अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययामृतम् अश्नुते ॥ ११ ॥
vidyāṃ cāvidyāṃ ca yas tad vedobhayaṃ saha .
avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute .. 11 ..
Tap a word for its meaning
The first pāda means ‘meditating on deities and karma’. yaḥ = (whoever.) tat = etat = this. ubhayam = (two.) saha — i.e. to be practised by the same person. veda = (understands). (The second half of the verse) states that only a person, practising both together, will in due course, achieve the chief end* avidyayā = by karma like agnihotra. mṛtyum — by this word are here meant usual activity and knowledge. tīrtvā = having overcome those two. vidyayá = by meditation on deities. amṛtam = (immortality); godhead. aśnute = attains. Becoming one with the deity (meditated upon) is termed ‘immortality’ here.
Now with a view to inculcate their simultaneous practice, follows the condemnation of the separate meditation on the manifest and on the unmanifest—