Bibliotheca Polyglotta

athaivam ukto ’pi sa tena bhiṣuṇā jagāma naivopaśamaṃ priyāṃ prati |
tathā hi tām eva tadā sa cintayan na tasya śuśrāva visaṃjñavad vacaḥ ||

9.1 Though the beggar reproached him in such a manner, [Nanda] did not arrive at any kind of tranquillity with regard to his beloved;
So much did he think about her that he failed, as if he were unconscious, to hear a word the other said.

yathā hi vaidyasya cikīrṣataḥ śivaṃ vaco na gṛhnāti mumūrṣur āturaḥ |
tathaiva matto balarūpayauvanair hitaṃ na jagrādha sa tasya tadvacaḥ ||

9.2 For, just as an invalid who wants to die does not accept the kind advice of a doctor who intends to do him good;
So Nanda, bubbling with strength and looks and youth, did not accept that salutary advice of the striver.

na cātra citraṃ yadi rāgapāpmanā mano ’bhibhūyeta tamovṛtāmanaḥ |
narasya pāpmā hi tadā nivartate yadā bhavaty antagataṃ tamas tanu ||

9.3 It is not surprising, in such a case, that one whose mind is shrouded in darkness should be overpowered by the wrongness that arises out of a tainted desire;
For a person’s wrongness ceases only when the darkness of ignorance, having reached its limit, begins to diminish.

tatas tathākṣiptam avekṣya taṃ tadā balena rūpeṇa ca yauvanena ca |
gṛhaprayāṇaṃ prati ca vyavasthitaṃ śaśāsa nandaṃ śramaṇaḥ sa śantaye ||

9.4 And so, observing Nanda to be caught up, as he was, in his own strength and looks and youth,
Seeing him all set to go home, the striver chastised Nanda, in the name of tranquillity.

balaṃ ca rūpaṃ ca navaṃ ca yauvanaṃ tathāvagacchāmi yathāvagacchasi |
ahaṃ iv idaṃ te trayam avyavastitaṃ yathāvabuddho na tathāvabudhyase ||

9.5 “Your strength and looks and youthfulness I recognize as you do;
But that these three are impermanent you do not realise as I do.

idaṃ hi rogāyatanaṃ jarāvaśaṃ nadītaṭānokahavac calācalam |
na vetsi dehaṃ jalaphenadurbalaṃ balasthatām ātmani yena manyase ||

9.6 For this body is a domicile for disease and in the face of senility it teeters helplessly, like a tree with its roots on a riverbank.
Because you do not know it to be as fragile as froth on water, therefore you feel there to be abiding strength in you.

yadānnapānāsanayānakarmaṇām asevanād apy atisevanād api |
śarīram āsannavipatti dṛśyate bale ’bhimānas tava kena hetunā ||

9.7 When, through failure to eat and drink, or sit down, or move about, and also through over-indulgence in those acts,
The body manifestly goes to ruin, what reason is there for you to have the conceit of physical strength?

himātapavyādhijarākṣudādibhir yadāpy anarthair upamīyate jagat |
jalaṃ śucau māsa ivārkaraśmibhiḥ kṣayaṃ vrajan kiṃ baladṛpta manyase ||

9.8 By cold and heat, by sickness and aging, and by hunger and other such adversities, the living are being reduced
Like water in the hot season by the sun’s rays. In these circumstances, what are you thinking, O taker of pride in strength! as you wander towards your end?

tvagasthimāṃsakṣatajātmakaṃ yada śarīram āhāravaśena tiṣṭhati |
ajasram ārtaṃ satatapratikriyaṃ balānvito ’smīti kathaṃ vihanyase ||

9.9 When a body made of skin, bone, flesh and blood owes its very existence to the taking of food,
When it is always ailing, needing continuous intervention, how can you labour under an illusion like ‘I am inherently strong’?

yathā ghaṭaṃ mṛnmayam āmam āśrito naras titīrṣet kṣubhitaṃ mahārṇavam |
samucchrayaṃ tadvad asāram udvahan balaṃ vyavasyed viṣayārtham udyataḥ ||

9.10 Like a man who aspires to cross the stormy ocean in an unbaked earthen pot,
Is he who would assume the sapless accretion of his body to be strong as he carries it around, striving after an object.

