SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
na rUpam asyEha thathOpalabhyathE nAnthO na chAdhir na cha samprathishtA ||
word-by-word meaning
asya – of this tree
rUpam – the aforementioned form
iha – by the samsAris (materialistic people) in this earthly abode
thathA na upalabhyathE – is not understood, as explained in previous SlOkams.
antha: cha – the end (of this tree)
na – not understood (as explained previously that it occurs on going beyond the qualities).
Adhi: cha – the beginning (of this tree)
na – not understood (as attachment to the qualities).
samprathishtA cha – the source on which it stands
na – not understood (as ignorance).
Simple Translation
The aforementioned form of this tree, as explained in previous SlOkams, is not understood by the samsAris (materialistic people) in this earthly abode. The beginning (of this tree) is not understood (as attachment to the qualities) by them. The end (of this tree) is not understood (as explained previously that it occurs on going beyond the qualities). The source (of this tree) on which it stands is not understood (as ignorance).
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Neither its shape as such, nor its end, nor beginning nor source, is here understood.’
By people immersed in Samsāra, the shape (i.e., the meaning) of this Tree is not understood in that it has its root above, —the four-faced Brahma being the origin there—; in that it has branches spreading gradually downwards having man at the terminals; and in that its branches again spread upwards and downwards determined by karmas enacted when in the condition of men. What they perceive is simply this much, viz: ‘I am man; the son of Devadatta I am; the father of Yajñadatta I am,’ etc., and occupy themselves in such worldly affairs as are appropriate to these relations.
They perceive not too that an end can be put to this Tree by weaning themselves from the Guṇa-gencrated enjoyments; nor do they perceive that its beginning lies in the connection formed with the Guṇas; nor do they, too, perceive the source or origin wherefrom the tree springs, viz: unwisdom[1. Unwisdom is the perversity or wrong use of our free-will.] producing the delusion of mistaking what is not ego for what is ego (or what is body for what is soul).
Pratishtḥā=source, origin, or the seat wherein all this- want of understanding (or perception) is fixed, viz: unwisdom[2. Unwisdom is the perversity or wrong use of our free-will.] (ajñāna) itself.
>> Chapter 15 Verses 3 and 3.5
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