Shloka
उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते |
गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येवं योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते ||१४-२३||Transliteration
udāsīnavadāsīno guṇairyo na vicālyate .
guṇā vartanta ityevaṃ yo.avatiṣṭhati neṅgate ||14-23||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
14.23. He who, sitting like an unconcerned person, is not perturbed by the Strands; who is ignorant that the Strands exist; (or who remain simply aware that the Strands [alone] exist) who is not shaken;
Shri Purohit Swami
14.23 He who maintains an attitude of indifference, who is not disturbed by the Qualities, who realises that it is only they who act, and remains calm;
Sri Abhinav Gupta
14.23 See Comment under 14.25
Sri Ramanuja
14.23 He who sits like one ‘unconcerned,’ namely, whose satisfaction consists in the vision of the self as different from the Gunas and sits like one unconcerned about other things and is not therefore disturbed by the Gunas through hatred and longing and who remains iet, reflecting: ‘The Gunas function in their effects like illumination etc., and so ‘rests unshaken,’ i.e, does not act in accordance with the effects of the Gunas.
Sri Shankaracharya
14.23 He, the Self-realized monk, yah, who; asinah, sitting; udasinavat, like one indifferent-as an indifferent man sides with nobody, similarly, this one, set on the path leading to the transcendence of the alities; na, is not; vicalyate, distracted from the state of Knowledge arising out of discrimination; gunaih, by the alities. This point is being clarified as such: Yah, he who; thinking iti, that; gunah, the alities, which have trasnformed into body, organs and objects; vartante, act on one another; avatisthati, remains firm-avatisthati (instead of avatisthate) is used in the Parasmaipada to avoid a break in the metre, or there is different reading, ‘yah anutisthati, who acts’-;[His apparent activity consists in the mere continuance of actions which have been subjectively sublated through enlightenment.] and an, does not; ingate, move; i.e., becomes eva, surely settled in his own nature-.
Swami Adidevananda
14.23 He who sits like one unconcerned, undisturbed by the Gunas; who knows, ‘It is the Gunas that move,’ and so rests unshaken;
Swami Gambirananda
14.23 He who, sitting like one indifferent, is not distracted by the three alities; he who, thinking that the alities alone act, remains firm and surely does not move;
Swami Sivananda
14.23 He who, seated like one unconcerned, is not moved by the alities, and who, knowing that the alities are active, is self-centred and moves not.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
14.23 उदासीनवत् like one unconcerned? आसीनः seated? गुणैः by the Gunas? यः who? न not? विचाल्यते is moved? गुणाः the Gunas? वर्तन्ते operate? इति thus? एव even? यः who? अवतिष्ठति is selfcentred? न not? इङ्गते moves.Commentary He is seated as a neutral (one who inclines to neither party). He is free from likes and dislikes. He is entirely unconcerned whether the alities with their effects and the body come or go. He is like the spectator at a football or a cricket match or a drama. Just as the sky remains unconcerned when the wind blows? so also he remains ite unconcerned when the alities operate.He does not swerve from the path of Selfrealisation. He treads the path firmly. He thinks and feels The alities are modified into the body? senses and senseobjects. They act and react upon one another? remains unshaken by them. He abides in his own Self and stands firm like the mountain Meru. (Cf.III.28V.8to11)