śariram āmād api mṛnmayam āmam āśrito naras titīrṣet kṣubhitaṃ mahārṇavam |
citraṃ hi tiṣṭhed vidhivaddhṛto ghaṭād idaṃ nu niḥsāratmaṃ mataṃ mama ||

9.11 But even more fragile than an unbaked earthen pot, in my opinion, is this body;
For a pot that is properly kept might survive for many ages whereas this accretion crumbles even if well maintained.

yadāmbubhūvāyvanalāś ca dhātavaḥ sadā viruddhā viṣamā ivoragāḥ |
bhavanty anarthāya śarīram āśritāḥ kathaṃ balaṃ rogavidho vyavasyasi ||

9.12 When the elements of water, earth, wind and fire are in constant opposition, like antagonistic snakes,
When they meet in a body only to make for calamity, how can you, in your propensity to sickness, be convinced of your strength?

prāyanti mantraiḥ praśamaṃ bhujaṅgamā na mantrasādhyās tu bhavanti dhātavaḥ |
kva cic ca kiṃ cic ca daśanti pannagāḥ sadā ca sarvaṃ ca tudanti dhātavaḥ ||

9.13 Snakes are lulled by charms, but the elements are not apt to be charmed.
Snakes bite some people some of the time; the elements strike all people all of the time.

idaṃ hi śayyāsanapānabhojanair guṇaiḥ śariraṃ ciram apy avekṣitam |
na marṣayaty ekam api vytikramaṃ yato mahāśiviṣavat prakupyati ||

9.14 For this body, though long tended with good habits of sleeping and sitting, and of eating and drinking,
Does not forgive a single step too far – at which it rears up in anger, like a great venomous snake.

yadā himārto jvalanaṃ niṣevate himaṃ nidāghābhihato ’bhikāṅkṣati |
kṣudhānivto ’nnaṃ salilaṃ tṛṣānvito balaṃ kutaḥ kiṃ ca kathaṃ ca kasya ca ||

9.15 Pained by cold, one turns to fire; oppressed by heat, one longs for cold;
When hungry, one longs for food; when thirsty, for water. Where then is strength? What is it? How is it? Whose is it?

tad evam ajñāya śarīram āturaṃ balānvito ’smīti na mantum arhasi |
asāram asvantam aniścitaṃ jagaj jagaty anitye balam avyavasthitam ||

9.16 So see a body as ailing and do not think ‘I am possessed of strength.’
The world is insubstantial, inauspicious, and uncertain, and in an impermanent world, power is undependable.

kva kārtavīryasya balābhimāninaḥ shasrabāhor balam arjunasya tat |
cakarta bāhūn yudhi yasya bhārgavo mahānti śṛṅgāṇy aśanir girer iva ||

9.17 Where is the power of Kṛta-vīrya’s son, the thousand-armed Arjuna, who fancied himself to be so strong?
In battle, Bhārgava, ‘The Scion of the Bhṛgus,’ severed his arms like a thunderbolt lopping off the lofty horns of a mountain.

kva tadbalaṃ kaṃsavikarṣiṇo hares turaṅgarājasya puṭāvabhedinaḥ |
yam ekabāṇena nijaghinvān jarāḥ kramāgatā rūpam ivottamaṃ jarā ||

9.18 Where is the strength of Hari Kṛṣṇa, ‘The Kaṁsa-tormentor,’ who broke the Horse-King’s jaw?
With one arrow from Jaras he was brought down, like utmost beauty brought down, in due order, by old age.

diteḥ sutasyāmararoṣakāriṇaś camūrucer vā namuceḥ kva tadbalam |
yam āhave kruddham ivāntakaṃ sthitaṃ jaghāna phenāvayavena vāsavaḥ ||

9.19 Where is the strength of Namuci son of Diti, light of an army and provoker of the gods?
He stood his ground in battle, furious as death, but Indra slew him with a spattering of foam.

balaṃ kurūṇāṃ kva ca tat tadābhavad yudhi jvalitvā tarasaujasā ca ye |
samitsammidhā jvalanā ivādhvare hatāsavo bhasmani paryavasthitāḥ ||

9.20 And where is the power once possessed by the Kurus who blazed in combat with speed and stamina
And then lay in ashes, like sacrificial fires whose firewood has burned, their life-breath snuffed out?

