स्वयत्नमात्रे यदुपासको य- स्तद्दैवशब्दार्थमपास्य दूरे । शूरेण साधो पदमुत्तमं त- त्स्वपौरुषेणैव हि लभ्यतेऽन्तः ॥ ३४ ॥
svayatnamātrē yadupāsakō ya- staddaivaśabdārthamapāsya dūrē | śūrēṇa sādhō padamuttamaṁ ta- tsvapauruṣēṇaiva hi labhyatē’ntaḥ || 34 ||
Translation
The man who worships what is in fact his own effort alone, by the word "fate": let him put that meaning far away, good one; that highest state is won within by the brave, through his own effort alone.
Word by word
- sva
- one's own
- yatna
- effort
- mātrē
- in what is alone
- yad
- what
- upāsakō
- (upāsakaḥ) the man who worships
- yas
- (yaḥ) who
- tad
- that
- daiva
- "fate"
- śabda
- by the word
- artham
- meaning
- apāsya
- let him put
- dūrē
- far away
- śūrēṇa
- by the brave
- sādhō
- good one
- padam
- state
- uttamaṁ
- highest
- tat
- that
- pauruṣēṇa
- through effort
- ēva
- alone
- hi
- indeed
- labhyatē
- is won
- antaḥ
- within
Meaning
The sarga closes in upajāti. The commentary says Vasiṣṭha looks back, as a lion looks back over the ground it has crossed, and recalls the refutation of fate: this is the fruit of effort. What a man calls fate is in truth only his own action of former births; one who takes it for fate thinks, "I am in its power; I will do as it makes me", and gives himself to its worship. The brave seeker, master of his senses, drives that imagined fate away and by his own effort finds the highest state in his own heart.