Verse 6.42

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

एक एव चरेन्नित्यं सिद्ध्यर्थमसहायवान् ।
सिद्धिमेकस्य सम्पश्यन्न जहाति न हीयते ॥ ४२ ॥

eka eva carennityaṃ siddhyarthamasahāyavān |
siddhimekasya sampaśyanna jahāti na hīyate || 42 ||

He shall always wander about alone, without a companion, in order to attain success; when one realises that success accrues to the solitary man, he neither forsakes nor becomes forsaken.—(42)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse enjoins solitude.

‘Alone’—denotes the giving up of past acquaintances.

‘Without a companion’:—he shall not take with him even his former servant &c. It is only in this way that the man becomes free from friendship, hatred and love; and thus comes to look upon all things as equal. Otherwise, if a servant happen to be near him, he could have the notion that—‘this man is mine, not that’; and this is the attachment that becomes the cause of bondage.

When he realises this, then he does not ‘forsake’—no son or anybody else is ever forsaken, by him; and hence he himself also is not ‘forsaken’—not separated from this son and others; i.e., he is not beset with the pain of separation from them. Otherwise—if there had been attachment—the giving up would cause great pain. In fact, for auch a man no one dies, nor does he die for any one.—(42).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 953), which explains ‘siddhim na jahāti’ as ‘he is not abandoned by success’;—and in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 557), which adds the following explanation:—Coming to the conclusion that when a man moves about alone, without a companion, he is free from any such obstacles as attachment aversion and the like, and thus becomes enabled to attain ‘success’ in the shape of True Knowledge;—i.e., he acts without shackles towards its attainment; and of that success lie is not deprived, i.e., he attains it. If, on the other hand, he moves about with two or three companions, then he becomes liable to attachment and aversion, and by reason of these obstacles, he fails to attain that success.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Mahābhārata (12.245.4-5).—(Same as Manu.)

Yājñavalkya (3.5).—(See under 41.)