तदेवंविधकष्टचेष्टासहस्रदारुणे संसारचलयन्त्रेऽस्मिन् राघव नाऽवहेलना कर्त्तव्या अवश्यमेवं विचारणीयमेवं चाऽवबोद्धव्यं यथा किल शास्त्रविचाराच्छ्रेयो भवतीति ॥ १७ ॥
tadēvaṁvidhakaṣṭacēṣṭāsahasradāruṇē saṁsāracalayantrē’smin rāghava nā’vahēlanā karttavyā avaśyamēvaṁ vicāraṇīyamēvaṁ cā’vabōddhavyaṁ yathā kila śāstravicārācchrēyō bhavatīti || 17 ||
Translation
So, Rāghava, in this whirling machine of saṁsāra, terrible with thousands of such painful doings, there must be no disregard. It must be weighed, and understood, that from the inquiry of scripture comes the good.
Word by word
- tad
- so
- ēvaṁvidha
- such
- kaṣṭa
- painful
- cēṣṭā
- doings
- sahasra
- with thousands of
- dāruṇē
- terrible
- saṁsāra
- of saṁsāra
- cala
- whirling
- yantrē
- machine
- asmin
- in this
- rāghava
- Rāghava
- na
- no
- avahēlanā
- disregard
- karttavyā
- there must be
- avaśyam
- certainly
- ēvaṁ
- thus
- vicāraṇīyam
- it must be weighed
- ca
- and
- avabōddhavyaṁ
- understood
- yathā
- that
- kila
- indeed
- śāstra
- of scripture
- vicārāt
- from the inquiry
- śrēyō
- (śreyaḥ) the good
- bhavati
- comes
- iti
- thus
Meaning
The commentary observes that the places of suffering are endless, and that what has been listed is only a sample. So the purpose of these fearful passages is now stated: it is to prevent carelessness, and no more. Avahelanā, disregard, repeats the word of verse 12. Cala-yantra, the moving machine, is an image that a modern reader may find oddly at home with: it does not have to be cruel, and it goes on turning. Fear is not the point at which Vasiṣṭha stops. He uses it to get a person to weigh and understand, avabodhavyam, and those verbs belong to reflection.