ato viditvā balvīryamānināṃ balānvitānām avamarditaṃ balam |
jagaj jarāmṛtyuvaśaṃ vicārayan bale ’bhimānaṃ na vidhātum arhasi ||

9.21 Know, therefore, that the strength of powerful men, who fancy themselves imbued with strength and drive, is ground down;
And do not, as you survey a world in the sway of aging and death, take pride in strength.

balaṃ mahad vā yadi vā na manyase kuruṣva yuddhaṃ saha tāvad indriyaiḥ |
jayaś ca te ’trāsti mahac ca te balaṃ parājayaś ced vitathaṃ ca te balam

9.22 Whether or not you think your strength is great, just do battle against the senses!
If you are victorious in this, your strength is great; if you are defeated, your strength is nothing.

tathā matā vīratarā manīṣiṇo jayanti lohāni ṣaśindriyāṇi ye ||

9.23 Less heroic are those men thought who conquer enemies armed with horses, chariots and elephants,
Than those heroic thinkers are thought who conquer the restless six senses.

ahaṃ vapuṣmān iti yac ca manyase vicakṣaṇaṃ naitad idaṃ ca gṛhyatām |
kva tad vapuḥ sā ca vapuṣmatī tanur gadasya sāmyasya ca sāraṇasya ca ||

9.24 Again, that you think ‘I am good looking’ is not astute. Let this be grasped:
Where are the good looks, where the beautiful bodies, of Gada, Śāmba, and Sāraṇa?

yathā mayūraś calacitracandrako bibharti rūpaṃ guṇavat svabhāvataḥ |
śarīrasaṃskāraguṇād ṛte tathā bibharṣi rūpaṃ yadi rūpavān asi ||

9.25 Just as a peacock, flashing the eye in its tail, naturally carries its excellent looks,
That is how, without any distinction got from grooming the body, you must carry your looks – if after all you are good-looking.

yadi pratīpaṃ vṛṇuyān na vāsasā na śaucakāle yadi saṃspṛśed apaḥ |
mṛjāviśeṣaṃ yadi nādadīta vā vapur vapuṣman vada kīdṛśaṃ bhavet ||

9.26 If its unpleasantness were not covered with clothes, if it never touched water after excretion,
Or if it never received a good washing, tell me, O handsome one! what might a body be like?

navaṃ vayaś cātmagataṃ niśāmya yad gṛhonmukhaṃ te viṣayāptaye manaḥ |
niyaccha tac chailanadīrayopamaṃ drutaṃ hi gacchaty anvirati yauvanam ||

9.27 Again, perceiving the prime of life to be a personal belonging, your mind looks forward to going home and gaining its sensual end:
Curb that mind! for, like a river coursing down a rocky mountain, youth passes swiftly and does not return.

ṛtur vyatītaḥ parivartate punaḥ kṣayaṅ prayātaḥ punar eti candramāḥ |
gataṃ gataṃ naiva tu saṃnivartate jalaṃ nadīnāṃ ca nṛṇāṃ ca yauvanam ||

9.28 A season that has passed comes around again, the moon wanes and waxes again,
But gone, gone, never to return is the water of rivers, and the youth of men.

vivarṇitaśmaśru valīvikuñcitaṃ viśīrṇadantaṃ śithilabhru niṣprabham |
yadā mukhaṃ drakṣyasi jarjaraṃ tadā jarābhibhūto vimado bhaviṣyasi ||

9.29 When you are white whiskered and wrinkled, with broken teeth and sagging brows; when you are lacking in lustre;
When, humbled by age, you see your face grown old, then you will sober up.

niṣevya pānaṃ madanīyam uttamaṃ niśāvivāseṣu cirād vimādyati |
naras tu matto balarūpayauvanair na kaś cid aprāpya jarāṃ vimādyati ||

9.30 Having wasted nights and greeted dawns drinking the most intoxicating liquor, one finally comes around,
But drunk on strength, looks and youth, no man ever comes round – until he reaches old age.

yathekṣur atyantarasaprapīḍito bhuvi praviddho dahanāya śuṣyate |
tathā jarāyantraniīḍitā tanur nipītasārā maraṇāya tiṣṭhati ||

9.31 Just as sugar-cane, when all its juice has been squeezed out, is thrown on the ground to dry, ready for burning,
So, pressed in the vice of aging and drained of energy, does the body wait to die.

