यथा प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं पतङ्गा विशन्ति नाशाय समृद्धवेगाः ।तथैव नाशाय विशन्ति लोकास्तवापि वक्त्राणि समृद्धवेगाः ॥
yathā pradīptaṃ jvalanaṃ pataṅgā viśanti nāśāya samṛddha-vegāḥ |tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokās tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddha-vegāḥ ||
- यथा · yathā
- as
- प्रदीप्तम् ज्वलनम् · pradīptam jvalanam
- a blazing fire
- पतङ्गाः · pataṅgāḥ
- moths
- विशन्ति · viśanti
- they enter
- नाशाय · nāśāya
- for destruction
- समृद्धवेगाः · samṛddha-vegāḥ
- with gathering speed
- लोकाः · lokāḥ
- the worlds, people
“As moths rush with gathering speed into a blazing fire to perish, so too these beings rush with gathering speed into your mouths to perish.”
— Original plain-language translation
The second simile is harsher: not rivers fulfilling themselves but moths destroying themselves. The verse stresses the self-driven haste (samriddha-vega) of beings toward their end — time needs no help, only witnesses.
— Reader's notes (original)