यद्यदभ्यस्यते लोके तन्मयेनैव भूयते । इत्याकुमारं प्राज्ञेषु दृष्टं सन्देहवर्जितम् ॥ ३९ ॥
yadyadabhyasyatē lōkē tanmayēnaiva bhūyatē | ityākumāraṁ prājñēṣu dṛṣṭaṁ sandēhavarjitam || 39 ||
Translation
Whatever is practised in the world, one becomes made of that. This has been seen beyond doubt by the wise, and from childhood.
Word by word
- yadyad
- (yad yad) whatever
- abhyasyatē
- is practised
- lōkē
- in the world
- tan
- (tat) of that
- mayēna
- made
- ēva
- indeed
- bhūyatē
- one becomes
- ity
- (iti) this
- ākumāraṁ
- from childhood
- prājñēṣu
- by the wise
- dṛṣṭaṁ
- has been seen
- sandēha
- doubt
- varjitam
- beyond
Meaning
One line of Indian psychology in its simplest form. Tan-maya: made of that. One is made of what one practises. The wise have seen it, and so has anyone who has watched a child (ā-kumāram). A person does not merely do what he does; he turns into it. The carpenter's hands, the worrier's face, the scholar's stoop, the kindness of those who have been kind for fifty years: nobody has to argue for this.