जन्तुर्यद्वासनो राम तत्कर्त्ता भवति क्षणात् । अन्यकर्मान्यभावश्चेत्येतन्नैवोपपद्यते ॥ १४ ॥
janturyadvāsanō rāma tatkarttā bhavati kṣaṇāt | anyakarmānyabhāvaścētyētannaivōpapadyatē || 14 ||
Translation
Whatever tendency a creature has, Rāma, of that he becomes the doer in a moment. That the action should be one thing and the inner state another does not stand.
Word by word
- jantur
- (jantuḥ) a creature
- yad
- (yat) whatever
- vāsanō
- (vāsanaḥ) tendency has
- rāma
- Rāma
- tat
- of that
- karttā
- the doer
- bhavati
- he becomes
- kṣaṇāt
- in a moment
- anya
- another
- karma
- the action
- bhāvaś
- (bhāvaḥ) the inner state
- ca
- and
- ity
- (iti) that
- ētan
- (etat) this
- na
- not
- ēva
- indeed
- upapadyatē
- does stand
Meaning
So there is no gap between inclination and deed. As the tendency is, so the act, at once (kṣaṇāt). Another commentary is plain: the talk of the tendency being one thing and the action another will not do. We like to imagine that our real self is better than what we do, and that the deed was somehow not us. This verse closes that door gently. What we do shows what we have been feeding. It has an encouraging side: anyone who wishes to know what is truly in his mind need only look at the last week.