मनोमननशालिन्याः सत्ताया भुवनत्रये । क्षयो युक्तिं विना नाऽस्ति ब्रूत तामलमुत्तमाम् ॥ १६ ॥
manōmananaśālinyāḥ sattāyā bhuvanatrayē | kṣayō yuktiṁ vinā nā’sti brūta tāmalamuttamām || 16 ||
Translation
The existence of the mind, which lives by its thinking, cannot be destroyed in the three worlds without a method: tell me that best method in full.
Word by word
- manō
- (manaḥ) of the mind
- manana
- by its thinking
- śālinyāḥ
- which lives
- sattāyāḥ
- the existence
- bhuvana
- worlds
- trayē
- in the three
- kṣayō
- (kṣayaḥ) destroyed
- yuktiṁ
- a method
- vinā
- without
- na
- cannot
- asti
- be
- brūta
- tell me
- tām
- that
- alam
- in full
- uttamām
- best
Meaning
Now the real question. If action cannot be given up and is never pure, the trouble must lie in the mind that acts. The commentary: what hurts is not outer action but the restlessness of the mind. And the mind exists by its thinking (manana), by its contact with objects; the end of that contact is the end of the mind as a separate thing. That end cannot come, in any of the three worlds, without a yukti, a method, a skilful means, which is taught. The word yukti is the key word of the sarga, used four times: Rāma has understood that what he needs is not more dispassion but a method. The reader may ask whether they have a method, or only good intentions.