अनित्यश्चाऽसुखो लोकस्तृष्णा तात दुरुद्वहा । चापलोपहतं चेतः कथं यास्यामि निर्वृतिम् ॥ ७ ॥
anityaścā’sukhō lōkastṛṣṇā tāta durudvahā | cāpalōpahataṁ cētaḥ kathaṁ yāsyāmi nirvṛtim || 7 ||
Translation
The world is passing and joyless, craving is hard to carry, dear one, the mind is struck down by fickleness: how shall I come to peace?
Word by word
- anityaś
- (anityaḥ) is passing
- ca
- and
- asukhō
- (asukhaḥ) joyless
- lōkas
- (lokaḥ) the world
- tṛṣṇā
- craving
- tāta
- dear one
- durudvahā
- is hard to carry
- cāpala
- by fickleness
- upahataṁ
- is struck down
- cētaḥ
- the mind
- kathaṁ
- how
- yāsyāmi
- shall I come
- nirvṛtim
- to peace
Meaning
Four facts, then a question. The world is impermanent (anitya) and without happiness (asukha); craving (tṛṣṇā), which the commentary calls the longing for objects, is a load too heavy to carry (durudvahā); the mind is wounded by its own restlessness (cāpala). If peace (nirvṛti) cannot come from the world, nor from satisfying craving, nor from a mind that will not stay, from where can it come? The commentary: this is what I think about always. The question is the hinge of the sarga, and of the whole work: the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha exists to answer it. The address "dear one" (tāta) is warm, as of a son to an elder. The reader who has asked the same question in their own words is where Rāma is.