SAUNDARANANDA 12.5: Wrong Road, Right Direction

tasya svargaan nivavRte
saMkalp'aashvo mano-rathaH
mahaa-ratha iv' onmaargaad
a-pramattasya saaratheH

12.5
Turning back from heaven,

The chariot of his mind,
whose horse was willpower,

Was like a great chariot turned back
from a wrong road

By an attentive charioteer.

COMMENT:
Even for one who has gone down a wrong road, there is a right direction; and that direction is backwards.

But the decision to turn back, as many of us know from our own driving experience, is not an easy one to take. The unconscious tendency that many of us have, rather than being truly attentive and responsive to what is, is to plough on with false optimism, driven by some blind instinctive fear of showing weakness through the admission "It was my fault. I went wrong."

This form of denial, familiar to those of us who are not so heroic as Nanda but more inclined to immaturity and insecurity, is often endured to the tune of carping and exasperation from the passenger seat along the lines of "Why don't we stop and ask for directions?"; and "What IS the matter with you?!"

The serious point of the verse may be to highlight what for Nanda is a turning point, whereby out of painful mental experiences such as shame, irresolution, inner conflict, and agitation, good is about to emerge.

EH Johnston:
The chariot of his mind, desire, whose steeds are the fancies, turned back out of the road to Paradise, like the great chariot of a heedful charioteer from the wrong road.

Linda Covill:
The chariot of his mind, with its horses of inclination, turned back from heaven like a great chariot is turned back from the wrong path by an attentive charioteer.

VOCABULARY:
tasya: of him, his
svargaan (ablative): from heaven
nivavRte = past tense of nivRt: to turn back

saMkalpa: will
ashvaH (nominative, singular): horse
mano-rathaH (nominative, singular): mind-chariot

mahaa-rathaH (nominative, singular): a great chariot
iva: like
onmaargaad (ablative): from the wrong path

apramattasya = genitive of apramatta: not careless or inattentive
saaratheH = genitive of saarathi: charioteer