सकलमप्यकलाकलितान्तरं सुभगदुर्भगरूपधरं वपुः । प्रकटयन् सहसैव च गोपयन् विलसतीह हि कालबलं नृषु ॥ ४५ ॥
sakalamapyakalākalitāntaraṁ subhagadurbhagarūpadharaṁ vapuḥ | prakaṭayan sahasaiva ca gōpayan vilasatīha hi kālabalaṁ nṛṣu || 45 ||
Translation
Showing and at once hiding the body, which is the whole and yet within is untouched by parts, which bears forms fortunate and unfortunate, the power of Time plays here among men.
Word by word
- sakalam
- the whole
- api
- and yet
- akalā
- by parts
- kalita
- untouched
- antaraṁ
- within
- subhaga
- fortunate
- durbhaga
- and unfortunate
- rūpa
- forms
- dharaṁ
- which bears
- vapuḥ
- the body
- prakaṭayan
- showing
- sahasā
- at once
- ēva
- just
- ca
- and
- gōpayan
- hiding
- vilasati
- plays
- iha
- here
- hi
- indeed
- kāla
- of Time
- balaṁ
- the power
- nṛṣu
- among men
Meaning
The sarga closes in drutavilambita (twelve syllables a pāda). The commentary: no one, by cleverness of mind, has grasped Time's secret. It brings forth bodies, beautiful or ugly according to merit and sin, and in the same moment hides them away; and within, it is akalākalita, untouched by any division. "The power of Time plays among men" (kālabalam vilasati nṛṣu). The reader, having seen Time as devourer, as play and as the semblance of the changeless, is prepared to ask what the next sargas will ask: if all is carried away, what is worth seeking?