Shrimad Bhagavad-gita

by Narayana Gosvami | 2013 | 327,105 words

The Bhagavad-gita Verse 5.17, English translation, including the Vaishnava commentaries Sarartha-varsini-tika, Prakashika-vritti and Rasika-ranjana (excerpts). This is verse 17 from the chapter 5 called “Karma-sannyasa-yoga (Yoga through Renunciation of Action)”

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 5.17:

तद्-बुद्धयस् तद्-आत्मानस् तन्-निष्ठास् तत्-परायणाः ।
गच्छन्त्य् अपुनर्-आवृत्तिं ज्ञान-निर्धूत-कल्मषाः ॥ १७ ॥

tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas tan-niṣṭhās tat-parāyaṇāḥ |
gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṃ jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ || 17 ||

tat-buddhayaḥ–whose intelligence is fixed in Him; tat-ātmānaḥ–whose minds are absorbed in meditation upon Him; tat-niṣṭhāḥ–who are dedicated only to Him; tat-parāyaṇāḥ–who are devoted to hearing and chanting about Him; gacchanti–they attain; apunaḥ āvṛttim–freedom from further rebirth; jñāna–through transcendental knowledge, or vidyā; nirdhūta–have been cleansed away; kalmaṣāḥ–whose inebriety, or ignorance.

Those whose intelligence is fixed on the Supreme Lord, whose minds are absorbed only in meditation on Him, who are exclusively devoted to Him, who are dedicated to hearing and chanting about Him, and whose ignorance has been completely destroyed by knowledge, attain liberation, from which there is no return.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

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

Vidyā illuminates knowledge of the living entity only, not of the Supreme Lord. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.14.21) it is said, “bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ–I can only be attained by bhakti.”

To attain knowledge of the Supersoul, the jñānīs must specifically practise bhakti-sādhana. Śrī Bhagavān speaks this verse beginning with tad-buddhayaḥ to explain this. Here, the word tat (tad) refers to the same all-pervading Lord described earlier. Tad-buddhayaḥ means that those whose intelligence is fixed upon the Lord meditate only on Him. Tad-ātmā means ‘those who are solely absorbed in Him’. “Jñānaṃ ca mayi sannyaset–a jñānī should surrender his knowledge to Me” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.19.1).

According to this statement, only those who have knowledge that the self is separate from the body, who have given up their determination to cultivate knowledge of the self in the mode of goodness, and who have fixed faith in Bhagavān, are called tan-niṣṭhāḥ, those with fixed faith in bhakti. Tat-parāyaṇāḥ means ‘those who are devoted to hearing and chanting about Him’.

It is said later in the Gītā (18.55):

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṃ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram

It is only through devotion that one can know Me as I am and thus attain Me. Therefore, those whose ignorance has been completely destroyed by knowledge attain knowledge of the Supersoul.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

The Gītā (14.17) states, “sattvāt sañjāyate jñānam–knowledge is in the mode of goodness.” The Supersoul, however, is beyond the three modes and is also their controller. That is why although knowledge, in the form of knowledge in the mode of goodness, can destroy ignorance, it cannot manifest knowledge of Paramātmā. The Gītā (18.55) states, “bhaktyā mām abhijānāti–only bhakti can manifest knowledge of Śrī Bhagavān.” In this context, one should carefully consider Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s commentary on this verse (18.55).

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