किं नामेदं बत सुखं येयं संसारसन्ततिः । जायते मृतये लोको म्रियते जननाय च ॥ ७ ॥
kiṁ nāmēdaṁ bata sukhaṁ yēyaṁ saṁsārasantatiḥ | jāyatē mṛtayē lōkō mriyatē jananāya ca || 7 ||
Translation
What, alas, is this thing called happiness, this endless chain of worldly life? People are born to die, and die to be born.
Word by word
- kiṁ
- what
- nāma
- indeed
- idaṁ
- this
- bata
- alas
- sukhaṁ
- happiness
- yā
- which
- iyaṁ
- this
- saṁsāra
- of worldly life
- santatiḥ
- chain
- jāyatē
- is born
- mṛtayē
- to die
- lōkō
- (lokaḥ) people
- mriyatē
- die
- jananāya
- to be born
- ca
- and
Meaning
This is the first of Rāma's questions, and it is put bluntly. The commentary quotes a saying: "death is the seed of birth, birth the seed of death." Each end is a beginning of the same round. The question is not whether there are pleasant moments in life (there are), but whether a cycle that always ends in loss can be called happiness. A reader might test it on their own experience: which joy has not had its ending built into it?