रक्तमांसास्थियन्त्राणि बहून्यतितराणि च । पदार्थानभिकर्षन्ति नाऽस्ति तेषु सचेतनः ॥ ३५ ॥
raktamāṁsāsthiyantrāṇi bahūnyatitarāṇi ca | padārthānabhikarṣanti nā’sti tēṣu sacētanaḥ || 35 ||
Translation
"Machines of blood, flesh and bone, many and of every kind, drag objects to themselves; there is no one conscious among them."
Word by word
- rakta
- of blood
- māṁsa
- flesh
- asthi
- and bone
- yantrāṇi
- machines
- bahūni
- many
- atitarāṇi
- of every kind
- ca
- and
- padārthān
- objects
- abhikarṣanti
- drag to themselves
- na
- no
- asti
- there is
- tēṣu
- among them
- sacētanaḥ
- one conscious
Meaning
Hard words. Most bodies are machines (yantra) of blood, flesh and bone: they pull objects towards themselves, and there is no one awake (sacetana) in them. The commentary: those who, taking the body of blood, flesh and bone for the self, spend their lives enjoying sound, touch and form, and make no effort for knowledge of the Self, are like inert things. The verse does not say they lack consciousness, but that they do not use it: they live as machines for getting. The reader may notice the hours in which they too were a machine of that kind, and the moments in which someone woke up.