बाल्ये गते कल्पितकेलिलोले मनोमृगे दारदरीषु जीर्णे । शरीरके जर्जरतां प्रयाते विदूयते केवलमेव लोकः ॥ २ ॥
bālyē gatē kalpitakēlilōlē manōmṛgē dāradarīṣu jīrṇē | śarīrakē jarjaratāṁ prayātē vidūyatē kēvalamēva lōkaḥ || 2 ||
Translation
When childhood, restless with imagined games, has gone, when the deer of the mind has worn itself out in the caves of wives, and the little body has become decrepit, people only suffer.
Word by word
- bālyē
- when childhood
- gatē
- has gone
- kalpita
- with imagined
- kēli
- games
- lōlē
- restless
- manō
- (manaḥ) of the mind
- mṛgē
- when the deer
- dāra
- of wives
- darīṣu
- in the caves
- jīrṇē
- has worn itself out
- śarīrakē
- the little body
- jarjaratāṁ
- decrepit
- prayātē
- has become
- vidūyatē
- suffer
- kēvalam
- only
- ēva
- indeed
- lōkaḥ
- people
Meaning
The three ages in one verse: childhood's games, youth spent in the "caves" of domestic love, and the worn body of age. At the end, the commentary says, people who have not used life for the highest aim only suffer. The verse is a summary of sargas 1.19 to 1.22. The reader is invited to place themselves in it, and ask what will remain at the end of their own three ages.