अनन्तसमतानन्दं परमार्थं स्वकं विदुः । स येभ्यः प्राप्यते यत्नात्सेव्यास्ते शास्त्रसाधवः ॥ २८ ॥
anantasamatānandaṁ paramārthaṁ svakaṁ viduḥ | sa yēbhyaḥ prāpyatē yatnātsēvyāstē śāstrasādhavaḥ || 28 ||
Translation
They know one's own highest good to be endless, the bliss of sameness. Those from whom it is won by effort, the scriptures and the good, are to be served.
Word by word
- ananta
- endless
- samatā
- of sameness
- ānandaṁ
- the bliss
- paramārthaṁ
- highest good
- svakaṁ
- one's own
- viduḥ
- they know
- sa
- (saḥ) it
- yēbhyaḥ
- from whom
- prāpyatē
- is won
- yatnāt
- by effort
- sēvyās
- (sevyāḥ) are to be served
- tē
- those
- śāstra
- the scriptures
- sādhavaḥ
- and the good
Meaning
This too is repeated from before (2.6.34), with one addition. The highest good is now called svakam, "one's own". It is not an object to be got from somewhere else. It is what one already is, once ignorance's unevenness has gone. The commentary reads "the sameness" as the ending of the unevenness made by ignorance, and asks that scripture and the great be served with bowing. Another commentary adds: with bows, with questions and with attendance, words that recall the Gītā on approaching a teacher. Effort has its place even here. Although the goal is one's own, it is won by effort (yatnāt), since what has been forgotten has to be found again.