Verse 1.117

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

संसारगमनं चैव त्रिविधं कर्मसम्भवम् ।
निःश्रेयसं कर्मणां च गुणदोषपरीक्षणम् ॥ ११७ ॥

saṃsāragamanaṃ caiva trividhaṃ karmasambhavam |
niḥśreyasaṃ karmaṇāṃ ca guṇadoṣaparīkṣaṇam || 117 ||

The threefold transmigration of the Soul, arising from actions,—the highest good,—and the examination of the good and bad features of actions.—(117)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Saṃsāragamana,’—the property, ‘saṃsāra,’ ‘series of births and deaths,’ stands here for the possessor of the property, i.e., the personality or Soul, undergoing births and deaths;—the ‘gamana’ of that is its migration from one body to another.—Or, ‘saṃsāra’ may be taken as standing for the objects of the world, i.e., the three Regions of the Earth, etc.;—the ‘gamana’ is being born in those regions, as described before.—‘Threefold,’ high, low and middling.—‘Arising from actions’—brought about by good and bad deeds.

‘Highest good’—the work describes not only the conditions brought about by deeds, but also that higher than which there is nothing,—i.e., spiritual knowledge,—the means of attaining that also has been described.

‘Of actions’—i.e.. those that are enjoined and those that are prohibited,—‘the examination of the good and bad features.’—(117)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

See 12. 51 et seq.