एषा हि विषमा दुःखभोगिनां गहना गुहा । घनमोहगजेन्द्राणां विन्ध्यशैलमहातटी ॥ १२ ॥
ēṣā hi viṣamā duḥkhabhōgināṁ gahanā guhā | ghanamōhagajēndrāṇāṁ vindhyaśailamahātaṭī || 12 ||
Translation
She is a rough, deep cave for the serpents of sorrow, the great slope of the Vindhya mountains for the lordly elephants of dense delusion.
Word by word
- ēṣā
- she
- hi
- indeed
- viṣamā
- rough
- duḥkha
- of sorrow
- bhōgināṁ
- for the serpents (or the enjoyers)
- gahanā
- deep
- guhā
- a cave
- ghana
- dense
- mōha
- of delusion
- gaja
- elephants
- indrāṇāṁ
- for the lordly
- vindhya
- of the Vindhya
- śaila
- mountains
- mahā
- the great
- taṭī
- slope
Meaning
The images now come in a long chain (verses 12 to 19), each naming what fortune is to some quality of the mind. There is a play in the first: bhogin means "one who enjoys" and also "a serpent" (from bhoga, the hood or coil). The enjoyments wealth buys are serpents of sorrow, and fortune is the cave in which they live and breed. The Vindhya range was famous for its wild elephants; fortune is the hillside where the great elephants of delusion roam, huge and dense (ghana). The commentary says simply: what the ignorant take for the cause of happiness is the home of great sorrow and the cover of great delusion. The reader is asked to look at where their enjoyments actually live, and what lives with them.