भोगदूर्वाङ्कुराकाङ्क्षी श्वभ्रपातमचिन्तयन् । मनोहरिणको ब्रह्मन् दूरं विपरिधावति ॥ ८ ॥
bhōgadūrvāṅkurākāṅkṣī śvabhrapātamacintayan | manōhariṇakō brahman dūraṁ viparidhāvati || 8 ||
Translation
The little deer of the mind, brahmin, longing for the shoots of the dūrvā grass of pleasures, never thinking of the fall into the pit, runs off far and wide.
Word by word
- bhōga
- of pleasures
- dūrvā
- of the dūrvā grass
- aṅkura
- for the shoots
- ākāṅkṣī
- longing
- śvabhra
- into the pit
- pātam
- the fall
- acintayan
- never thinking of
- manō
- (manaḥ) of the mind
- hariṇakō
- (hariṇakaḥ) the little deer
- brahman
- brahmin
- dūraṁ
- far and wide
- viparidhāvati
- runs off
Meaning
A deer that sees tender grass at the edge of a pit runs to it and does not see the drop. The mind runs after pleasures, the young shoots of dūrvā grass, and does not think of the fall, which the commentary names as the fall into hell, the suffering that follows. The diminutive hariṇaka, "little deer", is tender: Rāma does not hate the mind, he pities it. The reader may also treat their own mind so: not as an enemy to be beaten, but as an animal that does not see the pit, and needs to be shown it.