SAUNDARANANDA 12.34: Confidence in the 2nd Law

n' aarthii yady agninaa vaa syaac
chraddadhyaat taM na v" aaraNau
mathniiyaan n' aaraNiM kash cit
tad-bhaave sati mathyate.

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12.34
If a man had no need of fire,

Nor confidence that fire is in a firestick,

He would never twirl the stick;

Those conditions being met, he twirls the stick.

COMMENT:
What is expressed in this verse is not belief in something for which there is no evidence, and not self-confidence, nor trust in another, nor even trust in a process.

What is expressed in this verse, as I read it, is confidence in the 2nd law of thermodynamics. The 2nd law describes a tendency that exists not only in the fire and wood which are the elements of this verse but also the earth, metal, and water which are the elements of the previous verse. The 2nd law is always relevant to the meeting of real human needs; in a world that wasn't described by the 2nd law, conditions for the meeting of human needs could never be met.

The wood of the firestick has a wish or tendency (chanda) to release its energy, for example via the process of combustion whereby carbon in the wood spontaneously forms bonds with oxygen in the air. That process is prevented from getting started by activation energy barriers, but these barriers can be surmounted by the energy which is directed by the human action of twirling.

The confidence under discussion, in other words, is the confidence that, if one is able to do the work of breaking down activation energy barriers, a process of spontaneous flow will do itself "as surely as day follows night" (as Marjory Barlow used to say).

EH Johnston:
Again, no one rubs the fire-stick, if he has no need of fire or does not believe in its existence in the fire-stick ; if the contrary is the case, he does so.

Linda Covill:
If a man doesn't need fire, or if he does not believe that fire comes from firesticks, then he would not rotate the firesticks; but when that condition is true, he rotates them.

VOCABULARY:
na: not
aarthii = nominative singular masculine of arthin: one who wants or desires anything
yadi: if
agninaa = instrumental of agni: fire
vaa: or
syaat (optative): he might, he would

shraddadhyaat = 3rd person singular optatitive of shrad-dhaa: to have belief or confidence
tam (accusative): that [fire]
na: not
vaa: or
aaraNau = locative of araNi: firestick

mathniiyaan = from math: to twirl
na kash cit: not at all
araNim (accusative): the firestick

tad: it, that, in that case
bhaave = locative of bhaava: being, state, condition
sati = present participle of as: being (added in locative absolute constructions to express attendant circumstance)
mathyate = 3rd person singular of math: to twirl a firestick round