चलिताचलितेनाऽन्तरवष्टम्भेन मे मतिः । दरिद्रा छिन्नवृक्षस्य मूलेनेव विडम्ब्यते ॥ ९ ॥
calitācalitēnā’ntaravaṣṭambhēna mē matiḥ | daridrā chinnavṛkṣasya mūlēnēva viḍambyatē || 9 ||
Translation
With an inner support that both moves and does not move, my poor mind is mocked, as by the stump of a felled tree.
Word by word
- calita
- that moves
- acalitēna
- and does not move
- antar
- (antaḥ) inner
- avaṣṭambhēna
- with a support
- mē
- my
- matiḥ
- mind
- daridrā
- poor
- chinna
- of a felled
- vṛkṣasya
- tree
- mūlēna
- by the stump
- iva
- as
- viḍambyatē
- is mocked
Meaning
At night a traveller sees a shape by the road: is it a tree stump or a thief? It seems to move and not to move. The commentary uses this classic example of doubt (sthāṇu or cora, post or thief) to explain the verse. Rāma's mind has a support (avaṣṭambha), something it leans on within, but it cannot tell whether that is the truth or not: is this the reality, or is that? So the mind, poor (daridrā) because it has nothing firm, is mocked (viḍambyate) by its own uncertainty. The reader who has leaned on a belief and felt it shift under them, and could not tell whether it was they or it that moved, has seen the stump in the dark.