एवं कर्मस्थकर्माणि कर्म प्रौढा स्ववासना । वासना मनसो नाऽन्या मनो हि पुरुषः स्मृतः ॥ १७ ॥
ēvaṁ karmasthakarmāṇi karma prauḍhā svavāsanā | vāsanā manasō nā’nyā manō hi puruṣaḥ smṛtaḥ || 17 ||
Translation
So it is with the actions of those who act: action is one's own matured tendency, and the tendency is nothing other than the mind. And the mind is said to be the person.
Word by word
- ēvaṁ
- so
- karmastha
- of those who act
- karmāṇi
- the actions
- karma
- action
- prauḍhā
- matured
- sva
- one's own
- vāsanā
- tendency
- manasō
- (manasaḥ) than the mind
- na
- nothing
- anyā
- other
- manō
- (manaḥ) the mind
- hi
- and
- puruṣaḥ
- the person
- smṛtaḥ
- is said to be
Meaning
A chain of identities, the centre of the sarga. Fate is action; action is matured tendency (prauḍhā vāsanā); tendency is mind; mind is the person. The commentary supports the steps with the Upaniṣad's reasoning that an effect is only a name, and the clay alone is real: "vācārambhaṇaṁ vikāro nāmadheyam". An effect does not stand apart from its cause. So nothing in the series is outside oneself. Rāma's fear was of a past that is real and other. The verse replies that the past is real, and that it is not other. It is you. What drives you is yourself, as you have made yourself so far.