द्विविधाश्रमःThe two stages of life
Verse 7
पुरैव कथितं तावत् कलिसम्भवचेष्टितम् । तपःस्वाध्यायहीनानां नृणामल्पायुषामपि । क्लेशप्रयासाशक्तानां कुतो देहपरिश्रमः ॥ ७ ॥
puraiva kathitaṁ tāvat kalisambhavacēṣṭitam | tapaḥsvādhyāyahīnānāṁ nṛṇāmalpāyuṣāmapi | klēśaprayāsāśaktānāṁ kutō dēhapariśramaḥ || 7 ||
Translation
The ways of those born of Kali have been told already: of men without austerity and study of the Veda, short-lived too, unable to bear hardship and strain, whence could bodily exertion come?
Word by word
- purā
- before
- ēva
- already
- kathitaṁ
- has been told
- tāvat
- indeed
- kali
- in Kali
- sambhava
- of those born
- cēṣṭitam
- the behaviour
- tapaḥ
- austerity
- svādhyāya
- and study of the Veda
- hīnānāṁ
- of those without
- nṛṇām
- (nṛṇām) of men
- alpa
- short
- āyuṣām
- (āyuṣām) of life
- api
- too
- klēśa
- hardship
- prayāsa
- and strain
- aśaktānāṁ
- of those unable to bear
- kutō
- (kutaḥ) whence
- dēha
- bodily
- pariśramaḥ
- exertion
Meaning
Śiva gives the reason why two of the four stages fall away. In the first chapter he described the people of the Kali age: weak, short-lived, distracted. The commentary spells it out: they lack tapas, austerity such as the kṛcchra fasts, and svādhyāya, the daily recitation of the Veda; they cannot bear kleśa, distress, or prayāsa, strain. The student's life (brahmacarya) and the forest life (vānaprastha) are both built on long bodily discipline; for such people, "whence could bodily exertion come?" It could not, the commentary says, in any way. The Tantra here adapts its demands to the strength of the age rather than holding up an ideal no one can meet.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
Intending to state the two āśramas that exist in the Kali age, Mahādeva first shows the reason for the absence of the other two āśramas, in a verse and a half beginning "puraiva…". Kali-sambhavāḥ: those whose origin is in Kali; their behaviour has been told already before. Tāvat is for emphasis. Further, "tapaḥ…": of those without tapas and svādhyāya, that is, without austerity, works like the kṛcchra penance, and without study, the recitation of the Veda; kleśa-prayāsa-aśaktānām: kleśa is distress, prayāsa is strain; of those who, being weak, are unable to bear both; and not only of such people but of the short-lived too: for such men, whence could bodily exertion come? It could come in no way at all: that is the sense.