जडकल्लोलबहुला चिरं शून्यान्तरान्तरा । क्षणमुल्लासमायाति तृष्णा प्रावृट्तरङ्गिणी ॥ २७ ॥
jaḍakallōlabahulā ciraṁ śūnyāntarāntarā | kṣaṇamullāsamāyāti tṛṣṇā prāvṛṭtaraṅgiṇī || 27 ||
Translation
Full of dull waves, long empty within at intervals, craving surges up for a moment, like a river in the rains.
Word by word
- jaḍa
- dull
- kallōla
- waves
- bahulā
- full of
- ciraṁ
- long
- śūnyā
- empty
- antara
- within
- antarā
- at intervals
- kṣaṇam
- for a moment
- ullāsam
- surges up
- āyāti
- comes
- tṛṣṇā
- craving
- prāvṛṭ
- in the rains
- taraṅgiṇī
- a river
Meaning
A seasonal river is dry for months; in the rains it floods for a few days, brimming with muddy water, then dries again, with stretches of empty bed between. Craving is such a river: it swells for a moment with "dull waves", the commentary says, the eagerness for insentient things, and between its floods it is long empty. The verse describes the rhythm of wanting: the rush, the brief fulness, the long dryness, the next rush. The reader may notice how quickly each satisfied want gives way to emptiness.