राज्येभ्यो भोगपूगेभ्यश्चिन्तावद्भ्यो मुनीश्वर । निरस्तचिन्ताकलिता वरमेकान्तशीलता ॥ ५ ॥
rājyēbhyō bhōgapūgēbhyaścintāvadbhyō munīśvara | nirastacintākalitā varamēkāntaśīlatā || 5 ||
Translation
Better than kingdoms and heaps of enjoyments, full of worries as they are, lord of sages, is a life of solitude, set free of the stain of worry.
Word by word
- rājyēbhyō
- (rājyebhyaḥ) than kingdoms
- bhōga
- of enjoyments
- pūgēbhyaś
- (pūgebhyaḥ) and heaps
- cintāvadbhyō
- (cintāvadbhyaḥ) full of worries
- munīśvara
- lord of sages
- nirasta
- set free
- cintā
- of worry
- kalitā
- of the stain
- varam
- better
- ēkānta
- of solitude
- śīlatā
- a life
Meaning
Now Rāma turns from the world to his own choice. Kingdoms and masses of pleasure come with worries (cintāvat): the commentary says with every kind of anxiety of the mind. Against them he sets ekānta-śīlatā, the habit of being alone with oneself, from which worry has been thrown off (nirasta-cintā-kalitā), and which, the commentary adds, the great souls have chosen. The comparison is not between pleasure and pain but between two kinds of life. One gives much and asks constant guarding; the other gives little and asks nothing. A prince who will inherit a kingdom says the second is better. The reader need not leave their life to test the verse: an hour alone, without the phone and the list, is a small trial of what Rāma prefers.