Verse 2.93

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

इन्द्रियाणां प्रसङ्गेन दोषं ऋच्छत्यसंशयम् ।
संनियम्य तु तान्येव ततः सिद्धिं निगच्छति ॥ ९३ ॥

indriyāṇāṃ prasaṅgena doṣaṃ ṛcchatyasaṃśayam |
saṃniyamya tu tānyeva tataḥ siddhiṃ nigacchati || 93 ||

By attachment to the organs one incurs evil, without doubt; while by subjugating those same he attains success.—(93)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Attachment’ means addiction; ‘by’ this, as the means, one ‘incurs’—attains—‘evil,’ [visible] as well as invisible. There is no doubt in this; it is absolutely certain.

‘By subjugating these’—organs—one subsequently ‘attains success,’—the attainment of the desired end; i.e., he acquires in its entirety all the fruits of the performance of acts enjoined in Śruti and in Smṛti.—(93)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Doṣam’—‘Guilt’ (Nārāyaṇa);—‘evil, visible and invisible’—(Medhātithi and Kullūka) i.e. misery and sin;—‘evil, in the shape of rebirths’ (Rāghavānanda).

‘Siddhim’—‘Success, in the form of the rewards of all acts’ (Medhātithi);—‘final release’ (Nārāyaṇa and Rāghavānanda);—‘all human ends, Final Release and all the rest’ (Govindarāja and Kullūka).

 

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(Verses 93-95)

Dakṣa-smṛti (7. 12 and 16).—‘He whose mind is addicted to objects never attains Yoga; therefore the Yogin should make an effort to avoid addiction to objects.’

Vaśiṣṭha-smṛti (30.10-11).—‘As one grows old, his hairs fade fade also his teeth; but longing for life and longing for wealth never fade, even while the man is fading away. That which cannot be avoided by foolish-minded persons, that which does not fade even while the man is fading away, that which is a mortal disease,—such Desire when one renounces, then alone does he attain happiness.’