कमण्डलुधरो नाथः सकमण्डलुना मया । साक्षमालः साक्षमालं स प्रणम्याऽभिवादितः ॥ २६ ॥
kamaṇḍaludharō nāthaḥ sakamaṇḍalunā mayā | sākṣamālaḥ sākṣamālaṁ sa praṇamyā’bhivāditaḥ || 26 ||
Translation
The Lord held a water-pot, and I held a water-pot; he held a rosary, and I held a rosary. Bowing, I greeted him.
Word by word
- kamaṇḍalu
- a water-pot
- dharō
- (dharaḥ) holding
- nāthaḥ
- the Lord
- sakamaṇḍalunā
- holding a water-pot
- mayā
- by me
- sākṣamālaḥ
- holding a rosary
- sākṣamālaṁ
- holding a rosary
- sa
- he
- praṇamya
- bowing
- abhivāditaḥ
- was greeted
Meaning
A charming, almost comic touch. The son arrives as a small copy of the father, with the same water-pot and the same beads, and the Sanskrit plays with it: sa-kamaṇḍalunā, sa-akṣamālaḥ. Nothing in the verse explains it, and nothing needs to. The newly made sage is already what his father is, in outward form. But the next verses show what it is worth. One may carry every sign of the life of knowledge, the beads, the pot and the bearing, and be as lost as anyone. The curse that follows shows that outer likeness to a teacher is not the same as what the teacher knows.