Devanagari
योगानामात्मसंरोधो मन्त्रोऽस्मि विजिगीषताम् ।
आन्वीक्षिकी कौशलानां विकल्प: ख्यातिवादिनाम् ॥ २४ ॥
Verse text
yogānām ātma-saṁrodho
mantro ’smi vijigīṣatām
ānvīkṣikī kauśalānāṁ
vikalpaḥ khyāti-vādinām
Synonyms
yogānām
—
among the eight stages of yoga practice ( aṣṭāṅga )
;
ātma
—
saṁrodhaḥ — the ultimate stage, samādhi, in which the soul is completely separated from illusion
;
mantraḥ
—
prudent political counsel
;
asmi
—
I am
;
vijigīṣatām
—
among those desiring victory
;
ānvīkṣikī
—
spiritual science, by which one can distinguish between matter and spirit
;
kauśalānām
—
among all processes of expert discrimination
;
vikalpaḥ
—
diversity of perception
;
khyāti
—
vādinām — among the speculative philosophers .
Translation
Among the eight progressive states of yoga I am the final stage, samādhi, in which the soul is completely separated from illusion. Among those desiring victory I am prudent political counsel, and among processes of expert discrimination I am the science of the soul, by which one distinguishes spirit from matter. Among all speculative philosophers I am diversity of perception.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Among the eight aṅgas of yoga, I am the final stage, samādhi. Among those desiring victory, I am counsel advocating war, and among processes of expert discrimination, I am the distinction of ātmā from non-ātmā. Among all speculative philosophers, I am diversity of views.
Among the aṅgas of yoga I am samādhi (ātmā-saṁrodhaḥ). Among those desiring victory, I am counsel which provokes war. Among those skilful in discrimination, I am the knowledge of distinguishing ātmā from non-ātmā. There are different philosophies:
ātma-khyātir asat-khyātir akhyātiḥ khyatir anyathā |
tathā nirvacana-khyātir ity etat khyāti-paṣcakam |
vijṣāna-śūnya-mīmāṁsā-tarkādvaita-vidāṁ matam ||
There are five philosophies propounding ātmā-khyāti, asat-khyāti, akhyāti, anyathā-khyāti, and nirvacana-khyāti found in followers of vijṣana, śūnyavada, Mīmāṁsa, logic and advaita-vāda.
I am the endless diversity among these five philosophies.
Purport
Any science is based on the faculty of expert discrimination. By skillful definition of isolated and interactive components one becomes expert in any field. Ultimately the most intelligent person can isolate the spirit soul from matter and describe the properties of matter and spirit as both isolated and interactive components of reality. The proliferation of innumerable philosophical speculations is due to differing modes of perception within the material world. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(15.15)
,
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jṣānam apohanaṁ ca:
the Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated in everyone’s heart and awards a particular degree of knowledge or ignorance according to one’s desire and merit. Thus the Lord Himself is the basis of the mundane process of philosophical speculation, for He creates differing and alternating modes of perception within the conditioned souls. It is to be understood that one can acquire perfect knowledge only by hearing directly from Lord Kṛṣṇa and not by hearing from conditioned philosophers who imperfectly perceive the creation of the Lord through the screen of their personal desires.