दृश्यं चेत्संभवत्यादौ पश्चात् क्षयमुपालभेत् । तद्दृश्यस्मरणानर्थरूपो बन्धो न शाम्यति ॥ २४ ॥
dṛśyaṁ cētsaṁbhavatyādau paścāt kṣayamupālabhēt | taddṛśyasmaraṇānartharūpō bandhō na śāmyati || 24 ||
Translation
If the seen exists at the beginning and afterwards comes to an end, bondage, whose form is the evil of the seen's memory, will not cease.
Word by word
- dṛśyaṁ
- the seen
- cēt
- if
- saṁbhavati
- exists
- ādau
- at the beginning
- paścāt
- afterwards
- kṣayam
- an end
- upālabhēt
- comes to
- tad
- (tat) that
- smaraṇa
- memory
- anartha
- evil
- rūpō
- (rūpaḥ) whose form is
- bandhō
- (bandhaḥ) bondage
- na
- not
- śāmyati
- ceases
Meaning
The commentary gives the objection Rāma is answering: why need one know the utter end of the seen? Let the seen that has arisen be destroyed by knowledge. The reply: if you hold that the world first arose and was later destroyed, then the binding evil of the seen, staying on as latent impressions and rising again and again, can never be destroyed. Another commentary: even if it were destroyed later, it would stay as impressions and arise again, doing the harm of bondage, and would not be quieted. A thing that once was leaves a memory, and the memory can bring it back; only what never was leaves nothing behind.