साधुसङ्गमसच्छास्त्रपरतैवाऽत्र कारणम् । साधनं बाधनं मोहजालस्य यदकृत्रिमम् ॥ ५ ॥
sādhusaṅgamasacchāstraparataivā’tra kāraṇam | sādhanaṁ bādhanaṁ mōhajālasya yadakṛtrimam || 5 ||
Translation
Here the cause is only devotion to the company of the good and to true scripture; and the means that does away with the net of delusion is the one that is not made.
Word by word
- sādhu
- of the good
- saṅgama
- to the company
- sacchāstra
- true scripture
- paratā
- devotion
- ēva
- only
- atra
- here
- kāraṇam
- the cause
- sādhanaṁ
- the means
- bādhanaṁ
- that does away with
- mōha
- of delusion
- jālasya
- the net
- yad
- (yat) which
- akṛtrimam
- is not made
Meaning
Someone may object, the commentary says: how can knowledge, the means, be wholly free of works? The answer: what leads to it is the company of the good and the study of true scripture. And what actually removes the net of ignorance is not made at all: Brahman, ever present, when it shines in the final mental act of direct seeing, destroys the net that ignorance has spun, and nothing else can. The other commentary says the same: the direct seeing of the unmade, ever-present Brahman is the means. Company and study prepare; the unmade itself frees.