Shloka

कामैस्तैस्तैर्हृतज्ञानाः प्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवताः |
तं तं नियममास्थाय प्रकृत्या नियताः स्वया ||७-२०||

Transliteration

kāmaistaistairhṛtajñānāḥ prapadyante.anyadevatāḥ .
taṃ taṃ niyamamāsthāya prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā ||7-20||

Translations

Dr.S.Sankaranarayan

7.20. Being robbed of their wisdom by innumerable desires [and] being controlled by their own nature, persons take refuge in other deities by following one or the other religious regulations.

Shri Purohit Swami

7.20 They in whom wisdom is obscured by one desire or the other, worship the lesser Powers, practising many rites which vary according to their temperaments.

Sri Abhinav Gupta

7.20 See Comment under 7.23

Sri Ramanuja

7.20 All men of this world are ‘controlled’, i.e., constantly accompanied by their own nature consisting in the Vasanas (subtle impressions) resulting from relation with the objects formed of the Gunas. Their knowledge about My essential nature is robbed by various Karmas, i.e., by objects of desire corresponding to their Vasanas (subtle impressions) born of their Karmas and constituted of Gunas. In order to fulfil these various kinds of desires they take refuge in, i.e., seek and worship, other divinities who are regarded as different from Me, such as Indra and others, observing various disciplines, i.e., practising rituals which are specially meant to propitiate only these divinities.

Sri Shankaracharya

7.20 People, hrta-jnanah, deprived of their wisdom, deprived of their discriminating knowledge; taih taih kamaih, by desires for various objects, such as progeny, cattle, heaven, etc.; and niyatah, guided, compelled; svaya prakrtya, by their own nature, by particular tendencies gathered in the past lives; prapadyante, resort; anya-devatah, to other deities, who are different from Vasudeva, the Self; asthaya, following taking the help of; tam tam niyamam,the relevant methods-those processes that are well known for the adoration of the concerned deities.

Swami Adidevananda

7.20 Controlled by their inherent nature, and deprived of knowledge by various desires, worldly-minded men resort to other gods, observing various disciplines.

Swami Gambirananda

7.20 People, deprived of their wisdom by desires for various objects and guided by their own nature, resort to other deities following the relevant methods.

Swami Sivananda

7.20 Those whose wisdom has been rent away by this or that desire, go to other gods, following this or that rite, led by their own nature.

Commentaries

Swami Sivananda

7.20 कामैः by desires? तैः तैः by this or that? हृतज्ञानाः those whose wisdom has been rent away? प्रपद्यन्ते approach? अन्यदेवताः other gods? तम् तम् this or that? नियमम् rite? आस्थाय having followed? प्रकृत्या by nature? नियताः led? स्वया by ones own.Commentary Those who desire wealth? children? the (small) Siddhis? etc.? are deprived of discrimination. They devote themselves to other minor gods such as Indra? Mitra? Varuna? etc.? impelled or driven by their own nature or Samskaras acired in their previous births. They perform some kinds of rites to propitiate these lower deities. (Cf.IX.23)