Mahabharata 28: Man Sings The Tunes Strum By Time Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

A bird as if bound to a string,
Led helpless, swayed by power unknown,
Man stands bound, Lord's will abiding,
Nor of others, nor yet his own;
A pearl as if string-prone,
Son of cow reined in by the nose its own,
He's like an uprooted tree
Adrift mid-waters, moor-less free;
By his material nature lead,
One lost with it, to it dedicated;
No, never tuned to his own tune,
This man sings only time's tune.
_________________________________________________________
Here is the transliteration of the original verse:

shakunih tantu-baddhah vāniyatah ayam an-īśhvarah |
īshvarasya vashe tiśhţhetna anyeśhām na ātmanah prabhuh || 30-25

maņih sūtra iva protahnasya uta iva go-vŗśhah |
strotasah madhyam āpannahkūlāt vŗkśha iva chyutah || vana 30-26

dhātuh ādesham anvetitan-mayah hi tat arpaņah |
na ātma-ādhinah manuśhyah ayamkālam bhajati kanchana || 30-27

The discussion is concluded finally on generalities. The words used are philosophical and metaphorical. Man has the will, but does he always use it? The fate and destiny play their parts.

Let us know a few words: shakunih = bird; tantu-baddhah = tied with a string; niyatah = led by; ayam = this one (the embodied soul): an-īśhvarah = without its own free will, helpless as if; the word īśhvarah is used twice in two rather different meanings. maņih sūtra iva protah = like a pearl tied in a string; nasya uta iva = reined in by the nose as if; go-vŗśhah = a calf, young of a cow; strotasah madhyam = in the middle of a flow (of river): kūlāt = from the root; vŗkśha iva = a tree as if; chyutah = uprooted, separated; dhātuh = elements the body is made of, refers to material nature; ādesham = command; anveti = follows; na ātma-ādhinah = never under its own (atman's)command; manuśhyah = man.