या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी | यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः ||२-६९||
yā niśā sarvabhūtānāṃ tasyāṃ jāgarti saṃyamī . yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ ||2-69||
Chapter 2 · Verse 69
Sankhya Yoga
सांख्ययोग
In plain words
You should awaken to your spiritual reality while letting go of worldly illusions. What ordinary people see as bright reality is actually dark ignorance, a product of maya, or cosmic illusion. By contrast, the inner peace of jnana, which means self-knowledge, seems like darkness to the undisciplined, but it is the ultimate light where the wise remain fully awake.
Translation
2.69 What is night for all beings, in it the controlled one is awake; when all beings are awake, that is the night to the sage who sees.
Meaning
That which is real for the wordlyminded people is illusion for the sage and vice versa. The sage lives in the Self. This is day for him. He is unconscious of the wordly phenomena. They are night for him as it were. The ordinary man is unconscious of his real nature. Life in the spirit is night for him. He is experiencing the objects of sensual enjoyment. This is day for him. The Self is a nonentity for him For a sage this world is a nonentity. The wordlyminded people are in utter darkness as they have no knowledge of the Self. What is darkness for them is all light for the sage. The Self. Atman or Brahman is night for the worldlyminded persons. But the sage is fully awake. He is directly cognising the supreme Reality the Light of lights. He is full of illumination and AtmaJnana or knowledge of the Self.
Word by word
या which निशा night सर्वभूतानाम् of all beings तस्याम् in that जागर्ति wakes संयमी the selfcontrolled यस्याम् in which जाग्रति wake भूतानि all beings सा that निशा night पश्यतः (of the) seeing मुनेः of the Muni.