श्रीराम उवाच । प्रोच्चवृक्षचलत्पत्रलम्बाम्बुलवभङ्गुरे । आयुषीशानशीतांशुकलामृदुनि देहके ॥ १ ॥
śrīrāma uvāca | prōccavṛkṣacalatpatralambāmbulavabhaṅgurē | āyuṣīśānaśītāṁśukalāmṛduni dēhakē || 1 ||
Translation
Śrī Rāma said: Life is as frail as a drop of water hanging from a trembling leaf of a tall tree; the little body is as slight as the crescent of the moon on Śiva's head;
Word by word
- śrī
- Śrī
- rāma
- Rāma
- uvāca
- said
- prōcca
- of a tall
- vṛkṣa
- tree
- calat
- trembling
- patra
- from a leaf
- lamba
- hanging
- ambu
- of water
- lava
- a drop
- bhaṅgurē
- as frail as
- āyuṣi
- life is
- īśāna
- on Śiva's head
- śītāṁśu
- of the moon
- kalā
- the crescent
- mṛduni
- as slight as
- dēhakē
- the little body
Meaning
Verses 1 to 6 are one long sentence, and its picture is the rainy season in a forest. The commentary sees it whole: the drop on the leaf, the frogs in the paddy fields, the nets of creepers, the wind, the lightning, the thunder, the dancing peacock, the kuṭaja tree in bloom, the downpour. In such weather a traveller asks for an umbrella, a road out, a mantra to remember, a cave to shelter in; and those are the four questions of verse 6. The first verse sets the scale. Life (āyuḥ) is a drop hanging from a leaf high in a tree that the wind is shaking. The body, called dehaka, "the little body", is as delicate as the thin crescent Śiva wears in his hair; the commentary adds that in the rains even the full moon is seldom seen, so that last sliver is hardly there at all. The reader may hold these two images together for a moment and feel how little separates them from the fall.