Devanagari
नायं मार्गो हि साधूनां हृषीकेशानुवर्तिनाम् ।
यदात्मानं पराग्गृह्य पशुवद्भूतवैशसम् ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
nāyaṁ mārgo hi sādhūnāṁ
hṛṣīkeśānuvartinām
yad ātmānaṁ parāg gṛhya
paśuvad bhūta-vaiśasam
Synonyms
na
—
never
;
ayam
—
this
;
mārgaḥ
—
path
;
hi
—
certainly
;
sādhūnām
—
of honest persons
;
hṛṣīkeśa
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
anuvartinām
—
following the path
;
yat
—
which
;
ātmānam
—
self
;
parāk
—
the body
;
gṛhya
—
thinking to be
;
paśu
—
vat — like animals
;
bhūta
—
of living entities
;
vaiśasam
—
killing .
Translation
One should not accept the body as the self and thus, like the animals, kill the bodies of others. This is especially forbidden by saintly persons, who follow the path of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Killing of living entities just as the animals do, by accepting the body as the self, is not the path of the devotees of the Lord.
If the devotees do not come under control of material affection, then certainly they should not come under the control of violence to living entities. Accepting the body (ātmanam) as the self (parāg) just as animals think of others in relation to their bodies and then commit violence against others is not the path. Gṛhya instead of grītvā is poetic license. Another version has parāgṛhya. This has a negative meaning “not accepting the jīva as the self.”
Purport
The words
sādhūnāṁ hṛṣīkeśānuvartinām
are very significant.
Sādhu
means “a saintly person.” But who is a saintly person? A saintly person is he who follows the path of rendering service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hṛṣīkeśa. In the
Nārada-paṣcarātra
it is said,
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate:
the process of rendering favorable service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead with one’s senses is called
bhakti,
or devotional service. Therefore, why should a person who is already engaged in the service of the Lord engage himself in personal sense gratification? Dhruva Mahārāja is advised here by Lord Manu that since he is a pure servitor of the Lord, why should he unnecessarily engage, like the animals, in the bodily concept of life? An animal thinks that the body of another animal is his food; therefore, in the bodily concept of life, one animal attacks another. A human being, especially one who is a devotee of the Lord, should not act like this. A
sādhu,
a saintly devotee, is not supposed to kill animals unnecessarily.