यां यामहमतीवास्थां संश्रयामि गुणश्रियम् । तां तां कृन्तति मे तृष्णा तन्त्रीमिव कुमूषिका ॥ ८ ॥
yāṁ yāmahamatīvāsthāṁ saṁśrayāmi guṇaśriyam | tāṁ tāṁ kṛntati mē tṛṣṇā tantrīmiva kumūṣikā || 8 ||
Translation
Whatever high resolve I take up, the beauty of virtue, craving gnaws through each one of them, as a wicked mouse gnaws the string of a lute.
Word by word
- yāṁ
- whatever
- yām
- whatever (repeated)
- aham
- I
- atīva
- high
- āsthāṁ
- resolve
- saṁśrayāmi
- take up
- guṇa
- of virtue
- śriyam
- the beauty
- tāṁ
- that
- tām
- each one (repeated)
- kṛntati
- gnaws through
- mē
- my
- tṛṣṇā
- craving
- tantrīm
- the string of a lute
- iva
- as
- ku
- wicked
- mūṣikā
- a mouse
Meaning
A lute is useless once a mouse has bitten through its strings. Rāma takes up āsthā, resolve, effort, the commentary says, in things of real quality, discrimination, dispassion and the rest; and craving cuts each resolve as a mouse cuts the gut of the strings. It does not need to fight the resolve openly; it gnaws in the dark, a little at a time. The reader who has made the same good resolution many times will know the mouse.