एनमाकाशजं विप्रं न कस्माद्भक्षयाम्यहम् । अत्र मे कुण्ठिता शक्तिः खड्गधारा इवोपले ॥ ४ ॥
ēnamākāśajaṁ vipraṁ na kasmādbhakṣayāmyaham | atra mē kuṇṭhitā śaktiḥ khaḍgadhārā ivōpalē || 4 ||
Translation
Why do I not eat this brahmin born of space? Here my power is blunted, like the edge of a sword on a stone."
Word by word
- ēnam
- this
- ākāśajaṁ
- born of space
- vipraṁ
- brahmin
- na
- not
- kasmād
- (kasmāt) why
- bhakṣayāmi
- eat
- aham
- I
- atra
- here
- mē
- my
- kuṇṭhitā
- is blunted
- śaktiḥ
- power
- khaḍga
- of a sword
- dhārā
- the edge
- iva
- like
- upalē
- on a stone
Meaning
The image is exact: a sword is not broken by the stone, nor the stone cut; the edge simply does not bite. Death's power is not defeated in a fight. It finds nothing in the brahmin it can take hold of. The commentary keeps the plain sense; what follows explains why the edge turns.