Devanagari
अहंममाभिमानोत्थै: कामलोभादिभिर्मलै: ।
वीतं यदा मन: शुद्धमदु:खमसुखं समम् ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
ahaṁ mamābhimānotthaiḥ
kāma-lobhādibhir malaiḥ
vītaṁ yadā manaḥ śuddham
aduḥkham asukhaṁ samam
Synonyms
aham
—
I
;
mama
—
mine
;
abhimāna
—
from the misconception
;
utthaiḥ
—
produced
;
kāma
—
lust
;
lobha
—
greed
;
ādibhiḥ
—
and so on
;
malaiḥ
—
from the impurities
;
vītam
—
freed
;
yadā
—
when
;
manaḥ
—
the mind
;
śuddham
—
pure
;
aduḥkham
—
without distress
;
asukham
—
without happiness
;
samam
—
equipoised .
Translation
When one is completely cleansed of the impurities of lust and greed produced from the false identification of the body as “I” and bodily possessions as “mine,” one’s mind becomes purified. In that pure state he transcends the stage of so-called material happiness and distress.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When the mind is free of the contamination of lust and greed arising from the false identity of I and mine, and becomes pure, without grief, without joy and peaceful, the jīva sees himself different from ignorance, full of knowledge, devoid of coverings, subtle, undivided, and unattached, as well as sees ignorance devoid of power to affect him, by a mind endowed with jṣana and vairāgya, and principally with bhakti.
Jṣāna and yoga only assist bhakti in giving liberation. This is expressed in three verses. The mind becomes free (vītam) of the contaminations by śama and dama (process of jṣana) and by yama and niyama (process of yoga). These are the aṅgas of jṣāna and yoga. The effects of purification are described: being without sorrow, without happiness, peaceful. At that time the jīva (puruṣaḥ) sees himself separate from ignorance (prakṛteḥ param). He is devoid of the obstacles of gross and subtle bodies (nirantaram). He has uncovered knowledge (svayaṁjyotiḥ). He is subtle (aṇimānam). The Lord himself says sūkṣāṇām apy ahaṁ jīvaḥ: of subtle objects I am the jīva. (SB 11.16.11) This means by nature the jīva is a very small particle. He is undivided by material desires (akhaṇḍitam).
By the mind endowed with jṣana and vairāgya, and by bhakti to which jṣāna and vairāgya are mere assistants (indicated by the word ca), and with out which they can bear no results, the jīva sees himself unattached. He sees his own ignorance (prakṛtim) which is unable to do anything to him (hataujasam).
Purport
Kāma
and
lobha
are the symptoms of material existence. Everyone always desires to possess something. It is said here that desire and greed are the products of false identification of oneself with the body. When one becomes free from this contamination, then his mind and consciousness also become freed and attain their original state. Mind, consciousness and the living entity exist. Whenever we speak of the living entity, this includes the mind and consciousness. The difference between conditional life and liberated life occurs when we purify the mind and the consciousness. When they are purified, one becomes transcendental to material happiness and distress.
In the beginning Lord Kapila has said that perfect
yoga
enables one to transcend the platform of material distress and happiness. How this can be done is explained here: one has to purify his mind and consciousness. This can be done by the
bhakti-yoga
system. As explained in the
Nārada-paṣcarātra,
one’s mind and senses should be purified (
tat-paratvena nirmalam
). One’s senses must be engaged in devotional service to the Lord. That is the process. The mind must have some engagement. One cannot make the mind vacant. Of course there are some foolish attempts to try to make the mind vacant or void, but that is not possible. The only process that will purify the mind is to engage it in Kṛṣṇa. The mind must be engaged. If we engage our mind in Kṛṣṇa, naturally the consciousness becomes fully purified, and there is no chance of the entrance of material desire and greed.