SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
tham uvAcha hrishIkeSa: prahasanniva bhAratha |
sEnayOrubhayOr madhyE sIthamAnamidham vacha: ||
word-by-word meaning
bhAratha – Oh dhritharAshtra who is a descendant in bharatha clan!
hrishIkESa: – krishNa
prahasan iva – with a smile
ubhayO: sEnayO: madhyE – in between the two armies
vishIdhantham – grieving
tham – towards arjuna
idham vacha: – these words
uvAcha – spoke
Simple Translation
Oh dhritharAshtra who is descendant in bharatha clan! Towards the grieving arjuna who is standing in between the two armies, krishNa with a smile, spoke these words.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
Sañjaya continued:
Bhārata[1. Dhṛitarāshtra.]! With a smile did Hṛishīkeśa regard him (Arjuna), who thus stood sad between the two armies; and He spoke to him these words:
Beholding Arjuna overwhelmed with grief at not knowing the distinction between the true nature of body (matter) and soul (ātmā), and yet discoursing in a fashion that one, with a knowledge of soul existing as apart from body, would adopt, – a position of conflicting views for Arjuna -; beholding him, suddenly languishing into inactivity when both the armies were ready to engage in war, Paramapurusha lectured to him smilingly, commencing from verse:
‘Never at all was, that I was not, etc;’
and ending with,
‘I shall deliver thee from all sins, etc;’
embodying the three-fold doctrines of Karma-Yoga[5. Yoga here means method, path or means. ‘Karma-Yoga‘ is thus ‘the method of Works’ or doing deeds of virtue as inculcated in Scriptural and other ethical codes.], Jñāna-Yoga[6. ‘Jñāna-Yoga‘ is ‘the Method of Knowledge.’], and Bhakti-Yoga[7. ‘Bhakti-Yoga‘ is ‘the Method of Loving Devotion.’ By these Methods one is to know (1) his Soul, (2) know his God, and (3) find them. I use the word ‘find’ so that it might suit the moksha-idea of any of the three Schools, Dvaita, Advaita or Viśishtādvaita. Throughout my translation, I retain the original expressions Karma-Yoga, Jñāna-Yoga, and Bhakti-Yoga, as far as possible, the convenience of which will be evident.], which are the Means for acquiring the true knowledge of Ātmā (soul) Paramātma[10. Supreme Spirit, the Unexcelled or the Peerless Spirit] (Supreme Soul = God), and for attaining them.
Smilingly means, that Krishna discoursed on these most abstruse subjects of philosophy and religion as if it were but a pleasant recreation.
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