द्वौ हुडाविव युध्येते पुरुषार्थौ परस्परम् । य एव बलवांस्तत्र स एव जयति क्षणात् ॥ १० ॥
dvau huḍāviva yudhyētē puruṣārthau parasparam | ya ēva balavāṁstatra sa ēva jayati kṣaṇāt || 10 ||
Translation
Two efforts fight each other like two rams; whichever is stronger there wins in a moment.
Word by word
- dvau
- two
- huḍāv
- (huḍau) two rams
- iva
- like
- yudhyētē
- fight
- puruṣārthau
- efforts
- parasparam
- each other
- ya
- (yaḥ) whichever
- ēva
- indeed
- balavāṁs
- (balavān) stronger
- tatra
- there
- sa
- (saḥ) that
- jayati
- wins
- kṣaṇāt
- in a moment
Meaning
This image comes straight from the previous sarga and is repeated because it is the heart of the matter. The two rams (huḍa) are past action and present action, as the commentary says, locked head to head. Nothing stands above them to decide the match, no judge, no decree. The outcome depends on nothing but which is stronger, and when it comes it comes "in a moment" (kṣaṇāt), however long the fight seemed to go on. The reader might recognise this in the fight with an old habit: for a long time nothing seems to move, and then one day it gives way. The strength was building unseen on one side or the other all along.