तावच्छीतमृदुस्पर्शाः परे स्वे च जने जनाः । वात्ययेव हिमं यावच्छ्रिया न परुषीकृताः ॥ ८ ॥
tāvacchītamṛdusparśāḥ parē svē ca janē janāḥ | vātyayēva himaṁ yāvacchriyā na paruṣīkṛtāḥ || 8 ||
Translation
People are cool and gentle to the touch, to strangers and to their own, only until fortune has made them hard, as wind hardens snow.
Word by word
- tāvat
- only until
- śīta
- cool
- mṛdu
- and gentle
- sparśāḥ
- to the touch
- parē
- to strangers
- svē
- to their own
- ca
- and
- janē
- people
- janāḥ
- people are
- vātyayā
- wind
- iva
- as
- himaṁ
- snow
- yāvac
- (yāvat) until
- chriyā
- (śriyā) by fortune
- na
- not
- paruṣīkṛtāḥ
- made hard
Meaning
Fresh snow is soft and cool; a freezing wind turns it to hard ice. So with people: before they are rich, they are kind, courteous and warm to their own family and to strangers alike. Once fortune comes, the commentary says, they drop their kindness and grow hard. The verse does not say that the rich are wicked; it describes a change that happens to ordinary people, often without their noticing. The reader may ask what wealth or power, even a little, has done to their own softness, and whether they have become, by degrees, less easy to approach.