1. The Victorious one spoke these verses (udâna); Hearken unto me while I tell them; what I say is to dispel sleep and torpor, and to bring gladness to the mind.
2. The All-wise, the Protector, the Mighty one, the Very compassionate one, He who had finished with corporeal existence: Bhagavat; spoke (or has spoken) thus:
anityā bata saṃskārā utpādavyaya dharmiṇaḥ | utpadya hi nirudhyante teṣāṃ vyupaśamaḥ sukham |1,3|
3. Alas! the impermanency of created things (samkâra); what is created is subject to decay. As what has been born must come to destruction, happy they who are at rest! l
ko nu harṣaḥ ka ānanda evaṃ prajvalite sati | andhakāraṃ praviṣṭāḥ stha pradīpaṃ na gaveṣatha |1,4|
7. One sees many men in the forenoon, some of whom one will not see in the afternoon; one sees many men in the afternoon, some of whom one will not see in the (next) forenoon.
tatra ko viśvasen martyo daharo ’smīti jīvite | daharāpi ṃriyante hi narā nāryaś cānekaśaḥ |1,8|