विषमो ह्यतितरां संसाररागो भोगीव दशति असिरिव छिनत्ति कुन्त इव वेधयति रज्जुरिवाऽऽवेष्टयति पावक इव दहति रात्रिरिवाऽन्धयति अशङ्कितपरिपतितपुरुषान् पाषाण इव विवशीकरोति हरति प्रज्ञां नाशयति स्थितिं पातयति मोहान्धकूपे तृष्णा जर्जरीकरोति न तदस्ति किञ्चिद् दुःखं संसारी यन्न प्राप्नोति ॥ १४ ॥
viṣamō hyatitarāṁ saṁsārarāgō bhōgīva daśati asiriva chinatti kunta iva vēdhayati rajjurivā’’vēṣṭayati pāvaka iva dahati rātririvā’ndhayati aśaṅkitaparipatitapuruṣān pāṣāṇa iva vivaśīkarōti harati prajñāṁ nāśayati sthitiṁ pātayati mōhāndhakūpē tṛṣṇā jarjarīkarōti na tadasti kiñcid duḥkhaṁ saṁsārī yanna prāpnōti || 14 ||
Translation
For very harsh is the passion for saṁsāra. It bites like a serpent, cuts like a sword, pierces like a spear, binds like a rope, burns like fire, blinds like night, strikes down like a stone those it falls on unawares. It takes away wisdom, destroys one's standing, throws one into the blind well of delusion. Craving wears one to pieces. There is no sorrow that one in saṁsāra does not come to.
Word by word
- viṣamō
- (viṣamaḥ) harsh
- hi
- for
- atitarāṁ
- very
- saṁsāra
- for saṁsāra
- rāgō
- (rāgaḥ) the passion
- bhōgī
- a serpent
- iva
- like
- daśati
- bites
- asir
- (asiḥ) a sword
- chinatti
- cuts
- kunta
- (kuntaḥ) a spear
- vēdhayati
- pierces
- rajjur
- (rajjuḥ) a rope
- āvēṣṭayati
- binds
- pāvaka
- (pāvakaḥ) fire
- dahati
- burns
- rātrir
- (rātriḥ) night
- andhayati
- blinds
- aśaṅkita
- unawares
- paripatita
- on whom it falls
- puruṣān
- those
- pāṣāṇa
- (pāṣāṇaḥ) a stone
- vivaśīkarōti
- strikes down
- harati
- takes away
- prajñāṁ
- wisdom
- nāśayati
- destroys
- sthitiṁ
- one's standing
- pātayati
- throws
- mōha
- of delusion
- andhakūpē
- into the blind well
- tṛṣṇā
- craving
- jarjarīkarōti
- wears to pieces
- na
- no
- tad
- that
- asti
- there is
- kiñcid
- (kiñcit) any
- duḥkhaṁ
- sorrow
- saṁsārī
- one in saṁsāra
- yan
- (yat) which
- prāpnōti
- comes to
Meaning
Each comparison is a different kind of harm, and the sequence reads like a list of what passion actually does in a life. It does damage suddenly, like a snake or a stone, and slowly, like a rope that tightens. A-śaṅkita, unsuspecting: the commentary reads this as the man who has come fearless into the world. Note the three things it takes in the second part: prajñā, the capacity to see; sthiti, one's footing, which the commentary explains as bounds of conduct; and then the person. Jarjarī-karoti, it wears to shreds, and the commentary compares the soma plant, crushed to press its juice. Saṁsāra-rāga is the word, passion for the round of things. Vasiṣṭha does not accuse the world here. He names the attachment.