Question:
Within the Saranagati sloka of Hari-bhakti-vilasa (11.676), we find the word karpanye translated as “humility.”
Within BG 2.7, we find the word karpanya translated as “miserliness.”
How to reconcile these two meanings?
Answer by Romapada Swami: After consulting Sanskrit scholars, the following are suitable explanations.
1.
The abstract noun ‘karpanya’ means “the condition of being krpana.”
The word ‘krpana’ means ‘poor’ (from the verb krp, which means ‘to lament, to be weak’).
There is of course more than one way to be poor — one can be poor because of miserliness, or one can be poor by virtue of humility (‘lower than the straw’).
Thus, karpanya comes to mean both miserliness and humility (and also straightforward poverty).
2.
Here are the meanings of karpanya from the standard Sanskrit-English dictionary:
“n. poverty, pitiful circumstances poorness of spirit, weakness parsimony, niggardliness compassion, pity”
The different meanings mentioned above are related because karpanya may indicate either
a) a weakness of spirit or character; or
b) the compassion or pity which such character elicits.
