यथा यथा प्रयत्नो मे फलमाशु तथा तथा । इत्यहं पौरुषादेव फलभाङ् न तु दैवतः ॥ १४ ॥
yathā yathā prayatnō mē phalamāśu tathā tathā | ityahaṁ pauruṣādēva phalabhāṅ na tu daivataḥ || 14 ||
Translation
As my effort has been, so at once has been the fruit: thus I have my fruit from effort alone, and not from fate.
Word by word
- yathā
- as
- prayatnō
- (prayatnaḥ) effort
- mē
- my
- phalam
- the fruit
- āśu
- at once
- tathā
- so
- ity
- (iti) thus
- ahaṁ
- I
- pauruṣād
- (pauruṣāt) from effort
- ēva
- alone
- phalabhāṅ
- (phalabhāk) have my fruit
- na
- not
- tu
- and
- daivataḥ
- from fate
Meaning
Vasiṣṭha steps forward as a witness. The commentary takes this "I" as his own: having settled this, I have become a vessel of good fruit by striving, and fate has done nothing for me. Another commentary takes it as the thought everyone should hold about himself. Either way the verse is in the first person, which is rare in the argument and has its own force. All the examples so far have been of others. The real proof of the teaching is in what one finds by trying it. A person may try the claim for a season in one small matter, and watch.