6.42 Or into a family of practice Krishna speaks
अथवा योगिनामेव कुले भवति धीमताम्
एतद्धि दुर्लभतरं लोके जन्म यदीदृशम्
atha vā yoginām eva kule bhavati dhīmatām
etad dhi durlabhataraṁ loke janma yad īdṛiśham
or else is born into a family of those who practise and are wise. That birth is harder still to come by in this world.
Explanation
Or into a family of those who practise — and that is rarer.
durlabhataram: harder still to come by than birth into wealth.
The ranking is quietly startling. Between a prosperous house and a household of practitioners, the second is described as the scarcer inheritance.
Word by word
- atha vā
- else
- yoginām
- of those endowed with divine wisdom
- eva
- certainly
- kule
- in the family
- bhavati
- take birth
- dhī-matām
- of the wise
- etat
- this
- hi
- certainly
- durlabha-taram
- very rare
- loke
- in this world
- janma
- birth
- yat
- which
- īdṛiśham
- like this
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