श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । नाऽऽकृतिर्न च कर्माणि न स्पन्दो न पराक्रमः । तन्मिथ्याज्ञानवद्रूढं दैवं नाम किमुच्यते ॥ १ ॥
śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | nā’’kṛtirna ca karmāṇi na spandō na parākramaḥ | tanmithyājñānavadrūḍhaṁ daivaṁ nāma kimucyatē || 1 ||
Translation
Śrī Vasiṣṭha said: It has no form, no actions, no movement, no prowess. Grown up in people's minds like a false notion, what is this that is called fate?
Word by word
- śrīvasiṣṭha
- Śrī Vasiṣṭha
- uvāca
- said
- na
- no
- ākṛtir
- (ākṛtiḥ) form
- ca
- and
- karmāṇi
- actions
- spandō
- (spandaḥ) movement
- parākramaḥ
- prowess
- tan
- (tat) this
- mithyā
- false
- jñānavad
- (jñānavat) like a notion
- rūḍhaṁ
- grown up
- daivaṁ
- fate
- nāma
- called
- kim
- what
- ucyatē
- is
Meaning
The commentary sets the scene. Rāma's face shows that he has not been won over: fate is praised in revelation, law, legend and history, and how can so old a word be denied? So Vasiṣṭha asks the question from the beginning: what is it? Name one property. A real thing has a shape (ākṛti), does something (karma), moves (spanda), has force (parākrama). Fate has none of these, and the commentary adds that nobody can state what it is, since it has no reality beyond its fame. The word rūḍha, "grown", is exact. Like a false notion (mithyā-jñāna) it took root and spread with no one planting it. Many of the things we most firmly believe about our lives have this standing: everybody says them.