being bound in the material realm)
Adhau – while beginning to practice the means for liberation
indhriyANi – senses
niyamya – engaging them (in karma yOga)
gyAna vigyAna nASanam – that which will destroy the knowledge about the true nature and the qualities of AthmA
Enam – in the form of lust
pApmAnam – enemy
prajahi – destroy it
Simple Translation
Oh leader of bharatha clan! As previously said, since gyAna yOga is difficult to perform, you destroy the enemy in the form of lust which will destroy the knowledge about the true nature and the qualities of AthmA, by engaging the senses in karma yOga, while beginning to practice the means for liberation.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘By first constraining[1. Constraint is here used in preference to restraint or repression, to mean that the senses are to be ‘restrained’ from material pursuits, and ‘constrained’ to employ themselves in the performance of Śāstra-enjoined duties.] the senses therefore, O Bharatarshabha[2. Epithet of Arjuna, meaning the Bull (or Lion) of the Bharata race.]!, do you vanquish this sinner (lust), the destroyer of jñāna[3. The beginnings of ātmā-knowledge, or wisdom collectively.] and vijñāna[4. The thorough, complete or discriminative ātma-knowledge or wisdom, in a distributive sense. For example, to know generally that there is an immortal entity, ātmā, constitutes jñāna, but to know it deeper in its nature as atomic, essentially blissful, and so on, constitutes vijñāna. Or jñāna is previous knowledge, and vijñāna, after-knowledge; vide Commentary on this verse and also on XVIII-42; XVIII-73. Vide also Vilakshaṇa mokshādhikāra nirṇaya, p. 51 (Telugu edition, 1891) on the various kinds of jñāna.].’
One, who is desirous of entering on the Path of jñāna-yoga has to cease from the natural out-going tendencies of the senses; but lust, his foe in that disguise, creates, on the one hand, antipathy for ātmā, and creates on the other hand, love (or sympathy) for sense-delights.
You shall, therefore, accustomed as you are to the senses working in their own natural spheres, —because of your intimate union with matter (prakṛiti)— constrain the senses to busy themselves, in their appropriate occupations pertaining to Karma-yoga.
[Discarding (or repelling) lust from you in this manner] vanquish that foe, the great sinner, the destroyer of jñāna[5. The beginnings of ātmā-knowledge, or wisdom collectively.] and vijñāna[6. The thorough, complete or discriminative ātma-knowledge or wisdom, in a distributive sense. For example, to know generally that there is an immortal entity, ātmā, constitutes jñāna, but to know it deeper in its nature as atomic, essentially blissful, and so on, constitutes vijñāna. Or jñāna is previous knowledge, and vijñāna, after-knowledge; vide Commentary on this verse and also on XVIII-42; XVIII-73. Vide also Vilakshaṇa mokshādhikāra nirṇaya, p. 51 (Telugu edition, 1891) on the various kinds of jñāna.].
Jñāna[7. The beginnings of ātmā-knowledge, or wisdom collectively.] is knowledge relating to ātmā-nature.
Vijñāna[8. The thorough, complete or discriminative ātma-knowledge or wisdom, in a distributive sense. For example, to know generally that there is an immortal entity, ātmā, constitutes jñāna, but to know it deeper in its nature as atomic, essentially blissful, and so on, constitutes vijñāna. Or jñāna is previous knowledge, and vijñāna, after-knowledge; vide Commentary on this verse and also on XVIII-42; XVIII-73. Vide also Vilakshaṇa mokshādhikāra nirṇaya, p. 51 (Telugu edition, 1891) on the various kinds of jñāna.] is deeper, inner or discriminative knowledge of the same.
The chief of the obstacles which hampers the understanding, is (now) mentioned:—
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