धातुर्नवानि दिवसं प्रति भीषणानि रम्याणि वा विलुलितान्ततमाकुलानि । कार्याणि कष्टफलपाकहतोदयानि विस्मापयन्ति न शवस्य मनांसि केषाम् ॥ ४० ॥
dhāturnavāni divasaṁ prati bhīṣaṇāni ramyāṇi vā vilulitāntatamākulāni | kāryāṇi kaṣṭaphalapākahatōdayāni vismāpayanti na śavasya manāṁsi kēṣām || 40 ||
Translation
The new works of the Creator, day after day, fearful or lovely, ending in confusion, their rising struck down by the ripening of painful fruit: whose minds do they not amaze, the works of one lifeless as a corpse?
Word by word
- dhātur
- (dhātuḥ) of the Creator
- navāni
- the new
- divasaṁ
- day
- prati
- after day
- bhīṣaṇāni
- fearful
- ramyāṇi
- lovely
- vā
- or
- vilulita
- in confusion
- antatam
- ending
- ākulāni
- disordered
- kāryāṇi
- works
- kaṣṭa
- painful
- phala
- of fruit
- pāka
- by the ripening
- hata
- struck down
- udayāni
- their rising
- vismāpayanti
- do amaze
- na
- not
- śavasya
- of one lifeless as a corpse
- manāṁsi
- the minds
- kēṣām
- whose
Meaning
In vasantatilakā (fourteen syllables a pāda). The Creator, Brahmā, inert as a corpse, the commentary says, without consciousness of his own, makes new things every day: some terrible, some lovely, all ending in disorder and bearing bitter fruit. Which wise person is not astonished? The wonder here is a turning point: astonishment at the world, rightly felt, leads to the question of its meaning.