Contents


Shloka

लोकवासनया जन्तोः शास्त्रवासनयापि च ।देहवासनया ज्ञानं यथावन्नैव जायते ॥ २७२ ॥

lokavāsanayā jantoḥ śāstravāsanayāpi ca ;dehavāsanayā jñānaṃ yathāvannaiva jāyate . 272 .

Anvaya

जन्तोःjantoḥ
For a person
लोक–वासनयाloka–vāsanayā
by conforming to the expectations of people
अपि चapi ca
and also
शास्त्र–वासनयाśāstra–vāsanayā
with indulgence with multiple texts
देह–वासनयाdeha–vāsanayā
and by excessive attention to the body
ज्ञानंjñānaṃ
knowledge
यथावत्yathāvat
as it exists
न एव जायतेna eva jāyate
never arises

Translation

By excessive conformity with social expectations, by indulgence in multiple textual arguments and by excessive attention to the body, true knowledge never arises in a person.

Annotation

1) loka–vāsanā – is the desire to confirm to social expectations and the desire to get admired by the people. 2) śāstra–vāsanā – it is of three types. i) Obsession to study Vedas. The example is of sage Bharadwaja who spent three lifetimes to study the enormous corpus of Vedic texts but could not even complete a fraction. ii) Obsession to study different śāstra–s. The example is of sage Durvasa who studied all the śāstra–s, without ever realising the Self. He was ridiculed and compared to a donkey carrying a heavy load. He threw away the śāstra–s in the ocean and learnt the knowledge of Brahman from Lord Shiva. iii) Obsession with rituals. The example is that of Daasura (in the Yoga Vasistam) who was obsessed with worshipping of deities. These examples are given in the Jivanmukti Viveka of sage Vidyaranya (Jagadguru).

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