आपदः क्षणमायान्ति क्षणमायान्ति सम्पदः । क्षणं जन्म क्षणं मृत्युर्मुने किमिव न क्षणम् ॥ ३१ ॥
āpadaḥ kṣaṇamāyānti kṣaṇamāyānti sampadaḥ | kṣaṇaṁ janma kṣaṇaṁ mṛtyurmunē kimiva na kṣaṇam || 31 ||
Translation
Misfortunes come in a moment, riches come in a moment; birth is a moment, death a moment: O sage, what is not a moment?
Word by word
- āpadaḥ
- misfortunes
- kṣaṇam
- in a moment
- āyānti
- come
- sampadaḥ
- riches
- kṣaṇaṁ
- a moment
- janma
- birth
- mṛtyur
- (mṛtyuḥ) death
- munē
- O sage
- kim
- what
- iva
- indeed
- na
- not
Meaning
The kṣaṇa refrain reaches its climax in a question: "what is not a moment?" (kim iva na kṣaṇam). The commentary: what in this world is not momentary, not unstable? The reader may hold the question, as the work intends, until it turns into its opposite: what is it that knows the moments?