15.11 Striving is not enough by itself Krishna speaks
यतन्तो योगिनश्चैनं पश्यन्त्यात्मन्यवस्थितम्
यतन्तोऽप्यकृतात्मानो नैनं पश्यन्त्यचेतसः
yatanto yoginaśh chainaṁ paśhyanty ātmany avasthitam
yatanto ‘py akṛitātmāno nainaṁ paśhyanty achetasaḥ
Those who practise and strive see him established in themselves. But the careless, whose selves are not made ready, do not see him though they strive.
Explanation
Striving is necessary and not sufficient, and the verse says both.
Those who practise see him in themselves. But the careless, whose selves are not made ready, do not see him though they strive.
That last clause is unusually cold for this book, which spends most of its length reassuring Arjuna that effort is never wasted. Here effort without preparation is explicitly said to fail.
Word by word
- yatantaḥ
- striving
- yoginaḥ
- yogis
- cha
- too
- enam
- this (the soul)
- paśhyanti
- see
- ātmani
- in the body
- avasthitam
- enshrined
- yatantaḥ
- strive
- api
- even though
- akṛita-ātmānaḥ
- those whose minds are not purified
- na
- not
- enam
- this
- paśhyanti
- cognize
- achetasaḥ
- unaware
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