1

Rama said

Whatever appears to be permanent and transient in this world - it is all like a dream

श्रीराम उवाच ।
यच्चेदं दृश्यते किंचिज्जगत्स्थावरजंगमम् ।
तत्सर्वमस्थिरं ब्रह्मन्स्वप्नसंगमसंनिभम् ॥

2

The hollow desert that appears as the dried bed of sea today,
will be found to-morrow to be a running flood by the accumulation of rain-water in it.

शुष्कसागरसंकाशो निखातो योऽद्य दृश्यते ।
स प्रातरभ्रसंवीतो नगः संपद्यते मुने ॥

3

What is a crater today was a mountain before, what is a mountain today becomes a hole in the earth in a short while, what is a dense forest today is soon transformed into a big city.

यो वनव्यूहविस्तीर्णो विलीढगगनो महान् ।
दिनैरेव स यात्युर्वीसमतां कूपतां च वा ॥

4

The body that is clothed to-day with garments of silk, and decorated with garlands and fragrance, is to be cast away naked into a ditch tomorrow.

यदङ्गमद्य संवीतं कौशेयस्रग्विलेपनैः ।
दिगम्बरं तदेव श्वो दूरे विशरिताऽवटे ॥

5

What is seen to be a city today, and busy with the bustle of various occupations, passes in course of a few days into the condition of an uninhabited wilderness.

यत्राद्य नगरं दृष्टं विचित्राचारचञ्चलम् ।
तत्रैवोदेति दिवसैः संशून्यारण्यधर्मता ॥

6

The man who is very powerful to-day and presides over principalities is reduced in a few days to a heap of ashes.

यः पुमानद्य तेजस्वी मण्डलान्यधितिष्ठति ।
स भस्मकूटतां राजन्दिवसैरधिगच्छति ॥

7

Our boyhood and youth, bodies, and possessions are all but transient things, and they change from one state to another, as the ever-fluctuating waves of the ocean.

अनित्यं यौवनं बाल्यं शरीरं द्रव्यसंचयाः ।
भावाद्भावान्तरं यान्ति तरङ्गवदनारतम् ॥

Our lives in this (mortal) world, are as unsteady as the flame of a lamp placed at the window, and the splendor of all the objects in the three worlds, is as flickering as the flashing of the lightning.

वातान्तर्दीपकशिखालोलं जगति जीवितम्
तडित्स्फुरणसंकाशा पदार्थश्रीर्जगत्र्त्रये

Life-death cycle is a skillful dancer whose skirt is made up of living souls, her dancing gestures consist of lifting the souls up to heaven, hurling them down into hell, or bringing them back to this earth.

आलक्ष्यते स्थितिरियं जागती जनितभ्रमा
नृत्तावेशविवृत्तेव संसारारभटीनटी ॥

10

The stage of the world presents us a scene of continued dancing (of the sorceress of deception), and the deceptive glances of her eyes resembling the fleeting flashes of lightning.

तडित्तरलमालोकमातन्वाना पुनःपुनः ।
संसाररचना राजन्नृत्तसक्तेव राजते ॥

11

The days, the great men, their hey-days and deeds (that are past and gone), are now retained in our memory only, and such must be our cases also in a short time.

दिवसास्ते महान्तस्ते संपदस्ताः क्रियाश्च ताः ।
सर्वं स्मृतिपथं यातं यामो वयमपि क्षणात् ॥

All the mighty deeds, even the great religious rite, are soon consigned to one’s memory. Human beings are born as animals and vice versa; gods lose their divinity- what is unchanging here?

तिर्यक्त्वं पुरुषा यान्ति तिर्यञ्चो नरतामपि ।
देवाश्चादेवतां यान्ति किमिवेह विभो स्थिरम् ॥

13

The creator Brahma , the protector Visnu, the redeemer Rudra and others inexorably going towards destruction. Like the submarine fire subsiding under the waters of the deep.

ब्रह्मा विष्णुश्च रुद्रश्च सर्वा वा भूतजातयः ।
नाशमेवानुधावन्ति सलिलानीव वाडवम् ॥

14

The heaven, the earth, the air, the sky, the mountains, the rivers, and all the quarters of the globe, are subject to destruction like the dry fuel by the all-destroying fire of the last day.

द्यौः क्षमा वायुराकाशं पर्वताः सरितो दिशः।
विनाशवाडवस्यैतत्सर्वं संशुष्कमिन्धनम् ॥

15

Riches and relatives, friends, servants and affluence, are of no pleasure to him who is in constant dread of death

धनानि बान्धवा भृत्या मित्राणि विभवाश्च ये ।
विनाशभयभीतस्य सर्वं नीरसतां गतम् ॥

16

All these are so long delightful to a sensible man, as the monster of death does not appear before the eye of his mind.

स्वदन्ते तावदेवैते भावा जगति धीमते ।
यावत्स्मृतिपथं याति न विनाशकुराक्षसः ॥

17

What intelligent being is there, that is not misled by these delusions of the world, which represent things otherwise than what they are, and serve to bewilder the mind?

प्रतिक्षणविपर्यासदायिना निहतात्मना ।
जगद्भ्रमेण के नाम धीमन्तो हि न मोहिताः ॥

18

The world is as varying as the face of the skies; it is now as black as dark clay, and in the next moment bright with the golden hues of fair light.

तमःपङ्कसमालब्धं क्षणमाकाशमण्डलम् ।
क्षण कनकनिष्यन्दकोमलालोकसुन्दरम् ॥

19

Who is there so sedate and firm, that is not terrified at these sudden appearances and their disappearance, and the momentary durations and final dissolution of worldly things?

आगमापायपरया क्षणसंस्थितिनाशया ।
न बिभेति हि संसारे धीरोऽपि क इवानया ॥

20

What is the nature of this world, where we are overtaken by adversity at one moment, and elated by prosperity at another, where one is born at a time, and dies away at another?

आपदः क्षणमायान्ति क्षणमायान्ति संपदः ।
क्षणं जन्म क्षणं मृत्युर्मुने किमिव न क्षणम् ॥

A pot is made of clay, cloth is made of cotton, yet they are still the same materials of which theyr composed
There is nothing new in this world that wasnt seen/known before, & that changes not its form

घटस्य पटता दृष्टा पटस्यापि घटस्थितिः
न तदस्ति न यद्दृष्टं विपर्यस्यति संसृतौ

22

The acts of creation and destruction, of diffusion, production, and sustentation follow one another, as the revolution of day and night to man.

तनोत्युत्पादयत्यत्ति निहत्यासृजति क्रमात् ।
सततं रात्र्यहानीव निवर्तन्ते नरं प्रति ॥

23

These bodies of men that are always changing their states, are as bodies of waters rising and falling in waves by motion of the winds

जनतेयं विपर्यासमजस्रमनुगच्छति ।
जडस्पन्दपरामर्शात्तरङ्गाणामिवावली ॥

24

The mind that gets delighted in a moment and becomes dejected in the next, and assumes likewise its equanimity at another, is indeed as changeful as an actor.

क्षणमानन्दितामेति क्षणमेति विषादिताम् ।
क्षणं सौम्यत्वमायाति सर्वस्मिन्नटवन्मनः ॥

25

The creator who is ever turning one thing into another in his work of creation, is like a child who makes and breaks his doll without concern.

इतश्चान्यदितश्चान्यदितश्चान्यदयं विधिः ।
रचयन्वस्तुनायाति खेदं लीलास्विवार्भकः ॥