yathā hi nṛbhyāṃ karapattram īritaṃ samucchritaṃ dāru bhinatty anekadhā |
tathocchritāṃ pātayati prajām imām aharniśābhyām upasaṃhitā jarā ||

9.32 Just as a saw worked by two men cuts a tall tree into many pieces,
So old age, pushed and pulled by day and night, topples people here and now who are high and mighty

smṛteḥ pramoṣo vapuṣaḥ parābhavo rateḥ kṣayo vācchruticakṣuṣāṃ grahaḥ |
śramasya yonir balavīryayor vadho jarāsamo nāsti śarīriṇāṃ ripuḥ ||

9.33 Robber of memory; destroyer of looks; ender of pleasure; seizer of speech, hearing and sight;
Birthplace of fatigue; slayer of strength and manly vigour: for those with a body, there is no enemy to rival aging.

idaṃ viditvā nidhanasya daiśikaṃ jarābhidahānaṃ jagato mahadbhayam |
ahaṃ vapuṣmān balavān yuveti vā na mānam āroḍhum anāryam arhasi ||

9.34 Knowing this great terror of the world named ‘aging’ to be a pointer on the way to death,
Do not rise to the ignoble conceit of an ‘I’ that is beautiful, or young, or strong.

ahaṃ mamety eva ca raktacetasāṃ śarīrasaṃjñā tava yaḥ kalau grahaḥ |
tam utsṛjaivaṃ yadi śāmyatā bhaved bhayaṃ hy ahaṃ ceti mameti cārchati ||

9.35 With your mind tainted by ‘I’ and ‘mine,’ you are latching onto the strife called a body.
Let go of that, if peace is to come about, for ‘I’ and ‘mine’ usher in danger.

yadā śarīre na vaśo ’sti kasya cin nirasyamāne vividhair upaplavaiḥ |
kathaṃ kṣamaṃ vettum ahaṃ mameti vā śarīrasaṃjñaṃ gṛham āpadām idam ||

9.36 When no-one has dominion over a body that is ravaged by manifold misfortunes,
How can it be right to recognize as ‘I’ or as ‘mine’ this house of calamities called a body?

sapannage yaḥ kugṛhe sadāśucau rameta nityaṃ pratisaṃskṛte ’bale |
sa duṣṭadhātāv aśucau calācale rameta kāye viparītdarśanaḥ ||

9.37 One who would delight in a flimsy snake-infested hovel that was always unclean and constantly needing repair:
He is the man of perverted view who would delight in a body with its corrupted elements and unclean, unstable state.

yathā prajābhyaḥ kunṛpo balād balīn haraty aśeṣaṃ ca na cābhirakṣati |
tathaiva kāvyo vasanādisādhanaṃ haraty aśeṣaṃ ca na cānuvartate ||

9.38 Just as a bad king takes forcibly from his subjects his full toll of taxes, and yet does not protect;
So the body takes its full toll of provisions such as clothes and the like, and yet does not obey.

yathā prarohanti tṛṇāny ayatnataḥ kṣitau prayatnāt tu bhavnti śālayaḥ |
tathaiva duḥkhāni tṛñāny ayatnataḥ kṣitau pryatnāt tu bhavanti vā na vā ||

9.39 Just as in soil, grass sprouts readily but rice is grown through sustained effort,
So too does sorrow arise readily whereas happiness is produced with effort, if at all.

śarīram ārtaṃ parikarṣataś calaṃ na cāsti kiṃ cit paramārthataḥ sukham |
sukhaṃ hi duḥkhapratikārasevayā sthite ca duḥkhe tanuni vyasvasyati ||

9.40 For him who drags around a hurting, perishable body, there is no such thing, in the supreme sense, as happiness;
For what he determines to be happiness, by taking counter-measures against suffering, is only a condition wherein suffering remains minimal.

yathānapekṣyāgryam apīsitaṃ sukhaṃ prabādhate duḥkham upetam aṇv api |
tathānapekṣyātmani duḥkham āgataṃ na vidyate kiṃ cana kasya cit sukham ||

9.41 Just as the intrusion of even a slight discomfort spoils enjoyment of the greatest longed-for pleasure,
In a similar way, nobody ever enjoys any happiness by disregarding suffering that is upon him.

