पातालाद्गच्छता पृथ्वीं पृथ्व्याः पातालगामिना । कूपकाष्ठं कुदाम्नेव वेष्टितोऽस्मि कुचेतसा ॥ १९ ॥
pātālādgacchatā pṛthvīṁ pṛthvyāḥ pātālagāminā | kūpakāṣṭhaṁ kudāmnēva vēṣṭitō’smi kucētasā || 19 ||
Translation
By the wicked mind, which goes from the underworld to the earth and from the earth to the underworld, I am wound about, as the wooden beam of a well by a poor rope.
Word by word
- pātālād
- (pātālāt) from the underworld
- gacchatā
- which goes
- pṛthvīṁ
- to the earth
- pṛthvyāḥ
- from the earth
- pātāla
- to the underworld
- gāminā
- and goes
- kūpa
- of a well
- kāṣṭhaṁ
- the wooden beam
- ku
- poor
- dāmnā
- by a rope
- iva
- as
- vēṣṭitō
- (veṣṭitaḥ) wound about
- asmi
- I am
- cētasā
- by the mind
Meaning
The commentary describes the device: at a well, a wooden beam is weighted at one end and tied with rope at the other, and the bucket goes up and down, up and down, without end. The mind is the rope that runs from the depths to the surface and back; Rāma is the beam, bound and carried up and down with it. The underworld and the earth are the low and high states, births below and above; and the moods of a single day. The image is of endless motion without arrival. The reader may see their own ups and downs as this rope, and ask what would untie it.