किं मे राज्येन किं भोगैः किमर्थेन किमीहितैः । अहङ्कारवशादेतत् स एव गलितो मम ॥ ९ ॥
kiṁ mē rājyēna kiṁ bhōgaiḥ kimarthēna kimīhitaiḥ | ahaṅkāravaśādētat sa ēva galitō mama || 9 ||
Translation
What is a kingdom to me, what are enjoyments, what is wealth, what are strivings? All this comes from the sway of the ego, and that has melted away in me.
Word by word
- kiṁ
- what
- mē
- to me
- rājyēna
- is a kingdom
- bhōgaiḥ
- are enjoyments
- kim
- what
- arthēna
- is wealth
- īhitaiḥ
- are strivings
- ahaṅkāra
- of the ego
- vaśād
- (vaśāt) from the sway
- ētat
- all this
- sa
- (saḥ) that
- ēva
- itself
- galitō
- (galitaḥ) has melted away
- mama
- in me
Meaning
Rāma gives the reason for verse 8. A kingdom, pleasures, wealth and every kind of effort (īhita) all spring, the commentary says, from the ego (ahaṅkāra): it is the "I" that wants to rule, to enjoy, to own, to achieve. Where that "I" has melted (galita), as ice melts, the things it wanted lose their purpose; not because they are wicked, but because no one is there to want them. This is a claim the rest of the text will test: the teaching will show that the ego is not so easily gone. But the direction is right. The reader may follow one ambition back to its root and find there the same small word, "I", asking to be made larger.