अपमृष्टमलोदेति क्षालनेनाऽमृतद्युतिः । मनश्चन्द्रमसः केन तेन कामकलङ्कितात् ॥ १० ॥
apamṛṣṭamalōdēti kṣālanēnā’mṛtadyutiḥ | manaścandramasaḥ kēna tēna kāmakalaṅkitāt || 10 ||
Translation
By what washing does the nectar light rise, its stain wiped away, from the moon of the mind, stained by desire?
Word by word
- apamṛṣṭa
- wiped away
- malā
- its stain
- udēti
- does rise
- kṣālanēna
- washing
- amṛta
- the nectar
- dyutiḥ
- light
- manaś
- (manaḥ) of the mind
- candramasaḥ
- from the moon
- kēna
- by what
- tēna
- that
- kāma
- by desire
- kalaṅkitāt
- stained
Meaning
The moon of the mind again (1.30.22), and its stain is desire (kāma). Rāma asks for the washing (kṣālana) that would wipe it off, so that its light, the light of the nectar-rayed moon (amṛta-dyuti), the light of bliss, could rise. The commentary: by what washing, known to the wise from their own experience, can the moon of the mind be cleaned so that the moonlight of joy shines from it free of the dirt of desire? The phrase "known from experience" matters: Rāma wants not a theory but what has worked for someone. The reader may ask what, in their own life, has ever actually washed a desire away, and not just covered it.