असारे खलु संसारे सुखभ्रान्तिः शरीरिणाम् ।
लालापानमिवाङ्गुष्ठे बालानां स्तन्यविभ्रमः ॥
asāre khalu saṁsāre sukha-bhrāntiḥ śarīriṇām |
lālāpānam ivāṅguṣṭhe bālānāṁ stanya-vibhramaḥ ||
(Samayocita-padya-mālikā; Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 3742)
“In verily essenceless saṁsāra, the embodied have a false impression of happiness (sukha), just as a child sucking its thumb has the misperception of a breast.”
Commentary
In saṁsāra, which is devoid of essence, that is, genuine happiness, embodied beings (jīvātmās) do not experience genuine happiness but rather meagre, vitiated happiness that inevitably produces suffering yet they mistake that apparent happiness for genuine happiness, just as a young child sucking its thumb mistakenly thinks it is sucking its mother’s breast. The purport of the analogy is that one should not be a sucker for saṁsārika happiness, considering it to be genuine happiness and making it the focus of one’s life. Rather, one should mature in one’s view of the world and seek genuine happiness, that is, happiness the origin of which is beyond saṁsāra.