Verse 2.97

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

वेदास्त्यागश्च यज्ञाश्च नियमाश्च तपांसि च ।
न विप्रदुष्टभावस्य सिद्धिं गच्छति कर्हि चित् ॥ ९७ ॥

vedāstyāgaśca yajñāśca niyamāśca tapāṃsi ca |
na vipraduṣṭabhāvasya siddhiṃ gacchati karhi cit || 97 ||

The Vedas, Renunciation, Sacrifices, Restraints and Austerities never attain fulfilment for one whose disposition is vitiated.—(97)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The present verse is clearly injunctive.

‘The Vedas’—i.e., the study and recitation of them.

‘Renunciation’—means charity, figuratively; or, it may mean the renouncing of the taking of even such meat and wine as are not prohibited, under the impression that such abstention brings its own reward.

He whose ‘disposition’—i.e., mind—‘is vitiated.’

‘Never attain fulfilment’—they do not bring about their due results, at any time. From this it, follows that at the time of the performance of the said acts, one should not allow his mind to turn towards objects of sensuous enjoyment; for it is only thus that he may disregard all other thoughts and concentrate his mind upon the act itself.

What this text enjoins is that one should avoid of all thought of sensual objects,—this avoidance being a necessary accompaniment of all acts; as in its absence the act becomes futile. The ‘vitiation of disposition’ consists in the fact that at the time when the man is engaged in the performance of an act, he ceases to have his mind concentrated upon that act, and allows it to turn towards vice.—(97)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Medhātithi (p. 119,1. 3)—‘ayamatra vidhiḥ’—It is not consistent with what he has said before (p. 116,11. 11-12), to the effect that up to verse 100 it is all Arthavāda.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Āpastamba-Dharmaṣūtra (1.2.6).—‘For those non-Śūdras whose actions are not wicked—there is Upanayana, Vedic Study, Fire-laying and other acts leading to rewards.’

Āpastamba-Dharmasūtra (5. 1).—‘The term Tapas is Applied to the observances;—transgression thereof leads to the trickling away of Knowledge and Religious Acts.’