त्वङ्मांसरक्तबाष्पाम्बु पृथक्कृत्वा विलोचनम् । समालोकय रम्यं चेत् किं मुधा परिमुह्यसि ॥ २ ॥
tvaṅmāṁsaraktabāṣpāmbu pṛthakkṛtvā vilōcanam | samālōkaya ramyaṁ cēt kiṁ mudhā parimuhyasi || 2 ||
Translation
Take apart the eye into skin, flesh, blood and tear-water, and look: if it is lovely, why are you deluded in vain?
Word by word
- tvaṅ
- (tvak) skin
- māṁsa
- flesh
- rakta
- blood
- bāṣpa
- tear
- ambu
- water
- pṛthakkṛtvā
- take apart
- vilōcanam
- the eye
- samālōkaya
- and look
- ramyaṁ
- lovely
- cēt
- if it is
- kiṁ
- why
- mudhā
- in vain
- parimuhyasi
- are you deluded
Meaning
A practical exercise. The eye is the part of the body the poets praise most. Separate it in imagination into what it is made of: skin, flesh, blood, the water of tears. The commentary: the eye is nothing more than these; if it is lovely, take delight in it; if not, why be bewitched? This is the classic meditation on the parts of the body, known in many traditions. It does not destroy affection; it dissolves the spell by which a part is taken for something it is not.