1564.  Having used the words vistaran (Diverse) and samkshepah (Few), in the second line of this triplet, the speaker explains their meaning in the third.  By ‘Diverse’ is meant all those fruits that consist of unstable enjoyments; hence, the diverse acts laid down in the Vedas and other scriptures.  By ‘Few’ is meant Renunciation, or abstention from acts.  What is said, therefore, in this verse is this:  they that betake themselves to acts, which for their fruits all sorts of enjoyment, meet with misery; while they that abstain from acts or practise Renunciation meet with happiness.  Both the vernacular versions are incorrect.

1565.  It is difficult to understand what is meant by this verse.  By progress in Yoga, the Soul can certainly cast off the mind and other attributes by which it is invested.  The simile is unintelligible.  The stalk of the lotus has its roots in mire.  Does the first line mean, therefore, that the stalk speedily springs upwards and leaves the mire at its roots?

1566.  The commentator explains that the intention of this verse is to explain that the universe which is created by the mind is destroyed afterwards by the mind itself.

1567.  The sense is that one who has cast off objects of enjoyment and become emancipated, does not obtain rebirth.

1568.  I follow the commentator in his exposition of this verse.  The practice of fishermen (in India) is to sink their boats when they leave them for their homes, and to raise them again when they require them the next day.  They do not leave their boats afloat for fear of the injury the waves may do to them by tossing them too much.

1569.  By Prakriti here is meant the harmony of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas.  As long as these three qualities are in harmony with one another, i.e., as long as there is no preponderance in any of them over the other two, so long there cannot be creation or the operations of the buddhi or understanding.

1570.  In this verse the word Prakriti is used in an entirely different sense.  It means here Ignorance.

1571.  Sariragriha-sanjnasya is ’of one who regards his body to be an accompaniment of the Soul instead of regarding it to be the Soul.’  ’Who regards purity as its sacred water’, i.e., who, without resorting to the sacred waters whither others go for cleansing themselves, thinks that purity, both internal and external, is capable of cleansing him.

1572.  Vide note to verse 21 above.

1573.  The object of the verse is to show that one should not, for the sake of friends and kinsmen and spouses and children, abstain from pursuing one’s true end.  The practice of charity again is the true diet which supports a man.