1451.  This is not a difficult verse, yet both the vernacular translators have misunderstood it.  What is said in the first line is this:  yat vahudosham karoti, yat (cha) purakritam, ekatah cha dushyati.  Both the finite verbs have jnanin (the man of knowledge) for their nominative understood.  Dushyati means nasyati or destroys.  The meaning then is that the man of Knowledge destroys his sinful acts of both this and past lives.  The commentator cites the well-known simile of the lotus leaf not being drenched or soaked with water even when dipped in water.  Now, this is that unseen fruit of Knowledge.  In the second line, the visible fruits are indicated.  The man of Knowledge refrains from censuring the wicked acts of others and from perpetrating any wicked act himself.  Yat cha dushyati means yat parakritam anishtam dushyati or nindati, yat karoti means yat swayam ragadi-doshat karoti; tadubhayam apriyam (sa) na karoti, the reason being dwaitadarsana-bhavah.  Such a man truly regards the universe as identifiable with himself.

1452. i.e., in even thy direst distress thou dependest on thyself.  To cross the fearful river of life without a raft and with the aid of only one’s bare arms implies great self-dependence.

1453.  That which did not exist and will not exist, exists not at the present moment.  Everything, therefore, which is of the nature of asat is non-existent.  Our sorrows are connected with the asat.  Knowing this, I have cast off all sorrows.

1454.  I have understood that acts are for sorrow; that the fruits also of acts are for sorrow in spite of the apparent character of some; and that the fruits of acts are varied, sometimes other fruits appearing than those expected.  Hence, I do not indulge in sorrow, for I avoid acts and do not grieve for not obtaining the fruits of acts or for the accession of fruits other than those apparently agreeable.

1455.  The sense is that we who avoid acts, are not dead; in fact, we live quite as others do; and those others, how unequally circumstanced!  The Burdwan translator makes nonsense of the first line simple though it is.

1456.  Ignorance lies at the root of sorrow.  By casting off ignorance, we have avoided sorrow.  Hence, neither religion or religious acts such as Sacrifices, etc., can do us any good or harm.  As regards happiness and misery again, these two cannot agitate us at all, since we know their value, both being ephemeral in comparison with the period for which we are to exist.

1457.  Hence, no one should indulge in pride, saying, ‘I am happy,’ nor yield to sorrow, saying, ‘I am miserable.’  Both happiness and misery are transitory.  The man of wisdom should never suffer himself to be agitated by these transitory states of his mind.

1458.  The first word is read either as bhavatmakam or bhavatmakam.  The first means samsararupam; the second, drisyatmakam.

1459.  I am obliged to behold them because I am a living being having a body, but then I behold them as an unconcerned witness.