तेनेयमखिला भूतसन्ततिः परिपेलवा । तापेन हिममालेव नीता विधुरतां भृशम् ॥ ३ ॥
tēnēyamakhilā bhūtasantatiḥ paripēlavā | tāpēna himamālēva nītā vidhuratāṁ bhṛśam || 3 ||
Translation
By him this whole succession of beings, so frail, has been brought to utter ruin, like a wreath of snow by the heat.
Word by word
- tēna
- by him
- iyam
- this
- akhilā
- whole
- bhūta
- of beings
- santatiḥ
- succession
- paripēlavā
- so frail
- tāpēna
- by the heat
- hima
- of snow
- mālā
- a wreath
- iva
- like
- nītā
- has been brought
- vidhuratāṁ
- to ruin
- bhṛśam
- utter
Meaning
Snow melts in the sun without the sun doing anything but shine. Fate destroys beings in the same way: not by an act of will, but by the ripening of deeds. The commentary sums it up: one's own deeds are the root of all one's misfortunes. The reader is not told to fear fate but to see it as the heat that ripens what they have planted.