वासनौघस्त्वया पूर्वमभ्यासेन घनीकृतः । शुभो वाऽप्यशुभो वाऽपि शुभमद्य घनीकुरु ॥ ३४ ॥
vāsanaughastvayā pūrvamabhyāsēna ghanīkṛtaḥ | śubhō vā’pyaśubhō vā’pi śubhamadya ghanīkuru || 34 ||
Translation
The flood of tendencies has been thickened by you in the past through practice, good or bad. Today, thicken the good.
Word by word
- vāsanā
- of tendencies
- ōghas
- (oghaḥ) the flood
- tvayā
- by you
- pūrvam
- in the past
- abhyāsēna
- through practice
- ghanīkṛtaḥ
- has been thickened
- śubhō
- (śubhaḥ) good
- vā
- or
- api
- even
- aśubhō
- (aśubhaḥ) bad
- śubham
- the good
- adya
- today
- ghanīkuru
- thicken
Meaning
Here is the mechanism. Tendencies grow thick (ghanī-kṛta) by repetition, as milk thickens with boiling. Whatever you have is what you have practised, and that is the whole of it. The instruction takes one line: whatever was done before, now thicken the good. The commentary covers both cases. If your past practice was good, the same practice bears fruit sooner; if bad, the good must be thickened all the more, to overcome it. The word "today" (adya) matters. No inquiry into the past is required before starting.