Dashak 3 · Samāsa 2

Samsāra itself is the root of sorrow; embers of sorrow cling to it; earlier was told the torment of the womb-dwelling.

Sorrow in the womb — the child forgot it; then began to grow, day by day.

In childhood, skin tender; any discomfort sets it thrashing; it has no speech at that time to tell pleasure-or-pain.

If the body hurts, or hunger torments — it wails extremely; yet the inner cause is not known.

The mother caresses it; but the internal pain is not known to her — sorrow befalls the child.

Again and again it whimpers and cries; the mother consoles, taking it onto her side; ignorant of the ailment, the poor thing, it pines within.

Many illnesses surge; by their sorrow it writhes; it cries, falls, or is burned — by contact with fire.

The body cannot be well-guarded; many mishaps occur; mid-air it falls and is injured — maimed, limb-deficient child.

Or mishaps are avoided; full merit stands fronting; it begins to recognize the mother — day by day.

Not seeing the mother for a moment, it cries in sorrow; at such a time, nothing is like the mother.

With hope it looks about; cannot remain without mother; cannot bear separation for a breath once memory returns.

Even if Brahmā and other gods come, or Lakṣmī looks upon — it is not consoled without its own mother.

Ugly or ill-marked, unfortunate above all — even so, there is none like her in the whole world.

So the child, pitiable, appears bereft without mother; if she angrily pushes him away — he clings sobbing.

Happy near the mother; torment at distance; at that age supreme love is held for the mother.

Then the mother dies; the child becomes an orphan; in sorrow he moans, 'mother, mother.'

On looking, the mother is not seen; he looks piteously at people; hopes in mind, 'mother will come.'

He looks at a face saying 'mother' — but she is not his mother; then he stops, chilled in dejection.

Mother-separation wears him down; mental sorrow arises; body too grows thin to extremity.

Or the mother survived; mother-and-child meet again; childhood remains, day by day.

Childhood lessens; day by day he becomes cleverer; then the mother's extreme love — diminishes.

Next, attachment to play arose; a crowd of boys gathered; joy and grief in passing-games.

Parents try to teach him; great sorrow [at that] is felt; attachment to playmates does not release.

While playing among children, mother and father forgotten; yet there too, unexpectedly, sorrow befell.

Teeth fell out, eye burst; legs broken, he became crippled; ruin has overtaken his pride.

Smallpox and measles broke out; forehead boiled, fever set in; constant stomach-pain — flatulence.

Ghosts possessed, spirits struck; water-spirits, the māye-rāṇī; mañjyā, jhoṭinga — the doings of Mahiṣobā.

Vetāla, Khankāḷa attacked; Brahma-grahā entered; [perhaps] the ceṭa was overstepped — nothing understood.

Some say 'the Bhīra deity'; some 'Khaṇḍerāya'; some 'it is all nothing — this is a brāhmaṇa-spirit.'

Some say 'who has done this'; 'deities cast into his body'; some 'this is Saṭavāī's mistake.'

Some say 'karma-fruit; many diseases settled in the body; physician and pañcākṣarī were summoned, excellent.'

Some say 'he will not survive'; some 'he will not die'; 'he experiences torments — for sins.'

Womb-sorrow forgotten, he is now scorched by the three-fold pain; the creature has suffered greatly by samsāra-sorrow.

Even if all this is escaped and he survives, he is made clever by beatings; he becomes somebody in the world — one who keeps his name.

Then, parents out of affection, with pomp set up his marriage; showing all splendour, a bride was chosen.

The wedding-party's splendour swelled; seeing it, supreme joy was felt; the mind was dyed toward the in-laws' place.

Parents may be as-they-are; but to the in-laws' place one must go well-adorned; if there is no money, take a loan at interest.

Inner feeling shifts to the in-laws' place; parents remain poor; they shiver with all their goods — that much is their 'use.'

When the bride comes home, the groom feels great excitement; thinks 'no one is as fortunate as me.'

Parents, brother, sister — if the bride isn't seen, they feel irksome; he is extremely captivated by the [sinful-woman]; delusion has seized him.

Before intercourse, this much of love; when it occurs, it exceeds all bounds; by increasing love, the creature becomes entangled in kāma.

If not seeing her even for a moment, his life grows restless; the loved one has taken the inner faculty.

Tender, sweet words; propriety, modesty in the lotus-face; mere eye-meeting — the town's bewitchment.

The feeling cannot be restrained; body trembles uncontrollably; business-pursuits don't engage — restlessness is felt.

Pursuing business outside, mind is at home; moment by moment within, the woman is remembered.

'You are my life of lives' — by such extreme cleverness of her showing, she has stolen his whole heart.

Hunters throw nets and take the life; likewise when life-span ends, it happens to creatures.

Love for the woman has settled; if anyone scolds her, supreme grief is felt, hidden in the mind.

For that wife's partisan-cause, low words to mother-father; speaking with contempt, he leaves separately; for the woman's sake, shame is abandoned; for her, intimate friends are left; for her, everything is split — all the loved ones.

For the woman, body is sold; for her, he becomes servant; for her, discernment is abandoned.

For the woman, obsequiousness; for her, extreme humility; for her, dependency is taken up.

For the woman, he becomes greedy; for her, dharma abandoned; for her, tīrtha-yātrā and svadharma are lost.

For the woman, nothing of auspicious-vs-inauspicious is considered at all; body, mind, wealth — everything is offered with *ananya-bhāva*.

For the woman, paramārtha is drowned; the creature is lost to his own good; shameful before Īśvara — for the woman, by kāma-buddhi.

For the woman, devotion is given up; for her, dispassion given up; for her, even sāyojya-mukti is considered trivial.

By one woman's quality, the universe is thought small; loved ones seem slanderers — so it feels.

Such inner-love was clinging; he gave up everything for her; then she died suddenly.

Grief in his mind grew; he says 'great catastrophe has happened; now where is my samsāra — drowned?'

The company of loved ones he gave up; suddenly the house is broken; 'now I shall renounce' — he says in sorrow.

Taking the [dead] woman in arm, beats his breast and belly; abandoning shame, he eulogizes — before people.

Says 'my house has drowned; now I will not do this samsāra'; he wails in great sorrow, with loud sound.

His life hit by wind; weariness toward everything arose; by that sorrow he becomes yogi or mahātmā.

Or that departure was missed; he married again; extremely engrossed became the mind — in the second relation.

The second relation was made; immediately joy was laid out; listeners, be attentive — in the next samāsa.