तरङ्गतरलां वृत्तिं दधदालूनशीर्णताम् । परित्यज्य क्षणमपि हृदये याति न स्थितिम् ॥ ५ ॥
taraṅgataralāṁ vṛttiṁ dadhadālūnaśīrṇatām | parityajya kṣaṇamapi hṛdayē yāti na sthitim || 5 ||
Translation
Keeping a restless movement like a wave, cut up and shattered, it does not leave that state for a moment and find rest in the heart.
Word by word
- taraṅga
- like a wave
- taralāṁ
- restless
- vṛttiṁ
- a movement
- dadhad
- (dadhat) keeping
- ālūna
- cut up
- śīrṇatām
- and shattered
- parityajya
- leave
- kṣaṇam
- for a moment
- api
- even
- hṛdayē
- in the heart
- yāti
- find
- na
- not
- sthitim
- rest
Meaning
A wave is never one thing: it rises, breaks, scatters and rises again. The mind's movement (vṛtti) is like this, "cut up and shattered" (ālūna-śīrṇa): thoughts broken off half-way, attention in pieces. The commentary says it never gives up this cutting of its parts, gross and subtle, to rest for a moment in its own place. "In the heart" (hṛdaye) names that place. The practice the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha will teach is just this: to let the mind come to rest in the heart, where it belongs. Here Rāma confesses that he cannot.