3.19
pratipuujayaa na sa jaharSHa
na ca shucam avajNay" aagamat
nischita-matir asi-candanayor
na jagaama duHkha-sukhayosh ca vikriyaam
Being revered gave him no thrill;
Disrespect caused him no grief.
His own direction was decided,
come sword or sandalwood.
Whether the going was tough or easy,
he was not diminished.
COMMENT:
People's opinions are very variable (1), (2), but suffering, along with gravity, are two things that are constant. Gautama's greatness had to do with the resolve with which he counter-acted suffering and, maybe even more fundamentally, to do with the direction by means of which he counter-acted gravity (3).
Having realised the four noble truths, the Buddha had become one of those fortunate people who have not only a sense of mission, as an end, but also a sense of their own direction in life leading towards that end. Gautama had found a means-whereby that would work, for self and for others alike. He had become a realised man, a man of real stature, who knew the secret of keepin his stature, in any circumstance. Hard going and easy going were both grist to his mill(4).
VOCABULARY:
pratipuujayaa: (instrumental) with reverence, with respectful salutation, because of being honoured
na: not
sa: he
jaharSHa: past tense of harSHa (see also 3.8): bristling, erection (especially of the hair in a thrill of rapture or delight); exultation, joy, pleasure, happiness
na: not
ca: and
shucam: (accusative) grieving, sorrowful
avajNayaa: (instrumental) with disrespect, because of contempt
agamat: went, became (with accusative)
nischita-mati: decided in mind, firm in one's direction/thinking, unmoved, unperturbed
asi: sword
candana: sandalwood, luxurious incense
asi-candanayor = genitive/locative, dual of asi-candana.
na: not
jagaama: went, became (with accusative)
duHkha-suKHhayor: (locative, dual of duHka-sukHA) in pain or pleasure, in discomfort or ease, in suffering or happiness, in hard times or in good times, etc.
ca: and
vikriyaam: (accusative) altered, changed for the worse
EH Johnston:
If received with honour He did not feel joy, or if with contempt grief; resolute in mind, He was unmoved equally by threats of violence or by luxury, by pleasure or by pain.
Linda Covill:
He felt no pleasure when revered, nor was he hurt by slights. Unperturbed by violent sword or luxurious sandalwood, he remained unaltered in sorrow or happiness.
2 comments:
I changed this post this afternoon because, while plodding on with Sanskrit study, I realised I hadn't clearly understood the grammar of the 3rd and 4th lines, where the genitive/locative case
is used for sword-sandalwood as one pair, and for hard-going/easy-going as one pair.
Understanding that duHka-sukha is in the locative case, and remembering that the original meaning of duHka is thought to derive from dus (with difficulty) + kha (a wheel going round an axle), I wanted to change the translation and comment accordingly, to give more of a sense of the Buddha as an active agent getting going as the going got tough, rather than him simply being a stoic endurer of suffering.
I could write more, but my wife has just announced that chips are fried for tea.
This is indeed a work in progress.
This is a really beautiful, inspiring depiction of the Buddha.
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