Chapter 02 – Shloka 55

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Shloka: 

श्रीभगवानुवाच-

प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् ।
आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ॥

Step 1: संधि विच्छेद

Simplifying the Shloka by splitting the compound words (shown in colored fonts).

प्रजहाति यदा कामान् सर्वान् पार्थ मनोगतान् ।
आत्मनि एव आत्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञः तदा उच्यते ॥

The following sandhis are seen in this Shloka.

नि + ए = न्ये

व + आ = वा

ज्ञः + त = ज्ञस्त

दा + उ = दो

There are two Sandhis each in two words of the Shloka. Totally four Sandhis are present in the Shloka.

Step 2: Word by word interpretation

The first line of the Shloka has the verb  ‘प्रजहाति’ having an implied 3rd person as a subject. The second line has the verb ‘उच्यते’ having ‘स्थितप्रज्ञः’ as its subject. 

With this background, let’s have a closer look at each word in the Shloka.

प्रजहाति – The root word is the verb ‘हा’ prefixed by प्र – the meaning of the verb is ‘to give up’ in English and ‘त्याग करना’ in Hindi.

The verb is a Class-3 verb and is in the ‘लट् लकार’ or present tense. The 3rd Person, singular form is applied. The Dhatu Roop are as follows:

जहाति

जहीतः जहितः

जहति

यदा – An Avyaya meaning ‘when’ in English and ‘जब’ in Hindi.

कामान् – Object of the verb ‘प्रजहाति’ and hence the 2nd Vibhakti is applied. The meaning of the word is ‘desires’ in English and ‘कामनाएं’ in Hindi. The root word is the masculine gender word ‘काम’ and hence the Shabd Roop will be like ‘बाल’ in the plural form.

बालम्

बालौ

बालान्

सर्वान् – Root word is ‘सर्व’ meaning ‘all’ in English and ‘सब’ in Hindi. Since the word is an adjective of ‘कामान्’ the same Vibhakti, gender and vachan shall apply. The Shabd Roop will be like ‘बाल’, which are already provided earlier.

पार्थ – Another name of Arjuna, used as Sambodhan form to address Arjuna.

मनोगतान् – Root word is ‘मनोगत’ meaning ‘which comes to mind’ in English and ‘मन में आई ‘ in Hindi. Since the word is an adjective of ‘कामान्’ the same Vibhakti, gender and vachan shall apply. The Shabd Roop will be like ‘बाल’, which are already provided earlier.

Along with the related adjectives and noun, the complete phrase कामान् सर्वान् मनोगतान् means ‘all the desires that come to mind’.

आत्मनि – Root word is the masculine gender word ‘आत्मन्’, meaning ‘soul’ or ‘one’s own self’ in English. The 7th Vibhakti, in Singular form is applied here indicating the use of preposition. Hence the word means ‘in one’s own self’ in English and ‘अपने आप में’ in Hindi.

The Shabd Roop are as follows:

आत्मनि

आत्मनोः

आत्मसु

एव – An Avyaya meaning ‘ही’ in Hindi and ‘only’ in English.

आत्मना – Again the root word is the masculine gender word ‘आत्मन्’, meaning ‘soul’ or ‘one’s own self’ in English. The 3rd Vibhakti, in Singular form is applied here indicating the use of the word ‘by’. Hence the word means ‘by one’s own self’ in English and ‘अपने आप से’ in Hindi.

The Shabd Roop are as follows:

आत्मना

आत्मभ्याम्

आत्मभिः

तुष्टः – Masculine gender noun in 1st Vibhakti, singular form meaning ‘satisfied’ in English and ‘संतुष्ट’ in Hindi. The root word is तुष्ट and the Shand Roop will be similar to ‘बाल’. The 1st Vibhakti, singular form is applicable as the word is a subject of an implied verb ‘भवति’.

This shloka is describing what a ‘स्थितप्रज्ञ’ person is, and the Shloka is implicitly talking of such a person. The word तुष्टः in that case becomes an adjective to the स्थितप्रज्ञ person in the Shloka.

The Shabd Roop will be as follows:

बालः

बालौ

बालाः

स्थितप्रज्ञः – Again the word is in 1st Vibhakti, singular form. The root word is ‘स्थितप्रज्ञ’ meaning ‘a person settled in mind and meditation’. The word is an adjective of an implicit ‘सः’ (meaning in this sense उसको in Hindi and “him” in English.)

Strictly speaking this word is a कर्म and not a कर्ता, but still the 1st Vibhakti form applies as the verb ‘उच्यते’ is in कर्मणि form. कर्मणि forms are like passive voice, and while in English we say the object becomes a subject in passive voice, a similar concept is applicable in Sanskrit by letting the कर्म take the 1st Vibhakti instead of the usual 2nd Vibhakti.

