संसारसंसृतावस्यां फेनोऽस्मिन्सर्गसागरे । कायवल्ल्याम्भसो ब्रह्मन् जीवितं मे न रोचते ॥ ९ ॥
saṁsārasaṁsṛtāvasyāṁ phēnō’sminsargasāgarē | kāyavallyāmbhasō brahman jīvitaṁ mē na rōcatē || 9 ||
Translation
In this flowing round of the world, in this ocean of creation, the creeper of the body is foam on the water. Life does not please me, brahmin.
Word by word
- saṁsāra
- of the world
- saṁsṛtau
- in the flowing round
- asyāṁ
- in this
- phēnō
- (phenaḥ) foam
- asmin
- in this
- sarga
- of creation
- sāgarē
- ocean
- kāya
- of the body
- vallī
- the creeper
- ambhasō
- (ambhasaḥ) on the water
- brahman
- brahmin
- jīvitaṁ
- life
- mē
- me
- na
- not
- rōcatē
- does please
Meaning
The world is saṃsṛti, a flowing, a going round; creation is an ocean; and the body, which seems so solid, is foam, a little froth thrown up by the water and gone. The commentary: as foam on the sea is unstable, so is the body in creation. Rāma's conclusion, "life does not please me", is not despair but disenchantment. Something that charmed him has stopped charming him because he has seen it clearly. Vairāgya, dispassion, begins exactly here: not in hating life, but in no longer being pleased by what does not last.