आबालमेतत्संसिद्धं यत्र यत्र यथा यथा । दैवं तु न क्वचिद्दृष्टमतो जगति पौरुषम् ॥ ६ ॥
ābālamētatsaṁsiddhaṁ yatra yatra yathā yathā | daivaṁ tu na kvaciddṛṣṭamatō jagati pauruṣam || 6 ||
Translation
Down to children, this is established, wherever and in whatever way it applies. Fate is nowhere seen; so in the world there is effort.
Word by word
- ābālam
- down to children
- ētat
- this
- saṁsiddhaṁ
- is established
- yatra
- wherever
- yathā
- in whatever way
- daivaṁ
- fate
- tu
- but
- na
- not
- kvacid
- (kvacit) anywhere
- dṛṣṭam
- seen
- atō
- (ataḥ) so
- jagati
- in the world
- pauruṣam
- effort
Meaning
Children know it (ā-bālam): the child who wants the toy crawls to it. The phrase "wherever and in whatever way" (yatra yatra yathā yathā) carries the commentary's careful detail: in meditation the mind's effort is chief, with posture and silence as its limbs; in praise, speech is chief, with attention and turning toward the deity as limbs; in a pilgrimage, the body is chief, with restraint of speech and mind as its limbs. Sometimes two or three are chief together. So there is no single thing called effort. Each undertaking asks for its own proportion, and part of wisdom is to see which one is called for. Fate has no such anatomy. One can describe how a thing is done, but nobody can describe how fate does anything.