śarīram īdṛgbhahuduḥkham adhruvaṃ phalānurodhāh atha nāvagacchasi |
dravat phalebhyo dhṛtiraśmibhir mano nigṛhyatāṃ gaur iva śasyalālasā ||

9.42 You fail to see the body as it is – full of suffering and inconstant – because of fondness for its effects:
Let the mind that chases after effects, like a cow after corn, be restrained by the reins of steadfastness.

na kāmabhogā hi bhavanti tṛptaye havīṃṣi dīptasya vibhāvasor iva |
yathā yathā kāmasukheṣu vartate tathā tathecchā viṣayeṣu vardhate ||

9.43 For sensual enjoyments, like offerings fed into a blazing fire, do not make for satisfaction;
The more one indulges in sensual pleasures, the more the desire for sensual objects grows.

yathā ca kuṣṭhavyasanena duḥkhitaḥ pratāpanān naiva śamaṃ nigacchati |
tathendriyārtheṣv ajitendriyaś caran na kāmabhogair upaśāntim ṛcchati ||

9.44 Again, just as a man suffering from the blight of leprosy does not obtain a cure by way of application of heat,
Similarly, one who goes among sense objects with his senses unconquered does not tend towards peace by way of sensual enjoyments.

yathā hi bhaiṣajyasukhābhikāṅkṣayā bhajeta rogān na bhajeta tatkṣamam |
tathā śarīre bahuduḥkhabhājane rameta mohād viṣayābhikāṅkṣayā ||

9.45 For just as desire for pleasure from one’s medicine might cause one to accept one’s infirmity instead of taking proper measures against it,
So, because of desire for one’s object, might one ignorantly rejoice in that receptacle of much suffering which is a body.

anarthakāmaḥ puruṣasya yo janaḥ sa tasya śatruḥ kila tena karmaṇā |
anarthamūlā viṣayāś ca kevalā nanu praheyā viṣamā yathārayaḥ ||

9.46 One who wishes adversity on a man is said, because of that action, to be his enemy.
Should not sense objects, as the sole root of adversity, be shunned as dangerous enemies?

ihaiva bhūtvā ripavo vadhātmakāḥ prayānti kāle puruṣasya mitratām |
paratra caiveha ca duḥkhahetavo bhavanti kāmā na tu kasya cic chivāḥ ||

9.47 Those who were his deadly enemies in this world can in time become a man’s friend;
But not benign for anybody, in this or other worlds, are the desires which are the causes of suffering.

yathopayuktaṃ rasavarṇagandhavad vadhāya kiṃpākaphalaṃ na puṣṭaye |
niṣevyamāṇā viṣayāś calātmano bhavanty anarthāya tathā na bhūtaye ||

9.48 Just as eating a tasty, colourful and fragrant kiṁpāka fruit leads to death not nourishment,
So an imbalanced person’s devotion to objects makes for misfortune, and not for well-being.

tat etad ājñāya vipāpmanātmanā vimokṣadharmādyupasaṃhitaṃ hitam |
juṣasva me sajjanasaṃmataṃ mataṃ pracakṣva vā niścayam udgiran giram ||

9.49 As an innocent, then, heed this good advice pertaining to liberation, dharma, and so forth;
Affirm my opinion, with which the righteous concur. Or else speak up and state your agenda.”

iti hitam api bahv apīdam uktaḥ śrutamahatā śramaṇena tena nandaḥ |
na dhṛtim upayayau na śarma lebhe dvirada ivātimado madāndhacetāḥ ||

9.50 Though reproached at length in this salutary fashion by a striver so great in hearing what is heard,
Nanda neither found firmness nor took comfort: he was like a tusker in full rut, mind blinded by lust.

nandasya bhāvam avagamya tataḥ sa bhikṣuḥ pāriplavaṃ gṛhasukhābhimukhaṃ na dharme |
sattvāśayānuśayabhāvaparkṣakāya buddhāya tattvadiuṣe kathayāṃ cakāra ||

9.51 Then, having assured himself that Nanda’s being was not in the dharma but was turned unsteadily towards the comforts of home,
That beggar reported back to the investigator of living creatures’ dispositions, tendencies and ways of being, to the Buddha, knower of reality.

saundaranande mahākāvye madāpavādo nāma navamaḥ sargaḥ ||

The 9th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda, titled “Negation of Vanity.”

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