शास्त्रतो गुरुतश्चैव स्वतश्चेति त्रिसिद्धयः । सर्वत्र पुरुषार्थस्य न दैवस्य कदाचन ॥ ११ ॥
śāstratō gurutaścaiva svataścēti trisiddhayaḥ | sarvatra puruṣārthasya na daivasya kadācana || 11 ||
Translation
From scripture, from the teacher and from oneself: these are the three attainments. Everywhere they belong to effort, never to fate.
Word by word
- śāstratō
- (śāstrataḥ) from scripture
- gurutaś
- (gurutaḥ) from the teacher
- ca
- and
- ēva
- indeed
- svataś
- (svataḥ) from oneself
- iti
- these are
- tri
- the three
- siddhayaḥ
- attainments
- sarvatra
- everywhere
- puruṣārthasya
- of effort
- na
- not
- daivasya
- of fate
- kadācana
- ever
Meaning
Three sources of attainment (tri-siddhayaḥ). The commentary explains them with care: worldly aims are gained by one's own labour; rites such as sacrifice by one's labour with the help of scripture; and knowledge by one's labour, with scripture and the teacher's instruction. So the highest gain has all three sources, and none of them can be spared. Teachings and teachers are real gifts, and yet what is received still has to be done. It is worth noticing that "oneself" (svataḥ) is common to all three cases. No book or teacher can do one's reading of them.