इहाऽपि विद्यते येषां पेलवा सुखभावना । आखुस्तन्तुमिवाऽशेषं कालस्तामपि कृन्तति ॥ ३ ॥
ihā’pi vidyatē yēṣāṁ pēlavā sukhabhāvanā | ākhustantumivā’śēṣaṁ kālastāmapi kṛntati || 3 ||
Translation
Even here, those who have some frail notion of happiness, Time cuts that notion too, entirely, as a rat cuts a thread.
Word by word
- iha
- here
- api
- even
- vidyatē
- have
- yēṣāṁ
- those who
- pēlavā
- some frail
- sukha
- of happiness
- bhāvanā
- notion
- ākhus
- (ākhuḥ) a rat
- tantum
- a thread
- iva
- as
- aśēṣaṁ
- entirely
- kālas
- (kālaḥ) Time
- tām
- that
- kṛntati
- cuts
Meaning
Some find a little happiness even in this world. It is a "frail notion" (pelavā sukhabhāvanā), and Time gnaws through it as a rat gnaws a thread, completely. The rat image returns from 1.14.16. The reader is not told that happiness is impossible, but that any happiness held in time is held by a thread.