प्राक्स्वकर्मेतराकारं दैवं नाम न विद्यते । बालः प्रबलपुंसेव तज्जेतुमिह शक्यते ॥ ४ ॥
prāksvakarmētarākāraṁ daivaṁ nāma na vidyatē | bālaḥ prabalapuṁsēva tajjētumiha śakyatē || 4 ||
Translation
There is no such thing as a fate of any form other than one's own past action. It can be overcome here, as a child is by a strong man.
Word by word
- prāk
- past
- sva
- one's own
- karma
- action
- itara
- other than
- ākāraṁ
- of any form
- daivaṁ
- fate
- nāma
- such a thing as
- na
- no
- vidyatē
- there is
- bālaḥ
- a child
- prabala
- strong
- puṁsā
- by a man
- iva
- as
- taj
- (tat) it
- jētum
- to overcome
- iha
- here
- śakyatē
- can be
Meaning
The claim stated flatly: fate has no form (ākāra) other than one's own earlier action (prāk-sva-karma). Two consequences follow, and the verse holds both. First, it is one's own: nobody else wrote it. Second, being action and not some higher order of power, it stands on the same ground as the action of today, and it can be met and beaten "here" (iha), in this life. The image is of a child held by a strong man (prabala-puṁs), which another commentary spells out: as a strong man overcomes a child, so a strong effort in this life overcomes the other. The picture has a comfort in it. What frightens us as a vast decree may be only a child: our own past, smaller than the one who is now awake to it.