यत्प्रयान्ति जगद्भावाः संसिद्धा अपि संक्षयम् । क्षयकारकयत्नस्य ह्यत्र ज्ञेयं महद् बलम् ॥ ९ ॥
yatprayānti jagadbhāvāḥ saṁsiddhā api saṁkṣayam | kṣayakārakayatnasya hyatra jñēyaṁ mahad balam || 9 ||
Translation
When the things of the world, however well made, come to ruin, know that here the great force is the effort of what ruins them.
Word by word
- yat
- when
- prayānti
- come
- jagad
- (jagat) of the world
- bhāvāḥ
- the things
- saṁsiddhā
- (saṁsiddhāḥ) well made
- api
- however
- saṁkṣayam
- to ruin
- kṣaya
- ruin
- kāraka
- of what brings
- yatnasya
- the effort
- hy
- (hi) indeed
- atra
- here
- jñēyaṁ
- know
- mahad
- (mahat) great
- balam
- the force
Meaning
The same reasoning is carried to everything. Even what is well accomplished (saṁsiddha), a house, a kingdom, a body, a life's work, comes to an end. Time is not an abstraction here: the verse speaks of the "effort of the destroyer" (kṣaya-kāraka-yatna). Rust, damp, enemies, germs and the slow work of age all press on without rest, and their pressing is a kind of effort that has outlasted the effort of building. So decline, too, is no proof against the power of effort. A thing stands as long as what upholds it is stronger than what wears it away. That is why what is kept up must be kept up daily, and that goes for a practice as much as for a house.