Chapter 13, Verse 9
Ksetra Ksetrajna Vibhaaga Yoga — Sanskrit shloka, transliteration, word meanings, English translation, and commentary.
Original Sanskrit verse
Transliteration
Word meanings
indriya-artheṣhu—toward objects of the senses; vairāgyam—dispassion; anahankāraḥ—absence of egotism; eva cha—and also; janma—of birth; mṛityu—death; jarā—old age; vyādhi—disease; duḥkha—evils; doṣha—faults; anudarśhanam—perception;
English translation
Indifference to the objects of the senses and also absence of egoism; perceiving the evil in birth, death, old age, sickness, and pain.
— Swami Sivananda
Listen to Shloka 13.9
Commentary
The feeling of renunciation towards the objects of the senses is constant in the man of wisdom. He does not even like to talk about them. His senses do not run towards them. Vairagyam Indifference to the senseobjects such as sound; touch; etc.; for pleasure seen or unseen; heard or unheard (for pleasure in heaven; too). Anahankara The idea that arises in the mind I am superior to all; is egoism. Absence of this idea is Anahankara or absence of egoism. Reflection on the evils and miseries of birth; death; old age and sickness One has to dwell in the womb for nine months and to undergo the pangs of birth. These are the evils of birth. The man of wisdom never forgets the troubles of birth; death; old age; etc. He wants to avoid being born. In old age the intellect becomes dull and the memory is lost and the senses become cold and weak. There is decay of power and strength. The old man is treated with contempt by his relatives. These are the evils of old age. A sick man who suffers from piles; suffers from weakness and anaemia through loss of blood. A man suffering from malaria gets an enlarged spleen. These are the evils caused by sickness. Pain The three types of pain or afflictions are referred to in the Introduction. Pain itself is evil. Birth is painful. Birth is misery. Death is misery. Old age is misery. Sickness is misery. Birth; death; etc.; are all miseries; because they produce misery or pain. By such reflection and perception of the evil in these arises indifference to the pleasures of the body and the sensual pleasures. Then the mind turns within towards the innermost Self to attain knowledge of the Self. As the perception of the evil of pain in birth helps to obtain knowledge of the Self; it is spoken of as knowledge.
Commentary by Swami Sivananda
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