जीव एव हि संसारश्चेतना दुःखसन्ततिः । अस्मिन् ज्ञाते न विज्ञातं किञ्चिद्भवति कुत्रचित् ॥ १६ ॥
jīva ēva hi saṁsāraścētanā duḥkhasantatiḥ | asmin jñātē na vijñātaṁ kiñcidbhavati kutracit || 16 ||
- Another reading: दुःखसन्ततेः (duḥkhasantatēḥ) for दुःखसन्ततिः
Translation
The jīva alone is saṁsāra, sentience, the stream of sorrow. When it is known, nothing anywhere has been known.
Word by word
- jīva
- the jīva
- ēva
- alone
- hi
- indeed
- saṁsāraś
- (saṁsāraḥ) saṁsāra
- cētanā
- sentience
- duḥkha
- of sorrow
- santatiḥ
- the stream
- asmin
- it
- jñātē
- when known
- na
- not
- vijñātaṁ
- has been known
- kiñcid
- (kiñcit) anything
- bhavati
- is
- kutracit
- anywhere
Meaning
The commentary: the jīva is what wanders, and it is the jīva that lives through chain after chain of sorrow. So to know the jīva, as a conscious thing among things, is to know nothing that matters. All the learning about the self as an individual, its states and its powers, is still learning about the one that suffers.