Tatpada

Bhashya

अत्रोच्यते- स्वभावयदृच्छाकालकर्मदैवविज्ञानमात्रशून्यानिवादिभिः परिकल्पितानि ; अतः अनेकविप्रतिपत्तिस्थानत्वात् नैव जल्पन्यायेन वस्तुनिर्णयः ; अत्र वस्तुनिर्णयं चेदिच्छसि, आहर सोम्य हस्तम् आर्तभाग हे- आवामेव एतस्य त्वत्पृ-ष्टस्य वेदितव्यं यत्, तत् वेदिष्यावः निरूपयिष्यावः ; कस्मात् ? न नौ आवयोः एतत् वस्तु सजने जनसमुदाये निर्णेतुं शक्यते ; अतः एकान्तं गमिष्यावः विचारणाय ।तौ हेत्यादि श्रुतिवचनम् ।तौ याज्ञवल्क्यार्तभागौ एकान्तं गत्वा किं चक्रतुरित्युच्यते-तौ ह उत्क्रम्य सजनात् दे-शात् मन्त्रयांचक्राते ; आदौ लौकिकवादिपक्षाणाम् एकैकं परिगृह्य विचारितवन्तौ ।तौ ह विचार्य यदूचतुः अपोह्य पूर्वपक्षान्सर्वानेव- तच्छृणु ; कर्म हैव आश्रयं पुनःपुनः-कार्यकरणोपादानहेतुम् तत् तत्र ऊचतुः उक्तवन्तौ- न के-वलम् ; कालकर्मदैवेश्वरेष्वभ्युपगतेषु हेतुषु यत्प्रशशंसुस्तौ, कर्म हैव तत्प्रशशंसुः- यस्मान्निर्धारितमेतत् कर्मप्रयुक्तं ग्रहातिग्रहादिकार्यकरणोपादानं पुनः पुनः, तस्मात् पुण्यो वै शास्त्रविहितेन पुण्येन कर्मणा भवति, तद्विपरीतेन विपरीतो भवति पापः पापेन--इति एवं याज्ञवल्क्येन प्रश्नेषु निर्णी-तेषु, ततः अशक्यप्रकम्पत्वात् याज्ञवल्क्यस्य, ह जारत्कारव आर्तभाग उपरराम ॥

In plain words

Here is the answer: some thinkers have proposed that bondage is simply inherent nature, or mere chance, or time, or action, or fate, or a conscious agent acting on its own — nothing more. But since this is exactly the sort of question people never stop disagreeing about, no amount of mere argument is going to settle what is actually true. So if you really want to get to the bottom of it, Yājñavalkya said: 'Give me your hand, my friend Ārtabhāga — the two of us alone will work out and settle what you're asking.' 'Why?' 'Because this isn't something we can decide out here, among everyone, in a crowd.' 'So let's go off by ourselves to think it through.' 'The two of them...' and so on is how the scripture puts it. And what did the two of them, Yājñavalkya and Ārtabhāga, actually do once they had gone off alone? Here is the answer: they withdrew from the crowd and talked it over privately. At first they took up each of the popular theories, one at a time, and examined it. Once they had thought it all through, here is what the two of them concluded, setting every one of those earlier positions aside — listen: 'It is karma alone' — naming it as the support, the very reason the whole machinery of cause and effect gets taken up again and again — that is what they said, having worked it out. 'And not only that' — among the causes people commonly point to — time, action, fate, and God — whatever the two of them ended up praising, it was karma they were praising. Because they had established this: that the entire mechanism of grasper and over-grasper, taken up life after life, is driven by karma. That is why 'a good person becomes good through the good action scripture prescribes, and the opposite kind of person becomes the opposite through the opposite kind of action — a sinner through sin.' And so, once Yājñavalkya had settled every one of his questions this way, Ārtabhāga, son of Jaratkāru, found him impossible to shake, and simply fell silent.

Close to the Sanskrit

Here it is stated: theories that make [bondage] mere nature, chance, time, action, fate, or a conscious agent — devoid [of anything more] — have been postulated by disputants; therefore, since this is a ground of many disagreements, the determination of the real matter is certainly not [reached] by the method of mere wrangling. If you wish for a determination of the matter here, [Yājñavalkya said:] 'Give [me your] hand, my friend Ārtabhāga — we two alone shall know and ascertain what is to be known about this, which you have asked.' 'Why?' 'This matter cannot be determined by us two in an assembly, in a gathering of people.' 'Therefore we two shall go apart, for deliberation.' 'The two of them...' and so on is the wording of scripture. As to what the two, Yājñavalkya and Ārtabhāga, having gone apart, did — this is now explained: the two of them, having withdrawn from the assembled place, conferred. At first, taking up, one by one, the positions of the various worldly disputants, the two of them deliberated. Having deliberated, what the two of them said, having set aside all the prior positions entirely — listen to that: 'It is karma alone' — [naming] the support, the cause of the repeated taking-up of the combination of effect and instrument — this the two of them stated there, having declared it; 'not merely [that]' — among the causes commonly accepted, [namely] time, action, fate, and God, whatever the two of them praised, it was karma alone that they praised; because this has been established: that the taking-up of the combination of effect and instrument — the seizer, the over-seizer, and so on — again and again, is impelled by karma; therefore, 'the virtuous person indeed becomes [virtuous] through virtuous action enjoined by scripture, and through its opposite becomes the opposite: the sinful [one becomes sinful] through sinful [action].' Thus, when the questions had been settled in this way by Yājñavalkya, then, because Yājñavalkya could not be shaken, Ārtabhāga, son of Jaratkāru, fell silent.