The Shabd roop will be same as ‘बाल’ and as the same has been reproduced above, it is not being repeated again.

तदा – An Avyaya meaning ‘then’ in English and ‘तब’ in Hindi. Generally always accompanies the word ‘यदा’

उच्यते – Root word is the verb ‘वच्’, meaning “to say” in English or ‘कहना’ in Hindi, and it is in the लट् लकार, 3rd Person, singular case. The verb as mentioned earlier is in कर्मणि form.

The Dhatu Roop are as follows:

उच्यते

उच्येते

उच्यन्ते

Step 3: Rearrangement of the Shloka & Stitching it all together

The rearranged and translated lines for interpretation as per the sequence of Hindi language are as follows.

पार्थ यदा सर्वान् मनोगतान् कामान् प्रजहाति आत्मनि आत्मना एव तुष्टः (भवति) तदा (सः) स्थितप्रज्ञः उच्यते ॥

हे पार्थ ! जब (कोई) सभी मन में आती कामनाओं को त्याग देता है (और) अपने आप में ही संतुष्ट (होता है) तब (उसको) स्थितप्रज्ञ कहते हैं

Notice in the Hindi translation we are using उसको which should ordinarily have traslated into 2nd Vibhakti, but in the Sanskrit form the 1st Vibhakti is applied as the verb is in the कर्मणि form .

Apart from this, the Hindi translations are quite easy to follow for this Shloka.

In English the translations will be as follows:

पार्थ यदा प्रजहाति सर्वान् कामान् मनोगतान् (भवति) तुष्टः आत्मनि आत्मना एव तदा (सः) उच्यते स्थितप्रज्ञः

Oh Parth! When (someone) lets go off all wishes coming in the mind (and) (is) satisfied with oneself only then (he) is called steady of mind!

The English translations are also simple to follow. To represent उच्यते correctly, passive voice has been used.

Chapter 02 – Shloka 48

Shloka: 

योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥

Step 1: संधि विच्छेद

Simplifying the Shloka by splitting the compound words (shown in colored fonts).

योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समः भूत्वा समत्वं योगः उच्यते ॥

No sandhis are seen in this Shloka.

However, there are two cases of Visarga Lop rule applied for the words समः  and योगः. Visarg Lop rules may be checked here http://learnsanskrit.org/references/sandhi/visarga

Step 2: Word by word interpretation

In this Shloka there are two verbs and two verb-like Avyaya words. In the first line of the verse we have कुरु which has योगस्थः as its subject and a verb-like Avyaya त्यक्त्वा having सङ्गं  as its subject. In the 2nd line of the verse, we have a verb like Avyaya ‘भूत्वा’ having समः  as its subject and ‘उच्यते ‘ as a verb having समत्वं as its कर्म, but in the 1st Vibhakti. A कर्म in the 1st Vibhakti? Well, read on, it’s a new concept of grammar being introduced in this Shloka.

With this background, let’s have a closer look at each word in the Shloka.

योगस्थः – The word means ‘established in Yoga’ in English and ‘योग में स्थित’ in Hindi. The word is in 1st Vibhakti, Masculine gender, singular form. The word is a subject of the verb ‘कुरु’. The Shabd Roop will be like ‘बाल’ and are as follows:

बालः

बालौ

बालाः

कुरु – This is in the लोट् लकार of the class 8 verb ‘कृ’ for second person, singular form. The meaning of the word is ‘do’ in English and ‘करो’ in Hindi.

The Dhatu Roop are as follows:

कुरु

कुरुतम्

कुरुत

कर्माणि – The is the 2nd Vibhakti, plural form of the neuter gender root word ‘कर्मन्’. We encountered this word in the previous Shloka also. The word is an object of the verb ‘कुरु’ and together with the verb it means ‘do actions’ and and ‘कर्म को करो’ 

सङ्गं – This word was also encountered in the previous shloka and it means ‘attachment’. The word is in 2nd Vibhakti, singular form, masculine gender. The word is an object of the verb-like Avyaya ‘त्यक्त्वा’. The Shabd Roop will be like ‘बाल’ and are as follows:

बालम्

बालौ

बालान्

त्यक्त्वा – This is a case of the ‘त्वा’ प्रत्यय or suffix and it means having done the action of the accompanying word. In this case the word means ‘त्याग कर’ in Hindi and ‘after renouncing’ in English.

