जनः कामासक्तो विविधकुकलाचेष्टनपरः स तु स्वप्नेऽप्यस्मिन् जगति सुलभो नाऽद्य सुजनः । क्रिया दुःखासङ्गाविधुरविधुरा नूनमखिला न जाने नेतव्या कथमिव दशा जीवितमयी ॥ ४१ ॥
janaḥ kāmāsaktō vividhakukalācēṣṭanaparaḥ sa tu svapnē’pyasmin jagati sulabhō nā’dya sujanaḥ | kriyā duḥkhāsaṅgāvidhuravidhurā nūnamakhilā na jānē nētavyā kathamiva daśā jīvitamayī || 41 ||
Translation
People are attached to desire, bent on doing every kind of wicked art; but a good person is not easily found in this world now, not even in a dream. All action surely is wretched with its attachment to sorrow. I do not know how the state that is life is to be lived.
Word by word
- janaḥ
- people
- kāma
- to desire
- āsaktō
- (āsaktaḥ) attached
- vividha
- every kind of
- ku
- wicked
- kalā
- art
- cēṣṭana
- on doing
- paraḥ
- bent
- sa
- (saḥ) a
- tu
- but
- svapnē
- in a dream
- api
- not even
- asmin
- this
- jagati
- in world
- sulabhō
- (sulabhaḥ) easily found
- na
- not
- adya
- now
- sujanaḥ
- good person
- kriyā
- action
- duḥkha
- to sorrow
- āsaṅgā
- with its attachment
- vidhura
- wretched
- vidhurā
- utterly
- nūnam
- surely
- akhilā
- all
- jānē
- I do know
- nētavyā
- is to be lived
- katham
- how
- iva
- indeed
- daśā
- the state
- jīvita
- life
- mayī
- that is
Meaning
The sarga ends in śikhariṇī (seventeen syllables a pāda), with Rāma's plainest confession. The world is full of people given to desire and deceit; the good are rare; every action is tied to sorrow. And so: "I do not know how this life is to be lived" (na jāne netavyā katham iva daśā jīvitamayī). The commentary closes the sarga with the same words. This is the honest end of inquiry by dispassion alone. It does not yet know how to live. The reader who reaches the same place is ready, as Rāma is, for a teacher.