प्रियासुभिः कालमुखं क्रियन्ते जनैडकास्ते हतकर्मबद्धाः । यैः पीनतामेव बलादुपेत्य शरीरबाधेन न ते भवन्ति ॥ २२ ॥
priyāsubhiḥ kālamukhaṁ kriyantē janaiḍakāstē hatakarmabaddhāḥ | yaiḥ pīnatāmēva balādupētya śarīrabādhēna na tē bhavanti || 22 ||
Translation
Those goats among men, bound by their wretched deeds, whose own dear breaths make them into the mouth of Time: grown fat by force through them, they cease to be, as the body is destroyed.
Word by word
- priya
- dear
- asubhiḥ
- by their breaths
- kāla
- of Time
- mukhaṁ
- the mouth
- kriyantē
- are made
- jana
- among men
- ēḍakās
- (eḍakāḥ) goats
- tē
- those
- hata
- wretched
- karma
- by their deeds
- baddhāḥ
- bound
- yaiḥ
- through them
- pīnatām
- fat
- ēva
- just
- balād
- (balāt) by force
- upētya
- grown
- śarīra
- the body
- bādhēna
- as is destroyed
- na
- not
- bhavanti
- they cease to be
Meaning
An image from the sacrifice: a goat is tied to the post and fattened, and the sacrificer offers it. People who live only to feed the body, the commentary says, are such goats; their own life-breaths, the sacrificer, fatten them and tie them to the post of wrong deeds, and Time eats them; when the body is gone, so are they. The commentary quotes the Taittirīya Upaniṣad: "he becomes non-existent who knows Brahman as non-existent". The reader is asked what they are being fattened for.