घटस्य पटता दृष्टा पटस्याऽपि घटस्थितिः । न तदस्ति न यद् दृष्टं विपर्यस्यति संसृतौ ॥ ३३ ॥
ghaṭasya paṭatā dṛṣṭā paṭasyā’pi ghaṭasthitiḥ | na tadasti na yad dṛṣṭaṁ viparyasyati saṁsṛtau || 33 ||
Translation
A pot is seen to become cloth, and cloth too becomes a pot: there is nothing seen that does not turn into something else in the round of the world.
Word by word
- ghaṭasya
- a pot
- paṭatā
- to become cloth
- dṛṣṭā
- is seen
- paṭasya
- cloth
- api
- too
- ghaṭa
- a pot
- sthitiḥ
- becomes
- na
- nothing
- tad
- (tat) that
- asti
- there is
- yad
- (yat) which
- dṛṣṭaṁ
- is seen
- viparyasyati
- turns into something else
- saṁsṛtau
- in the round of the world
Meaning
The commentary explains the strange example: a broken pot becomes dust, the dust feeds a cotton field, the cotton becomes cloth; cloth rots into earth, the earth is shaped into a pot. Everything is matter passing through forms. The pot and the cloth are the classic examples of Indian philosophy for an object and its material cause. The reader is shown the world as one stuff in endless change.