अस्थिराः सर्व एवेमे सचराचरचेष्टिताः । आपदां पतयः पापा भावा विभवभूमयः ॥ ८ ॥
asthirāḥ sarva ēvēmē sacarācaracēṣṭitāḥ | āpadāṁ patayaḥ pāpā bhāvā vibhavabhūmayaḥ || 8 ||
Translation
All these things that move and do not move are unstable. Things are the lords of misfortune, sinful, the very ground of riches.
Word by word
- asthirāḥ
- unstable
- sarva
- (sarve) all
- ēva
- indeed
- imē
- these
- sa
- with
- cara
- what moves
- acara
- and does not move
- cēṣṭitāḥ
- things that act
- āpadāṁ
- of misfortune
- patayaḥ
- the lords
- pāpā
- (pāpāḥ) sinful
- bhāvā
- (bhāvāḥ) things
- vibhava
- of riches
- bhūmayaḥ
- the ground
Meaning
One might object, the commentary says: birth and death are painful, but between them life gives joy. Rāma's answer is that the things which give it are themselves unstable. They are "lords of misfortune" (āpadāṁ patayaḥ) because attachment and aversion follow them; they are "sinful" because they draw us to act wrongly to keep them; and they are "the ground of riches", the very things we think make us rich. What we lean on for security is what makes us insecure.