नैतदस्याऽवशं चित्तमभावात् पूर्वकर्मणाम् । अद्य तावदनेनाऽऽद्यं न किञ्चित्कर्म सञ्चितम् ॥ २२ ॥
naitadasyā’vaśaṁ cittamabhāvāt pūrvakarmaṇām | adya tāvadanēnā’’dyaṁ na kiñcitkarma sañcitam || 22 ||
Translation
Because there are no former actions, his mind is not in bondage; and he has not, until now, gathered any first action at all.
Word by word
- na
- not
- ētad
- (etat) this
- asya
- his
- avaśaṁ
- in bondage
- cittam
- mind
- abhāvāt
- because there are no
- pūrva
- former
- karmaṇām
- actions
- adya
- now
- tāvad
- (tāvat) until
- anēna
- by him
- ādyaṁ
- first
- kiñcit
- any
- karma
- action
- sañcitam
- has been gathered
Meaning
The commentary answers an objection: granted he has no deeds of the body, surely he has deeds of the mind? No: the mind's movement depends on the impressions (vāsanā) of what a former body did, and with no former deeds the mind is under no such compulsion. Nor has he, in this life, gathered any action of the mind that could help Death. A mind that is not driven by its past does not make new bonds; it acts, if it acts, freely.