Bhashya
यो ह वै शिशुं साधानं सप्रत्याधानं सस्थूणं सदामं वेद,तस्येदं फलम् ; किं तत्? सप्त सप्तसंख्याकान् ह द्विषतःद्वेषकर्तॄन् भ्रातृव्यान भ्रातृव्या हि द्विविधा भवन्ति, द्विष-न्तः अद्विषन्तश्च- तत्र द्विषन्तो ये भ्रातृव्याः तान् द्विषतोभ्रातृव्यान अवरुणद्धि ; सप्त ये शीर्षण्याः प्राणा विषयो-पलब्धिद्वाराणि तत्प्रभवा विषयरागाः, सहजत्वात् भ्रातृव्याः ।ते हि अस्य स्वात्मस्थां दृष्टिं विषयविषयां कुर्वन्ति ; तेन तेद्वेष्टारो भ्रातृव्याः, प्रत्यगात्मेक्षणप्रतिषेधकरत्वात् ; काठकेचोक्तम्- 'पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत्स्वयंभूस्तस्मात्पराङ्प-श्यति नान्तरात्मन्' इत्यादि ; तत्र यः शिश्वादीन्वेद, तेषांयाथात्म्यमवधारयति, स एतान् भ्रातृव्यान अवरुणद्धि अपा-वृणोति विनाशयति ।तस्मै फलश्रवणेनाभिमुखीभूतायाह-
In plain words
Whoever knows the child this way — its base, its second seat, its post, its cord — earns a fruit from it. What fruit? He keeps seven real rivals at bay, seven forces working against him. Rivals, it turns out, come in two kinds: the hostile ones and the harmless ones, and it's the hostile ones he holds off. The seven are the breaths seated in the head, the very doorways the senses use to reach outward, and the cravings for objects that pour out through them — they count as rivals because they have been with you since the beginning. They take a seeing that naturally rests in your own Self and pull it out toward things instead. That is exactly what makes them hostile: they stand in the way of seeing what is within. The Kāṭhaka says the same thing: 'The Self-existent bored the openings outward, and that is why we look outward and never see the Self within' — and so on. So whoever knows the child and its parts, whoever sees them for what they truly are, holds these rivals down, strips them bare, and destroys them. And now, to someone whose curiosity has been stirred by hearing this fruit, he speaks—
Close to the Sanskrit
He who thus knows the child together with its support, counter-support, post, and rope — this is his fruit. What is that? Seven — that is, numbering seven — he wards off hating, hostility-making rivals. Rivals, indeed, are of two kinds: hating and non-hating ones. Among these, whichever rivals are hating — those hating rivals he wards off. The seven which are the head-seated breaths, the gateways for the perception of objects, and the desires for objects arising from them, are rivals, because they are innate. For they turn his vision, which rests in his own Self, into a vision directed at objects. Therefore they are hating rivals, because they act as an obstruction to the seeing of the inward Self. And in the Kāṭhaka it is said: 'The Self-existent bored the apertures outward; therefore one sees outward, not the inner self' — and so on. There, he who knows the child and the rest, and ascertains their true nature, he wards off, removes, and destroys these rivals. To him who has become interested by hearing of the fruit, he now speaks—