संक्षीयते जगति जन्मपरम्परासु लोकस्य तैरिह कुकर्मभिरायुरेतत् । आकाशपादपलताकृतपाशकल्पं येषां फलं नहि विचारविदोऽपि विद्मः ॥ ४२ ॥
saṁkṣīyatē jagati janmaparamparāsu lōkasya tairiha kukarmabhirāyurētat | ākāśapādapalatākṛtapāśakalpaṁ yēṣāṁ phalaṁ nahi vicāravidō’pi vidmaḥ || 42 ||
Translation
In the world, through the succession of births, people's life wastes away by those evil deeds whose fruit is like a noose made of a creeper on a tree in the sky; and even we who know inquiry do not know it.
Word by word
- saṁkṣīyatē
- wastes away
- jagati
- in the world
- janma
- of births
- paramparāsu
- through the succession
- lōkasya
- people's
- tair
- (taiḥ) by those
- iha
- here
- kukarmabhir
- (kukarmabhiḥ) evil deeds
- āyur
- (āyuḥ) life
- ētat
- this
- ākāśa
- in the sky
- pādapa
- on a tree
- latā
- of a creeper
- kṛta
- made
- pāśa
- a noose
- kalpaṁ
- like
- yēṣāṁ
- whose
- phalaṁ
- fruit
- nahi
- not
- vicāra
- inquiry
- vidō
- (vidaḥ) who know
- api
- even
- vidmaḥ
- we do know
Meaning
The last two verses are in vasantatilakā (fourteen syllables a pāda). Deeds done out of desire and against the law wear life away, birth after birth, and their fruit, heaven or hell, is like a noose hung from a creeper on a tree in the sky: unreal, and yet it strangles. "Even we who know inquiry do not know it": Rāma confesses that he cannot see the end of this; the commentary adds, still less do we see anyone seeking a way out. The reader is asked to be that seeker.