न शक्यते झटित्येषा समुत्सादयितुं क्षणात् । समप्रपतने ह्यद्रौ समरोहावरोहणे ॥ ४० ॥
na śakyatē jhaṭityēṣā samutsādayituṁ kṣaṇāt | samaprapatanē hyadrau samarōhāvarōhaṇē || 40 ||
Translation
It cannot be uprooted all at once, in a moment: on a mountain whose slopes fall steeply on every side, the climbing up and the climbing down are equal.
Word by word
- na
- not
- śakyatē
- can
- jhaṭiti
- all at once
- ēṣā
- it
- samutsādayituṁ
- be uprooted
- kṣaṇāt
- in a moment
- sama
- equal (on every side)
- prapatanē
- whose slopes fall
- hi
- for
- adrau
- on a mountain
- rōha
- the climbing up
- avarōhaṇē
- and the climbing down
Meaning
Rāma had asked for a single proof that would settle everything (v. 38). Vasiṣṭha warns him off haste. The commentary: whoever wishes to destroy it in one moment wishes wrongly, for its sudden destruction is not hard but impossible; as for a man on the peak of a mountain that falls away steeply on all sides, the way down is as long as the way up. Ignorance was climbed into over ages; the way out is by the same slope, step by step.