which the Munis (saintly recluses) do perform, but of their good effects we have deprived ourselves.
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भोगा न भुक्ता वयमेव भुक्ता- |
7. The worldly pleasures have not been enjoyed by us, but we ourselves have been devoured; no religious austerities have been gone through, but we ourselves have become scorched; time is not gone (being ever-present and infinite), but it is we who are gone (because of approaching death). Desire is not reduced in force, though we ourselves are reduced to senility.
[Here there is an ironical pun on the participles भुक्ताः and तप्ताः the former being used both in the sense of "enjoyed" and "eaten up", and the latter both in the sense of "(austerities) performed" and "heated". Similarly the participle जीर्णाः means both "reduced in force" and "stricken down with age". The effect, of course, cannot be preserved in translation.]
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वलीभिर्मुखमाक्रान्तं पलितेनाङ्कितं शिरः । |
8. The face has been attacked with wrinkles, the head has been painted white with grey hair,
