कर्म यः प्राक्तनं तुच्छं न निहन्ति शुभेहितैः । अज्ञो जन्तुरनीशोऽसावात्मनः सुखदुःखयोः ॥ २६ ॥
karma yaḥ prāktanaṁ tucchaṁ na nihanti śubhēhitaiḥ | ajñō janturanīśō’sāvātmanaḥ sukhaduḥkhayōḥ || 26 ||
Translation
He who does not by good endeavours destroy his paltry past action is an ignorant creature, no master of his own joy and sorrow.
Word by word
- karma
- action
- yaḥ
- he who
- prāktanaṁ
- past
- tucchaṁ
- paltry
- na
- not
- nihanti
- destroy
- śubha
- good
- īhitaiḥ
- by endeavours
- ajñō
- (ajñaḥ) ignorant
- jantur
- (jantuḥ) a creature
- anīśō
- (anīśaḥ) no master
- asāv
- (asau) he is
- ātmanaḥ
- of his own
- sukha
- joy
- duḥkhayōḥ
- and sorrow
Meaning
Two words carry the verse. Past action is called paltry (tuccha), against all our fear of it. And the one who leaves it standing is called anīśa, "no master" of his own joy and sorrow. This verse and the next take up a well-known saying of the Mahābhārata, that the creature is ignorant and no master of its own joy and sorrow, and goes to heaven or hell as the Lord sends it. In that saying the helplessness is everyone's condition. Vasiṣṭha keeps its words and limits it to one kind of person: the man who has not done the work of good endeavour (śubha-īhita). The commentary: such people are wholly indifferent both to removing their pain and to bringing about their joy. Helplessness, then, is a state one remains in. It has no standing as a law of life.