लहरीवैकरूपेण पदं क्षणमकुर्वती । चला दीपशिखेवाऽतिदुर्ज्ञेयगतिगोचरा ॥ १८ ॥
laharīvaikarūpēṇa padaṁ kṣaṇamakurvatī | calā dīpaśikhēvā’tidurjñēyagatigōcarā || 18 ||
Translation
Like a wave she keeps no single form and does not stay a moment in one place; restless as a lamp flame, her course and reach are beyond knowing.
Word by word
- laharī
- a wave
- iva
- like
- ēka
- single
- rūpēṇa
- form
- padaṁ
- in one place
- kṣaṇam
- a moment
- akurvatī
- does not stay
- calā
- restless
- dīpa
- a lamp
- śikhā
- flame
- ati
- very
- durjñēya
- hard to know
- gati
- her course
- gōcarā
- and reach
Meaning
A wave is never the same shape twice; a flame flickers with every breath of air. Fortune has no fixed form: now land, now gold, now office, now reputation, and none of them holds still. "Her course and reach are beyond knowing" (atidurjñeya-gati-gocarā): no one can say where she will go next or how far she will carry one. The commentary adds that she is the mother of misfortunes no one foresaw. A life planned around her is planned around what cannot be predicted. The reader is asked to put their trust instead in what does not move.