इति सञ्चिन्त्य तं हन्तुमगच्छत् तत्पुरं तदा । त्यजन्त्युद्यममुद्युक्ता न स्वकर्माणि केचन ॥ ५ ॥
iti sañcintya taṁ hantumagacchat tatpuraṁ tadā | tyajantyudyamamudyuktā na svakarmāṇi kēcana || 5 ||
Translation
So thinking, he went then to his city to kill him: those who are set on an undertaking do not abandon their own work.
Word by word
- iti
- so
- sañcintya
- thinking
- taṁ
- him
- hantum
- to kill
- agacchat
- he went
- tat
- his
- puraṁ
- to the city
- tadā
- then
- tyajanti
- abandon
- udyamam
- undertaking
- udyuktā
- (udyuktāḥ) those who are set on
- na
- not
- sva
- their own
- karmāṇi
- work
- kēcana
- any (of them)
Meaning
The commentary places the city: Satyaloka, the world of truth, in the middle of Mount Meru, which is Brahmā's own world, and the other commentary says the same. The second line is a maxim, and the story gives it with a smile: Death is diligent. The same diligence returns at the end of the sarga (v. 48), where Yama says that what one always does becomes one's delight. Even Death acts from habit.