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Lesson 6: Laṭ Lakāra & Shloka Analysis

Laṭ Lakāra is the present continuous tense. The table below shows its conjugation across puruṣa (grammatical person) and vacana (number) using gacchati (from the root gam, "to go").

Puruṣa (person) Ekavacana
(singular)
Dvivacana
(dual)
Bahuvacana
(plural)
Prathama Puruṣa (3rd person) gacchati gacchataḥ gacchanti
Madhyama Puruṣa (2nd person) gacchasi gacchathaḥ gacchatha
Uttama Puruṣa (1st person) gacchāmi gacchāvaḥ gacchāmaḥ

Shloka Analysis

Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.3.3

bhayādasyāgnistapati bhayāttapati sūryaḥ |
bhayādindraśca vāyuśca mṛtyurdhāvati pañcamaḥ ||

bhayād - Same as bhayāt but changed with sandhi; bhayāt means "from fear" or "because of fear." The final t changes to d before the following vowel in asya.
asya - "Of him" or "of this"; here it means "of him."
agniḥ → agnis - Fire/fire god; the final ḥ changes to s before the following t in tapati.
tapati - Burns, shines, or is hot
bhayāt - From fear; because of fear
tapati - Burns, shines, or is hot
sūryaḥ - Sun/sun god

Combined, the first line becomes:

Because of fear - of him - fire - burns - because of fear - burns - the sun → Because of fear of him, fire burns; because of fear, the sun shines.

bhayād - Same as bhayāt but changed with sandhi; bhayāt means "from fear" or "because of fear." The final t changes to d before the following vowel in indraḥ.
indraḥ → indraś - Indra; the final ḥ changes to ś before ca.
ca - And
vāyuḥ → vāyuś - Vāyu/wind god; the final ḥ changes to ś before ca.
ca - And
mṛtyuḥ → mṛtyur - Death; the final ḥ changes to r before the following dh in dhāvati.
dhāvati - Runs
pañcamaḥ - Fifth; here it describes mṛtyuḥ, meaning "the fifth" or "as the fifth"

Combined, the second line becomes:

Because of fear - Indra - and - Vāyu - and - death - runs - fifth → Because of fear, Indra and Vāyu act, and Death runs as the fifth.

So the meaning of the entire verse is:

Because of fear of him, fire burns, and because of fear, the sun shines; because of fear, Indra and Vāyu act, and Death runs as the fifth.

Bhagavad Gītā 6.30

yo māṁ paśyati sarvatra sarvaṁ ca mayi paśyati |
tasyāhaṁ na praṇaśyāmi sa ca me na praṇaśyati ||

yo - Same as yaḥ but changed with sandhi; yaḥ means "he who" or "one who"
māṁ - The word "me" when "me" is the object
paśyati - sees
sarvatra - sarva + atra; literally means "every here" which we can deduce to mean everywhere
sarvam - Means "all" but when it is the object of the sentence
ca - and
mayi - In me
paśyati - sees

Combined, the first line becomes:

He who - me - sees - everywhere - all - and - in me - sees → He who sees me everywhere and sees all in me.

tasya - "To him" or "for him"
aham - I
na - not
praṇaśyāmi - disappear, perish, am lost
saḥ - he
ca - and
me - to me
na - not
praṇaśyati - disappears, perishes, is lost

Combined, the second line becomes:

To him - I - not - disappear - he - and - to me - not - disappears → I am never lost to him, and he is never lost to me.

So the meaning of the entire verse is:

He who sees me everywhere and sees all in me, to him I am never lost, and he is never lost to me.

← Lesson 5: Akārānta Puṃliṅga Examples Lesson 7: List of Some Common Verbs and Nouns →