16.9 EthAm dhrushtim avashtabhya

SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Chapter 16

<< Chapter 16 Verse 8

SlOkam – Original

EthAm dhrushtim avashtabhya nashtAthmAnO’lpabudhdhaya: |
prabhavanthyugrakarmAna: kshayAya jagathO’hithA: ||

word-by-word meaning

(The demoniac people)
EthAm dhrushtim – this crooked view
avashtabhya – holding on to
nashtAthmAna: – not seeing the AthmA (which is different from the body)
alpa budhdhaya: – being small-minded (not being able to differentiate between the body which is known and the soul which is the knower)
ugra karmANa: – being engaged in evil activities (which harm everyone)
aSubhA: – being inauspicious
kshayAya prabhavanthi – become the cause for the ruin of the universe

Simple Translation

Holding on to this crooked view, not seeing the AthmA (which is different from the body), being small-minded (not being able to differentiate between the body which is known and the soul which is the knower), being engaged in evil activities (which harm everyone) and being inauspicious, the demoniac people become the cause for the ruin of the universe.

Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam

‘Adopting this view, the soul-lost, small-witted, and deed-cruel, vile (beings), become the ruin of the Universe.’

Adopting : means embracing or holding.

Nasht-ātmānaḥ = Soul-lost, or those who have lost their souls, or who have not seen that a soul is distinct from body (either by faith or by experience).

Alpa-buddhayaḥ = Small-witted = those who cannot cognize that there is a ‘cognizer’ —Ātma— in the ‘cognized’ body, which is like a pot (which one sees as a separate object).

Ugra-karmāṇaḥ = Deed-cruel = Those who are persecutors or molesters of all beings, by their cruel acts.

These creatures are pests who undermine the Universe.

>> Chapter 16 Verse 10

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