एषा हि पदमेकत्र न निबध्नाति दुर्भगा । दग्धेवाऽनियताचारमितश्चेतश्च धावति ॥ ४ ॥
ēṣā hi padamēkatra na nibadhnāti durbhagā | dagdhēvā’niyatācāramitaścētaśca dhāvati || 4 ||
Translation
For this ill-starred one never sets her foot in one place: as if scorched, she runs here and there, with no fixed conduct.
Word by word
- ēṣā
- this one
- hi
- for
- padam
- her foot
- ēkatra
- in one place
- na
- never
- nibadhnāti
- sets
- durbhagā
- ill-starred
- dagdhā
- scorched
- iva
- as if
- aniyata
- no fixed
- ācāram
- with conduct
- itaś
- (itaḥ) here
- cētaś
- (ca itaḥ) and there
- ca
- and
- dhāvati
- she runs
Meaning
Now fortune is seen as a woman who cannot stay. The commentary's picture: an unhappy woman who has stepped on fire and runs this way and that, unable to put her foot down anywhere. So fortune moves from house to house and from hand to hand. "With no fixed conduct" (aniyatācāram) is pointed: the commentary says she runs especially to one who lives without the conduct the scriptures teach, and then away again. A family is rich and then poor; a business that seemed certain fails. The verse asks the reader not to build a life on what by its very nature will not stand still.