श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । प्राप्य व्याधिविनिर्मुक्तं देहमल्पाधिवेदनम् । तथाऽऽत्मनि समादध्याद्यथा भूयो न जायते ॥ १ ॥
śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | prāpya vyādhivinirmuktaṁ dēhamalpādhivēdanam | tathā’’tmani samādadhyādyathā bhūyō na jāyatē || 1 ||
Translation
Śrī Vasiṣṭha said: Having gained a body free of illness, with little distress of mind, one should so settle the mind in the Self that one is not born again.
Word by word
- śrīvasiṣṭha
- Śrī Vasiṣṭha
- uvāca
- said
- prāpya
- having gained
- vyādhi
- of illness
- vinirmuktaṁ
- free
- dēham
- a body
- alpa
- little
- ādhi
- of mind
- vēdanam
- with distress
- tathā
- so
- ātmani
- in the Self
- samādadhyād
- (samādadhyāt) one should settle the mind
- yathā
- that
- bhūyō
- (bhūyaḥ) again
- na
- not
- jāyatē
- one is born
Meaning
The sarga opens with a condition and a task. A body without illness (vyādhi) and a mind with little distress (alpa-ādhi-vedana) are not given to everyone, and not for long; they are the working capital of a life. The task is named in a single word, samādadhyāt, "let him settle", which is the verb of samādhi: to gather the mind and set it on the Self (ātman). The aim is stated as plainly as possible: so that one is not born again. The word "having gained" carries the urgency: the moment to do this is now, while the health lasts. Those who put it off until retirement or illness have usually not noticed that the very conditions for it are what they are spending.