पौरुषेण कृतं कर्म दैवाद् यदभिनश्यति । तत्र नाशयितुर्ज्ञेयं पौरुषं बलवत्तरम् ॥ ७ ॥
pauruṣēṇa kṛtaṁ karma daivād yadabhinaśyati | tatra nāśayiturjñēyaṁ pauruṣaṁ balavattaram || 7 ||
Translation
When a work done by effort is ruined by "fate", know that there the effort of the one who ruined it was the stronger.
Word by word
- pauruṣēṇa
- by effort
- kṛtaṁ
- done
- karma
- a work
- daivād
- (daivāt) by fate
- yad
- (yat) when
- abhinaśyati
- is ruined
- tatra
- there
- nāśayitur
- (nāśayituḥ) of the one who ruined it
- jñēyaṁ
- know
- pauruṣaṁ
- the effort
- balavattaram
- was the stronger
Meaning
Now the hard case, the objection everyone raises: I worked and it failed, so surely fate is stronger than effort. Vasiṣṭha takes the case and turns it round. Wherever fate is said to prevail, effort is what prevailed: someone's greater effort undid mine. The commentary sets the verse under that heading, and another commentary draws the practical end: it may be one's own past effort that did the ruining, and so one must meet it with a stronger effort still. Failure, on this reading, is information. It says nothing about the limits of striving; it tells how strong the opposing force was, and asks for more, or for something different.