Mike Cross: Aśvaghoṣa's Gold

Saundarananda - 417
druta-prayāṇa-prabhṛtīṁś ca tīkṣṇāt kāma-prayogāt parikhidyamānaḥ /
yathā naraḥ saṁśrayate tathaiva prājñena doṣeṣv api vartitavyam // 16.81 //
Just as a man who feels depressed following a torrid love affair takes refuge in activities like
quick marching, so should a wise person proceed with regard to the faults. // 16.81 //
te ced alabdha-pratipakṣa-bhāvān naivopaśāmyeyur asad-vitarkāḥ /
muhūrtam apy aprativadhyamānā gṛhe bhujaṁgā iva nādhivāsyāḥ // 16.82 //
If their counteragent cannot be found and unreal fancies do not subside, / They must not for a
moment be left unchecked: no whiff of them should be tolerated, as if they were snakes in the
house. // 16.82 //
dante ’pi dantaṁ praṇidhāya kāmaṁ tālv agram utpīḍya ca jivhayāpi /
cittena cittaṁ parigṛhya cāpi kāryaḥ prayatno na tu te ’nuvartyāḥ // 16.83 //
Grit tooth against tooth, if you will, press the tongue forward and up against the palate, / And
grip the mind with the mind – make an effort, but do not yield to them. // 16.83 //
kim-atra citraṁ yadi vīta-moho vanaṁ gataḥ svastha-manā na muhyet /
ākṣipyamāṇo hṛdi tan-nimittair na kṣobhyate yaḥ sa kṛtī sa dhīraḥ // 16.84 //
Is it any wonder that a man without any delusions should not become deluded when he has
contentedly repaired to the forest? / [But] a man who is not shaken when challenged to the
core by the stimuli of the aforementioned [ideas, thoughts, and fancies]: 1159 he is a man of
action; he is a steadfast man. // 16.84 //
tad ārya-satyādhigamāya pūrvaṁ viśodhayānena nayena mārgam /
yātrā-gataḥ śatru-vinigrahārthaṁ rājeva lakṣmīm ajitāṁ jigīṣan // 16.85 //
So, in order to make the noble truths your own, first clear a path according to this plan of
action, / Like a king going on campaign to subdue his foes, wishing to conquer unconquered
dominions. // 16.85 //
etāny araṇyāny abhitaḥ śivāni yogānukūlāny ajaneritāni /
kāyasya kṛtvā praviveka-mātraṁ kleśa-prahāṇāya bhajasva mārgam // 16.86 //
These salubrious wilds that surround us are suited to practice and not thronged with people. /
Furnishing the body with ample solitude, cut a path for abandoning the afflictions. // 16.86 //
1159
Again Aśvaghoṣa seems to be playing with the multiplicity of possible meanings of nimitta, which
cannot mean the same here as in the series of verses from 16.53. The evident difficulty of dealing with
the ambiguity of nimitta caused LC to amend tan-nimittair to tad-vitarkair (“by such thoughts”). EHJ
retained tan-nimittair, translating “before the onslaught of such ideas.” From 16.53, in contrast, EHJ
translated nimitta as “subject of meditation.”