SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
samO’ham sarvabhUthEshu na mE dhvEshyO’sthi na priya: |
yE bhajanthi thu mAm bhakthyA mayi thE thEshu chApyaham ||
word-by-word meaning
aham – I
sarvabhUthEshu – for all beings of different species
sama – being equal (for anyone who wants to take shelter of me);
mE – for me
na dhvEshya asthi – no one is disqualified from taking shelter of me (since they are inferior)
na priya (asthi) – no one is qualified to take shelter of me (since they are superior)
yE thu – those
mAm – in me
bhakthyA bhajanthi – who manifest their love to attain bhakthi (devotion) towards me
mayi thE – they live in me
thEshu cha – in them
aham api – I too live in them (I interact with them with great veneration).
Simple Translation
I am equal (for anyone who wants to take shelter of me) for all beings of different species; for me, no one is disqualified from taking shelter of me (since they are inferior) and no one is qualified to take shelter of me (since they are superior); those who manifest their love to attain bhakthi (devotion) towards me, live in me and I too live in them (interacting with them with great veneration).
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘To all beings I am the same; to Me is there neither foe nor friend. But whoso worship Me in love, they are indeed in Me, and I also (am) in them.’
Be it the divine, the human, the animal, or the stationary, kingdoms; be they high or low, in point of kind (or caste), in point of look, (color etc.,) in point of nature (character etc.,-) or in point of enlightenment, as Refuge to all, independent of such distinctions, I am equal. Inferiority as regards kind, look, nature, or understanding in any person does not, because of it, warrant that he is hateful to me or fit to be rejected as unworthy to come to Me as his Refuge. No one on the other hand claiming superiority of caste etc., is, because of it, specially entitled to claim Me as his Refuge, or has warrant to be particularly dear to Me. Save the ground that he elects Me as his Refuge, not any qualification (as caste, color etc.,) will constitute a claim for My acceptance of Him.
But whoso, of whichever description he be, worship Me as the Object of the most endearing love, worship Me with a fervor as that, without it, their very being would be imperiled, worship Me as that worship alone were their sole end and aim, they, —without regard to their superiority or inferiority as regards caste etc.— would dwell in Me in such a state of blessedness, as compare only with the blessedness of Myself.
I also dwell in them. i.e., dwell in them as if they were My betters.[1. The meaning is that love would be reciprocative, and sentiments of love —unmixed with fear or differences as between a master and a servant— would be such as subsist between parents and children.]
Moreover;—
archived in http://githa.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.