पूर्वापरविचारार्थचारुचातुर्यशालिनी । सविकासा मतिर्यस्य स पुमानिह कथ्यते ॥ ७२ ॥
pūrvāparavicārārthacārucāturyaśālinī | savikāsā matiryasya sa pumāniha kathyatē || 72 ||
Translation
One whose mind is open, graced with fine skill in weighing what comes before and after and the meaning: he alone is here called a man.
Word by word
- pūrva
- what comes before
- apara
- and after
- vicāra
- in weighing
- artha
- and the meaning
- cāru
- fine
- cāturya
- skill
- śālinī
- graced with
- savikāsā
- open
- matir
- (matiḥ) mind
- yasya
- one whose
- sa
- he
- pumān
- a man
- iha
- here
- kathyatē
- is called
Meaning
Sa pumān, he is a man; the commentary sets the word 'man' apart, in quotation marks. It is the Indian ideal of puruṣa as one who uses what a human being is given, and another commentary adds that such a person's birth has borne fruit. So it is the capacity for inquiry that makes a human life human. For the third time in these sargas, that capacity is called reading what comes before and after.