यश्च मूढतमो लोके यश्च बुद्धेः परं गतः ।
तावुभौ सुखमेधेते क्लिश्यत्यन्तरितो जनः ॥
yaś ca mūḍhatamo loke yaś ca buddheḥ paraṁ gataḥ |
tāv ubhau sukham edhete kliśyaty antarito janaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.7.17)
“One who is most foolish in this world, and one who has attained that which is beyond the intellect—these two both live happily. A person in between suffers.”
Commentary
alpajñatvāt pūrvaṁ mama saṁśayo jāta ity āha—yaś ceti | mūḍhatamo dehādy-āsakto yaś ca buddheḥ prakṛteḥ param īśvaraṁ prāptaḥ, tau sukhaṁ yatha bhavati tathā edhete jīvata ity arthaḥ, saṁśaya-kleśābhāvāt | yas tu duḥkhānusandhānena prapañcaṁ jihāsati svānanda-saṁvedanābhāvād dhātuṁ na śaknoti, sa tu kliśyatīty arthaḥ |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā)
“Because of [my] being ignorant [lit., ‘little knowing’], my doubt arose previously. Thus, he says yaś ca [i.e., he speaks this verse]. One who is ‘most foolish’ (mūḍhatamaḥ), that is, attached to the body and so forth, and one who has attained (gataḥ) that which is beyond the intellect (buddheḥ paraṁ), meaning, Īśvara [who is] beyond prakṛti—these two live (edhete) happily on account of the the absence of the suffering of doubt. One, however, who desires to reject phenomenal existence by means of inquiry into [the nature of] suffering but cannot reject it because of an absence [of having attained] experience of the bliss of the self verily suffers. This is the meaning.”
mūḍhatamaḥ sārāsāra-viveka-rahitaḥ sukham edhete saṁśaya-kleśa-rahitau bhavataḥ | antaritaḥ saṁśayitaḥ |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā)
“‘Most foolish’ (mūḍhatamaḥ) means devoid of discrimination between essence and non-essence. ‘Live happily’ (sukham edhete) means is free from the suffering of [having] doubt. ‘In between’ (antaritaḥ) means doubtful.”
alpajñatvād etāvad dina-paryantam ahaṁ sāṁśayika-duḥkha-nimagna evāsam ity āha—mūḍhatamaḥ paśur iva viṣayāsakta-buddheḥ prakṛteḥ param īśvaraṁ prāptaḥ, tau sukhaṁ yatha syād evam edhete, saṁśaya-kleśābhāvād viṣayānandeśvarānandābhyāṁ vardhete | yas tu duḥkhānusandhānena prapañcaṁ jihāsati, bhagavad-bhakty-alābhād dhātuṁ ca na śaknoti, sa tv antarito madhya-vartī ānanda-dvayābhāvena saṁśaya-sindhu-nimagnaḥ kliśyati |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Up to this day, I have been submerged in the suffering of being doubtful because of [my] being ignorant [lit., ‘little knowing’]. Thus, he says, ‘One who is ‘most foolish’ (mūḍhatamaḥ), that is, attached to objects of the senses (viṣaya) like an animal, and one who has attained (gataḥ) that which is beyond the intellect (buddheḥ paraṁ), meaning, Īśvara [who is] beyond prakṛti—these two live happily, that is, they flourish by virtue of the bliss of objects of the senses and the bliss of Īśvara on account of the the absence of the suffering of doubt. One, however, who desires to reject phenomenal existence by means of inquiry into [the nature of] suffering but cannot reject it because of not having attained bhakti suffers in between, that is, remaining in the middle, submerged in the ocean of doubt, on account of the absence of [having attained either of] the two [aforementioned] blisses.”