SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
thathva vith thu mahAbhAhO guNa karma vibhAgayO: |
guNA guNEshu varthantha ithi mathvA na sajjathE ||
word-by-word meaning
mahAbhAhO – Oh mighty armed!
guNa karma vibhAgayO: thathvavith thu – One who understands the classification of qualities and actions
guNA: – ‘qualities viz saththva, rajas, thamas
guNEshu – in their actions
varthanthE – are engaged in it’
ithi – as
mathvA – considering
na sajjathE – gives up attachments (does not think that he is the doer)
Simple Translation
Oh mighty armed! One who understands the classification of qualities and actions, considering ‘qualities viz saththva, rajas, thamas are engaged in their actions’ gives up attachments (does not think that he is the doer).
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Whereas the truth-knower, O mighty-armed! of the nature and work of the guṇas[1. See Lect: XIV for an exhaustive treatment of the gunās. These are the three main characteristics of matter which keep the world moving. Satva is the tendency to produce goodness, purity, etc., Rajas is the tendency to act in the world with passions; and Tamas is the tendency to sloth, evil, etc.], knowing that guṇas[2. See Lect: XIV for an exhaustive treatment of the gunās. These are the three main characteristics of matter which keep the world moving. Satva is the tendency to produce goodness, purity, etc., Rajas is the tendency to act in the world with passions; and Tamas is the tendency to sloth, evil, etc.] rest in guṇas[3. See Lect: XIV for an exhaustive treatment of the gunās. These are the three main characteristics of matter which keep the world moving. Satva is the tendency to produce goodness, purity, etc., Rajas is the tendency to act in the world with passions; and Tamas is the tendency to sloth, evil, etc.], gives up attachment.’
In respect to the activities which are displayed by the three-fold nature of matter, satva, rajas and tamas[4. See Lect: XIV for an exhaustive treatment of the gunās. These are the three main characteristics of matter which keep the world moving. Satva is the tendency to produce goodness, purity, etc., Rajas is the tendency to act in the world with passions; and Tamas is the tendency to sloth, evil, etc.], the man who is blinded by ahaṇkāra[5. Means pride, or intumescence of selfness, egoism or egotism. Ahaṇkāra, here means the deluded notion that what is not-self (body) is self (ātmā).] —fancies that he is the doer or author, (the agent, the cause, the root, the spring, or the fountain of the activities).
Ahaṇkāra[6. Means pride, or intumescence of selfness, egoism or egotism. Ahaṇkāra, here means the deluded notion that what is not-self (body) is self (ātmā).]=I-ness = the notion of egoism one feels for his body, or the mistaken notion that the non-self, —body—, is the self, ātmā.
A man therefore who is under this wrong notion mistakes the doings of the body or the guṇas[7. See Lect: XIV for an exhaustive treatment of the gunās. These are the three main characteristics of matter which keep the world moving. Satva is the tendency to produce goodness, purity, etc., Rajas is the tendency to act in the world with passions; and Tamas is the tendency to sloth, evil, etc.], as ātmā’s doings. He thinks, ‘I am the doer.’
Tatva-vit or truth-knower: is he who is capable of discerning in work the properties of the guṇas[8. See Lect: XIV for an exhaustive treatment of the gunās. These are the three main characteristics of matter which keep the world moving. Satva is the tendency to produce goodness, purity, etc., Rajas is the tendency to act in the world with passions; and Tamas is the tendency to sloth, evil, etc.] manifesting themselves.
Whoso therefore discovers in the manifestations of the guṇas[9. See Lect: XIV for an exhaustive treatment of the gunās. These are the three main characteristics of matter which keep the world moving. Satva is the tendency to produce goodness, purity, etc., Rajas is the tendency to act in the world with passions; and Tamas is the tendency to sloth, evil, etc.], the guṇas[10. See Lect: XIV for an exhaustive treatment of the gunās. These are the three main characteristics of matter which keep the world moving. Satva is the tendency to produce goodness, purity, etc., Rajas is the tendency to act in the world with passions; and Tamas is the tendency to sloth, evil, etc.] themselves, will not commit the error of thinking, ‘I am the doer.’
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.