बोधैकनिष्ठतां यातो जाग्रत्येव सुषुप्तवत् । य आस्ते व्यवहर्तैव जीवन्मुक्तः स उच्यते ॥ ५ ॥
bōdhaikaniṣṭhatāṁ yātō jāgratyēva suṣuptavat | ya āstē vyavahartaiva jīvanmuktaḥ sa ucyatē || 5 ||
Translation
He who has come to rest in awakening alone, and stays awake as though in deep sleep, even while acting: he is called freed while living.
Word by word
- bōdha
- in awakening
- ēka
- alone
- niṣṭhatāṁ
- rest
- yātō
- who has come to
- jāgrati
- stays awake
- ēva
- even
- suṣupta
- in deep sleep
- vat
- as though
- ya
- he who
- āstē
- stays
- vyavahartā
- acting
- jīvan
- while living
- muktaḥ
- freed
- sa
- he
- ucyatē
- is called
Meaning
Deep sleep is the image of a mind without disturbance: no wanting, no fear, no sense of a world pressing on one. The freed one has that stillness while awake and at work. The commentary brings in the Gītā (5.8): "I do nothing at all", so thinks the knower of truth, while seeing, hearing, touching. Engaged in action, he stays free of change, as in deep sleep, because he rests in awakening alone (bodha-eka-niṣṭhā). Not a dull sleep, then, but the clarity of one whom nothing seen can shake.