SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
brahmaNO hi prathishtAham amruthasyAvyayasya cha |
SASvathasya cha dharmasya sukhasyaikAnthikasya cha ||
word-by-word meaning
hi – this is because
aham – I am
amruthaya – immortal
avyayasya cha – imperishable
brAhmaNa: – for self realisation
prathishtA – means;
SASvathasya dharmasya cha (prathishtA) – Also, I am the means for the eternal dharmam, bhakthi yOgam, which leads to great opulence.
aikAnthikasya sukhasya cha (prathishtA) – And, I am the means for the bliss attained by a gyAni.
Simple Translation
This is because, I am the immortal and imperishable means for self realisation; also, I am the means for the eternal dharmam, bhakthi yOgam, which leads to great opulence. And, I am the means for the bliss attained by a gyAni.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘I indeed am the Support of brahma (=soul), the eternal and infinite, and of the eternal Dharma; and of the absolute Bliss.’
Hi=Indeed: inasmuch as when by unerring Bhakti-yoga I am worshipped (vide XIV-26), I become the Support (or Centre) for the eternal and infinite (brahma) soul.[1. This refers to kaivalya-moksha or soul-acquisition (which is found in Me the Seat).]
Eternal Dharma=Exquisite eternal happiness.[2. This refers to material felicities, such as Svarga etc.]
Ekāntika-sukha= Absolute unique Bliss, which is the fruit of the saint (jñāni) who answers to the description: ‘Vāsudeva is all’ etc., (Gi: VII-19).[3. This refers to Brahma-prāpti or God-acquisition.]
Although the expression ‘Eternal Dharma’ (the eternal laws, promulgated in the Vedas) usually implies a ‘Means’ to accomplish an ‘End’, here it means the ‘End’[4. The End, viz., Svarga etc., which would be gained by following the laws (rituals etc.,) laid down in the Vedas.] itself, occurring as the expression does between two other expressions which also imply ‘Ends’ (viz: brahmaṇo hi pratishtḥā =soul-acquisition and ekāntika-sukha = God-acquisition).
The purport is that as declared in the Stanza:
‘Verily is this, My divine māyā, guṇā-imbued, and hard to surmount; but those who resort to Me alone as their Refuge pass this māyā’ (Gi: XII-14), and other stanzas following it, the surmounting of the qualities first and thence the securing of any of the goals (1) akshara (soul-gain), (2) aiśvarya (material prosperity), (3) Bhagavat-prāpti (joining the Blessed Lord Himself), depends upon the Only Means being employed, viz: loving devotion to the Lord and praying Him to grant them. Thus it has now been shown that by means of Bhakti-yoga, the qualities are to be surmounted (Gi: XIV-26) and thence Brahma-state is attained (Gi: XIV-27).
OM TAT SAT
Thus closes Discourse Fourteen,
Named, the Guṇa-traya-Vibhāga-Yoga,
or
The Division of the Three Qualities
With Śri Rāmānuja’s Commentary thereon,
In the colloquy between Śri Kṛishṇa and Arjuna,
In the Science of Yoga,
In the Theosophy (Divine knowledge) of the Upanishads,
Or the Chants of Śrī Bhagavān,
The Bhagavad Gītā.
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