SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
yOgayukthO viSuddhAthmA vijithAthmA jithEndriya: |
sarvabhUthAthma bhUthAthmA kurvannapi na lipyathE ||
word-by-word meaning
yOga yuktha: – being a practitioner of karma yOga
viSudhdhAthmA – (as a result of that) having a pure heart
vijithAthmA – (as a result of that) having a controlled mind
jithEndhriya: – (as a result of that) having control over all senses
sarva bhUthAthma bhUthAthmA – being the AthmA who looks at all AthmAs (of celestial beings, human beings etc) as his own
kurvan api – while performing all activities
na lipyathE – is not bound by bewilderment such as confusing the body to be self etc.
Simple Translation
One who is a practitioner of karma yOga, who is (as a result of that) having a pure heart, who is (as a result of that) having a controlled mind, who is (as a result of that) having control over all senses, who looks at all AthmAs (of celestial beings, human beings etc) as his own, while performing all activities, is not bound by bewilderment such as confusing the body to be self etc.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘The (karma-)yoga-united, pure-minded, whose mind and senses are under control, who looks on the ātmas of all beings as his ātma, is not tainted (by works), though he works.’
The performer of Karma-yoga is he who fulfils the sacred canons of Śāstra, which are but Modes of Worship to the Supernal Spirit (Parama-purusha[1. Parama-Purusha = Synonym Purushottama (‘The Super-excellent Person’, the 24th name of God, (vide also, Pātañjala Yoga-Sūtra I.24, (which says purusha-viśesḥ) – Purusha is the common term to denote a thinking substance from an unthinking substance. Utpurusha=bound soul; uttara-purusha=liberated soul, uttama-purusha=the ever-free soul; Purushottama=Soul Supreme=God.): Purusha means etymologically He who grants abundance; “puru=bahu, sanoti=dadāti.” Thus Parama-Purusha means the Supreme all-Giver.]).
By this, one becomes purified of mind (viśuddhātma). He is vijitātma (having mind under control), because he is absorbed in the performance of the said Worship. Hence, he is jit-endriya (who has governed the senses.)
He is sarva-bhūt-ātma-bhūt-ātma, or he who is enabled —by the way he performs work with the knowledge of the true nature of the performer thereof, ātma,— to contemplate on the ātmas abiding in all beings such as devas etc., as on his own ātma; for the essential nature of ātma(-principle), wherever it may abide, —devas etc.,— is the same to the meditator of ātma-nature.
The true nature of ātma is not in the changeful matter which constitutes the bodies of devas etc. Bodies vary, but the informing ātmas therein are one like the other, in their essential nature of being conscious entities, as viewed distinct from the (non-conscious) bodies (veiling them).
Gita tells us further on this fact that:
‘Faultless indeed is brahma (ātma), and equal’. (v-19).
A man of the above description is never infatuated with the erroneous notion of taking what is non-ātma (non-spirit or, material substance) for ātma (soul or spiritual essence), albeit he works.
He works, but (his spiritual notions are of such a nature that) his works do not bind him.
Before long, therefore, he realizes ātma.
As Karma-yoga has been declared to be easy of performance, and fructifying soon, what is required to enable one to so perform it, is now stated:—
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