Devanagari
केचिद् विकल्पवसना आहुरात्मानमात्मन: ।
दैवमन्येऽपरे कर्म स्वभावमपरे प्रभुम् ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
kecid vikalpa-vasanā
āhur ātmānam ātmanaḥ
daivam anye ’pare karma
svabhāvam apare prabhum
Synonyms
kecit
—
some of them
;
vikalpa
—
vasanāḥ — those who deny all kinds of duality
;
āhuḥ
—
declare
;
ātmānam
—
own self
;
ātmanaḥ
—
of the self
;
daivam
—
superhuman
;
anye
—
others
;
apare
—
someone else
;
karma
—
activity
;
svabhāvam
—
material nature
;
apare
—
many other
;
prabhum
—
authorities .
Translation
Some of the philosophers, who deny all sorts of duality, declare that one’s own self is responsible for his personal happiness and distress. Others say that superhuman powers are responsible, while yet others say that activity is responsible, and the gross materialists maintain that nature is the ultimate cause.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Some say the self is the cause of suffering. Others say planets are the cause of suffering. Others say karma is the cause. Others say the inherent property of matter is the cause.
Purport
As referred to above, philosophers like Jaimini and his followers establish that fruitive activity is the root cause of all distress and happiness, and that even if there is a superior authority, some superhuman powerful God or gods, He or they are also under the influence of fruitive activity because they reward result according to one’s action. They say that action is not independent because action is performed by some performer; therefore, the performer himself is the cause of his own happiness or distress. In the
Bhagavad-gītā
(6.5)
also it is confirmed that by one’s mind, freed from material affection, one can deliver himself from the sufferings of material pangs. So one should not entangle oneself in matter by the mind’s material affections. Thus one’s own mind is one’s friend or enemy in one’s material happiness and distress.
Atheistic, materialistic Sāṅkhyaites conclude that material nature is the cause of all causes. According to them, combinations of material elements are the causes of material happiness and distress, and disintegration of matter is the cause of freedom from all material pangs. Gautama and Kaṇāda find that atomic combination is the cause of everything, and impersonalists like Aṣṭāvakra discover that the spiritual effulgence of Brahman is the cause of all causes. But in the
Bhagavad-gītā
the Lord Himself declares that He is the source of impersonal Brahman, and therefore He, the Personality of Godhead, is the ultimate cause of all causes. It is also confirmed in the
Brahma-saṁhitā
that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate cause of all causes.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Here the different opinions are described. Some, the yogīs, who cover up (vasanā) the difference (vikalpa), say the soul, master of the self, gives happiness and suffering. The Gītā (6.5) says ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmana: the ātmā itself is the friend of the soul and the enemy of the soul. Or the meaning can be: some, the advaitins, who say that the jīva and the lord become one say that the ātmā is the source of happiness and suffering. They also say that devatās cannot be the cause since they are controlled by karma as well, and karma cannot be the cause because it is not independent. Thus only the ātmā is the cause and nothing else. Others, those who believe in planets controlled by devatās, say that planets are the cause. The Mīmāṁsakas say that karma is the cause. Others, the Lokāyatas, say that svabhāva, the inherent property of matter, is the cause.