मूढैः प्रकल्पितं दैवं तत्परास्ते क्षयं गताः । प्राज्ञास्तु पौरुषार्थेन पदमुत्तमतां गताः ॥ १६ ॥
mūḍhaiḥ prakalpitaṁ daivaṁ tatparāstē kṣayaṁ gatāḥ | prājñāstu pauruṣārthēna padamuttamatāṁ gatāḥ || 16 ||
Translation
Fools invented fate, and those who were intent on it have gone to ruin. But the wise, by effort, have reached the highest place.
Word by word
- mūḍhaiḥ
- fools
- prakalpitaṁ
- invented
- daivaṁ
- fate
- tat
- on it
- parās
- (parāḥ) intent
- tē
- those
- kṣayaṁ
- to ruin
- gatāḥ
- have gone
- prājñās
- (prājñāḥ) the wise
- tu
- but
- pauruṣa
- effort
- arthēna
- by
- padam
- place
- uttamatāṁ
- the highest
Meaning
History as evidence: look at the outcomes. The first half repeats the verdict of 2.6.36. The second is the counter-record. The commentary: those who relied on fate were destroyed altogether, while the wise, relying on effort, reached the highest state; another commentary reads this as both good standing here and liberation. Both groups had the same world to work with. Reading the lives of those we admire, one rarely finds that they sat and waited. It is hard to name any person, in any tradition, who reached real attainment by being sure that nothing they did could matter.