Tags
Adi Sankaracharya, Alladi Mahadeva Sastri, BG Chapter 12 Verse 5, Bhagavad Gita, Sankara Bhashya
Verse 5 as per Sankara Bhashya with commentary by Shri Alladi Mahadeva Sastri
5. Greater is their trouble whose thoughts are set on the Unmanifest; for, the Goal, the Unmanifest, is very hard for the embodied to reach
Great indeed is the trouble of those who are engaged in doing works for my sake and so on; but greater still….is the trouble of those who identify themselves with the Imperishable and contemplate the Supreme Reality, —– the trouble arising from the necessity of having to abandon their attachments for the body. The Goal, the Imperishable is very hard for the embodied to reach—– for those who are attached to their bodies.
Sankara makes it very clear that by the word “embodied” The Lord doesn’t mean “all those with with bodies (living beings)” for that would preclude each of us from worshipping the Unmanifest!! Therefore he clarifies that by embodied The Lord meant “those who are attached to their bodies” . This should set at rest the arguments arising from a false understanding of this verse.
Pranaam from Kamal Kothari