ह्यस्तनो दुष्ट आचार आचारेणाऽद्य चारुणा । यथाऽऽशु शुभतामेति प्राक्तनं कर्म तत्तथा ॥ ५ ॥
hyastanō duṣṭa ācāra ācārēṇā’dya cāruṇā | yathā’’śu śubhatāmēti prāktanaṁ karma tattathā || 5 ||
Translation
As yesterday's wicked conduct is quickly turned to good by today's fine conduct, so too with past action.
Word by word
- hyastanō
- (hyastanaḥ) yesterday's
- duṣṭa
- wicked
- ācāra
- conduct
- ācārēṇa
- by conduct
- adya
- today's
- cāruṇā
- fine
- yathā
- as
- āśu
- quickly
- śubhatām
- to good
- ēti
- is turned
- prāktanaṁ
- past
- karma
- action
- tat
- that
- tathā
- so
Meaning
The reasoning moves from what everyone has seen to what no one can see. Everyone knows a bad yesterday that was made good today: the quarrel healed by an apology, the debt paid, the neglect repaired. Yesterday's conduct "goes to goodness" (śubhatām eti); its effect is changed by what follows it. If that is so across one night, there is no reason it should fail across one lifetime. Past action, from the point of view of the present, is only a longer yesterday. The verse also says quickly (āśu), which is worth weighing. We tend to assume that what took long to go wrong must take long to put right, and yet a single decided act can turn a long habit around.