पौरुषेण दुरन्तेभ्यः सङ्कटेभ्यः सुबुद्धयः । समुत्तरन्त्ययत्नेन न तु मोघतयाऽनया ॥ १८ ॥
pauruṣēṇa durantēbhyaḥ saṅkaṭēbhyaḥ subuddhayaḥ | samuttarantyayatnēna na tu mōghatayā’nayā || 18 ||
Translation
By effort the wise cross with ease out of hard straits with no way through, and not by this empty idleness.
Word by word
- pauruṣēṇa
- by effort
- durantēbhyaḥ
- with no way through
- saṅkaṭēbhyaḥ
- out of hard straits
- subuddhayaḥ
- the wise
- samuttaranty
- (samuttaranti) cross
- ayatnēna
- with ease
- na
- not
- tu
- and
- mōghatayā
- by idleness
- anayā
- this empty
Meaning
A small paradox: by effort, they get across effortlessly (a-yatnena). The commentary reads it so: by effort the intelligent cross terrible difficulties "as if in a word". The discipline done beforehand makes the crisis, when it comes, easy, as a trained swimmer in rough water is not struggling as the untrained does. Durantebhyaḥ means "of which the end is hard to see": the straits that seem to have no exit. The contrast, moghatā, is empty uselessness, the state of one who waits. Another commentary names it: "this outlook of fate, void of all activity".