Shrimad Bhagavad-gita

by Narayana Gosvami | 2013 | 327,105 words

The Bhagavad-gita Verses 5.8-9, English translation, including the Vaishnava commentaries Sarartha-varsini-tika, Prakashika-vritti and Rasika-ranjana (excerpts). This is verse Verses 5.8-9 from the chapter 5 called “Karma-sannyasa-yoga (Yoga through Renunciation of Action)”

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verses 5.8-9:

नैव किञ्चित् करोमीति युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्व-वित् ।
पश्यञ् शृण्वन् स्पृशञ् जिघ्रन्न् अश्नन् गच्छन् स्वपन् श्वसन् ॥ ८ ॥
प्रलपन् विसृजन् गृह्णन्न् उन्मिषन् निमिषन्न् अपि ।
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेषु वर्तन्त इति धारयन् ॥ ९ ॥

naiva kiñcit karomīti yukto manyeta tattva-vit |
paśyañ śṛṇvan spṛśañ jighrann aśnan gacchan svapan śvasan || 8 ||
pralapan visṛjan gṛhṇann unmiṣan nimiṣann api |
indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan
|| 9 ||

na–not; eva–certainly; kiñcit–anything; karomi–I am doing; iti–that; yuktaḥ–one who is worshipping the Supreme Lord by selflessly offering Him the fruits of one’s occupational duty; manyeta–he would consider; tattva-vit–a knower of the Truth; paśyan–while seeing; śṛṇvan–hearing; spṛśan–touching; jighran–smelling; aśnan–eating; gacchan–walking; svapan–sleeping; śvasan–breathing; pralapan–speaking; visṛjan–evacuating; gṛhṇan–grasping; unmiṣan–opening (the eyes); nimiṣan–and shutting (the eyes); api–although; indriyāṇi–the senses; indriya-artheṣu–in their sense objects; vartante–are engaged; iti–that; dhārayan–considering.

When a person who selflessly offers the results of his endeavours to the Supreme becomes situated in knowledge, he concludes through his intelligence that even while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, speaking, evacuating, grasping and opening and closing his eyes, he actually does nothing; rather, his senses are engaged with their respective sense objects.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

In this verse beginning with naiva, Śrī Bhagavān gives instruction about actions that implicate one in the functions of the senses. Yuktaḥ refers to the niṣkāma-karma-yogīs who conclude with their intelligence that when they use their senses, such as the sense of sight, their senses are simply engaging with their objects. Free from a mood of false ego, such yogīs think, “I am not doing anything.”

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