तत्रैवं सति कर्तारमात्मानं केवलं तु यः | पश्यत्यकृतबुद्धित्वान्न स पश्यति दुर्मतिः ||१८-१६||
tatraivaṃ sati kartāramātmānaṃ kevalaṃ tu yaḥ . paśyatyakṛtabuddhitvānna sa paśyati durmatiḥ ||18-16||
Chapter 18 · Verse 16
Moksha Sannyasa Yoga
मोक्षसंन्यासयोग
Translation
18.16 Such being the case, he who sees only the self as the agent on account of the uncultivated understanding - he, of wicked mind, does not see at all.
Meaning
The Self is always actionless. He is unattached like ether. He is always the silent witness. He is the spectator of activity. The egoistic man of little understanding only thinks that he is the real agent and so he is bound by actions. He takes birth again and again to reap the fruits of his actions. For him who considers the body as consciousness. God or the Self it naturally follows that the Self is the agent or the doer. He who identifies himself with the body who has taken the body as the pure Self has cast a net over himself and he leads a deluded life of utter ignorance. He is bound by the fetters or bonds of Karma. He is ever shut up in the prisonhouse of this body. He who has not united himself with the Buddhi who has got an impure or untrained understanding who regards the Self as the actor or the agent is certainly a man of perverted intelligence. He is deluded. He is really a blind man. He sees not though he has eyes. He does not behold the essence of things. He has no idea of the supreme Principle (the Self) Which is Itself actionless. Which ever stands as a silent witness of the activities of all minds and all organs of all beings. Which moves the minds organs and the lifeforce and the bodies to action just as the magnet makes the iron pieces move. He does not behold the truth about the Self and action. Durmati Evilminded person A man of perverted intellect or undeveloped reason. He thinks that he alone is the doer or agent. He does not understand anything. He has no knowledge of the,actionless pure selfluminous Self. The ignorant man of untrained understanding identifies himself with the five causes and regards the pure actionless Self as the agent or doer of the actions which are really done by these five causes. What is the reason for this Why does he regard them so Because he is not endowed with a pure and subtle intellect his understanding (Buddhi) has not been trained in the practice of Vedanta he is not eipped with the four means of salvation his intellect has not been trained by the teachings of the preceptor or the spiritual teacher in the methods of logical reasoning. He who considers that the pure actionless Self is the agent or the doer is certainly a man of untrained understanding. He has no knowledge of the actionless Self and action. Therefore he is a man of perverted intelligence. His intellect works or moves in the wrong direction. His intellect moves in the sensual grooves or avenues. It runs like the vicious horse and leads to birth and death. The technie of Buddhi Yoga taught in the Gita enables one effectively to prevent this. He does not perceive or cognise the Truth though he has eyes. Though he sees he sees the external gross illusory everchanging perishable objects only. He does not behold the one immortal unchanging allblissful essence which is the basis or substratum of everything. He is like the man with jaundiced eyes who sees all objects tinged with yellow colur or like the man suffering from diplopia who beholds many moons or like the man who thinks that the moon moves when the clouds move or like the man who seated in a train imagines that the trees are moving when it is the train that is really moving. (Cf. V.15XIII.30)
Word by word
तत्र there (the case) एवम् thus सति being कर्तारम् as the agent आत्मानम् the Self केवलम् alone तु verily यः who पश्यति sees अकृतबुद्धित्वात् owing to untrained understanding न not सः he पश्यति sees दुर्मतिः of perverted intelligence.