अलमन्तर्भ्रमायैव तृष्णा तरलिताशया । आयाता विषमोल्लासमूर्मिरम्बुनिधाविव ॥ ५ ॥
alamantarbhramāyaiva tṛṣṇā taralitāśayā | āyātā viṣamōllāsamūrmirambunidhāviva || 5 ||
Translation
Craving, with its fickle intent, has come only to stir up confusion within, as a wave rises with uneven surges on the ocean.
Word by word
- alam
- only
- antar
- (antaḥ) within
- bhramāya
- to stir up confusion
- ēva
- just
- tṛṣṇā
- craving
- taralita
- fickle
- āśayā
- with its intent
- āyātā
- has come
- viṣama
- with uneven
- ullāsam
- surges
- ūrmir
- (ūrmiḥ) a wave
- ambunidhau
- on the ocean
- iva
- as
Meaning
A wave rises unevenly, only to throw the middle of the sea into disorder. Craving, the commentary says, has stirred up eagerness for the toilsome earning of wealth only to create a dense confusion within. Its "intent" (āśaya) is tarala, fickle, shifting. The point is that craving produces nothing but its own agitation: it rises, and its only fruit is that the deep is troubled. The reader who has spent a day driven by want may find, at evening, that this was all it gave: an unquiet sea.