धनञ्जय  – Sambodhan for addressing Arjuna

सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः – This is a compund word ‘सिद्धि-असिद्ध्योः’ – but as the grammar is applied to the compound word, the word is not split as a Sandhi. The word pair means ‘success-failure’ in English. Since the compound word denotes a pair, the dual form is applicable. The word is in 7th Vibhakti and therefore means ‘in success and failure’ in English and ‘सिद्धि असिद्धि में’ in Hindi. 

The Shabd Roop will be like ‘मति’ 

मतौ, मत्याम्

मत्योः

मतिषु

समः – Subject of the verb like Avyaya ‘भूत्वा’ and the word means ‘being same’ in English. The word is in 1st Vibhakti, masculine gender, singular form. The Shabd Roop will be like ‘बाल’ and since this is already explained with the word ‘योगस्थः’ in this Shloka, we are not reproducing the declension table here again.

भूत्वा – Again a case of ‘त्वा’ प्रत्यय and so in this case the word means ‘after becoming’ in English and ‘होकर’ in Hindi.

समत्वं – The last three words of the Shloka, kept me from publishing this shloka earlier. The grammar is unlike what I had encountered ever before. Moreover the word being in neuter gender, it was also not clear whether this was in the 1st Vibhakti or 2nd Vibhakti. 

Finally, thanks to Amit’s efforts, the grammar is understood as follows.

The word ‘समत्वं’ is a ‘कर्म’ of the verb ‘उच्यते’, however it takes the 1st Vibhakti. This is unlike what we have encountered so far. The reason the word takes the 1st Vibhakti is that the verb is in the ‘कर्मणि’ form. More on the ‘कर्मणि’ form when we come to the verb itself. 

The meaning of the word is ‘even minded’ in English  Since the word is in neuter gender, the Shabd Roop will be like ‘फल’ and as discussed 1st Vibhakti is applicable. The Shabd Roop are as follows:

फलम्

फले

फलानि

योगः – The meaning of the phrase ‘समत्वं योगः उच्यते’ is ‘even-mindedness is called Yoga’. Normally I would have thought ‘समत्वं’ would be the adjective of ‘योगः’ but since clearly the genders were not matching, I was stuck. 

I am still not completely clear on this concept, but looks like gender of the adjective need not mandatorily match the noun it describes, in the case when the adjective does not have an equivalent in the respective gender. Hence ‘समत्वं’ is in neuter gender, and ‘योगः’ is in masculine gender. 

The Shabd Roop is obviously like ‘बाल’ and since the Shabd Roop for 1st Vibhakti are already given for the word ‘योगस्थः’, they are not being reproduced here again. 

उच्यते – As discussed earlier, this is a ‘कर्मणि’ form and a verb when in this form, has its focus on the ‘कर्म’. By saying focus on the ‘कर्म’, means the verb will change from singular, to dual to plural based on the number of the कर्म. For instance when saying ‘बालेन पाठः पठ्यते’ the ‘कर्मणि’ verb is pointing to the कर्म ‘पाठः’ in this sentence, which happens to be in the 1st Vibhakti as the verb is ‘कर्मणि’ and the कर्ता in such a case will be in the 3rd Vibhakti.

The verb changes form, based on the कर्म and so in plural form it will be ‘बालेन पाठाः पठ्यन्ते’ Notice the verb has changed form based on the plural usage of the ‘कर्म’.

The ‘कर्मणि’ form is got by inserting a य in between the Atmanepade form and hence we get the form उच्यते, the intermediate य indicating ‘कर्मणि’ form.

The root word is ‘वच्’ and the Dhatu Roop in लोट् लकार for the 3rd person, ‘कर्मणि’ form are as follows:

उच्यते

उच्येते

उच्यन्ते

Step 3: Rearrangement of the Shloka & Stitching it all together

The rearranged and translated lines for interpretation as per the sequence of Hindi language are as follows.

धनञ्जय सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा  सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा योगस्थः कर्माणि कुरु समत्वं योग उच्यते

हे अर्जुन! आसत्ति को त्याग कर सिद्धि और असिद्धि में समान रह कर  योगस्थ (रह कर) कर्म को करो  (इस) समत्व (की स्थिति) को योग कहते हैं

Do not expect one to one equivalence in translation of last three words, as this concept looks unique in Sanskrit. The same applies to English also.

In English the translations will be as follows:

धनञ्जय त्यक्त्वा सङ्गं  भूत्वा समो सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः   योगस्थः कर्माणि कुरु समत्वं योग उच्यते

Oh Arjun! after renouncing attachments (and) after achieving equanimity in both success and failure (and) established in Yoga, do your Karma This state of stability is called Yoga.

Again as you can see, syntactic equivalence is not completely possible in English also. This is the nearest translation with syntactic equivalence I can provide.