AVG 9.5

Chapter 9 (On Detachment and Equanimity) Verse 5
नाना मतं महर्षीणां साधूनां योगिनां तथा ।
दृष्ट्वा निर्वेदमापन्नः को न शाम्यति मानवः ॥ ९-५॥

PURPORT:
Great preceptors, saints and yogis teach
using a wide diversity of doctrines and viewpoints.
Having observed this diversity, which of us
would judiciously not acquire that impartial
dispassion where serenity and tranquility is found.

TRANSLITERATION:
नाना मतम् महर्षीणाम् साधूनाम् योगिनाम् तथा ।
nānā matam maharṣīṇām sādhūnām yoginām tathā ।
दृष्ट्वा निर्वेदम् आपन्नः कः न शाम्यति मानवः ॥ ९-५॥
dṛṣṭvā nirvedam āpannaḥ kaḥ na śāmyati mānavaḥ ॥ 9-5॥

MEANING:
nānā (नाना) = varied/assorted/diversity
matam (मतम्) = doctrine/opinion/theory/viewpoint
maharṣīṇām (महर्षीणाम्) = of great preceptors
sādhūnām (साधूनाम्) = of saints
yoginām (योगिनाम्) = of yogis (yogi (योगी) refers to a practitioner of yoga. Yogi is technically male, and yoginī is the term used for female practitioners. The word yogi is also used generically to refer to both male and female practitioners of yoga and related meditative practices belonging to any spiritual tradition. A yogi should not be confused with someone practicing asceticism and excessive self-mortification.)
tathā (तथा) = additionally/as well/likewise।
dṛṣṭvā (दृष्ट्वा) = having seen
nirvedam (निर्वेदम्) = indifference/impassiveness (as in a feeling of indifference towards learning and amassing more opinions and doctrines)
āpannaḥ (आपन्नः) = attained/realized/acquire
kaḥ (कः) = what
na (न) = not
śāmyati (शाम्यति) = attains serenity/realize tranquility
mānavaḥ (मानवः) = sentient seeker (literally translates to 'man') ॥ 9-5॥

COMMENT:
This verse is yet another beautiful bit of poetry that talks about the fundamental universalities that underpin many of our great (and not-so-well-known) spiritual traditions. The crux of the message here is that if one observers the family of spiritual practices that our species have managed to abstract over the millennia, one finds that there are themes and morals within these spiritual practices that, when looked at piecemeal, may seem explicitly honed to that specific aggregation and culture, but, from a larger perspective, seem to be closely interlinked and meshed with each other in terms of the overall message and the insight thereof. Ashtavakra's question is simple - in the face of such similarities, overlapping ideals and criss-crossing of lush and productive insights between spiritual traditions, how can the discerning seeker not realize a sense of dispassion and find serenity?

From my limited understanding of the great spiritual traditions, some of these similarities and overlapping ideals may be understood to broadly fall into three broad paths that we tend to tread concurrently as we travel through life: The first common truth being that nothing is annihilated or squandered in the universe and the very truth, tranquility and serenity that we go out seeking is really within oneself; old galaxies form new ones, planets and sentient beings disintegrate into newer forms, if we destroy things around us, we tend to destroy ourselves, if we fabricate falsehoods to another, we deceive ourselves.

The second fundamental commonality is the fact that everything changes and all existents are in a continuous state of transition without interruption; the process of arising of phenomena, enduring of the same and cessation of manifest experience is like a river, it keeps on flowing, gurgling, transmogrifying, and ever-morphing.
The third overlapping ideal across the traditions is the principle of cause and effect; the simplest way to enunciate this is via the age-old aphorism - the kind of seed sown and the kind of care taken in nurturing the plant will produce that kind of fruit. All of manifest phenomena stands upon a causal framework that itself is impermanent, mutable and constantly adjusting to appropriate underlying causes ad-infinitum.

In closing this beautiful verse, the following wise words of a twitter user named SisterSufi rings: “Truth inspires all religions and it remains at the core of their universal ideals.  But era, culture, and personality make changes to religions that are passed down through generations and which change with time again and again.  Seek the universal not the ephemeral.”