Hunger is the highest illness. Conditioned things are the highest suffering.
Having known this as it is, Nirvana is the highest happiness.

jighaccha parama     roga   savkhara  parama  dukha
|                   |             |            |              |           |
N.f.         Adj.m.     N.m.     N.m.      Adj.m.    N.m.
Nom.Pl.  Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl.  Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl.
|                   |_______|             |             |_______|
|______________|                    |___________|

List of Abbreviations

etaj     batva   yatha+bhutaj nibbanaj paramaj sukhaj
|                |          |           |             |             |             |
Pron.n. V.ger. Rel.Adv. Adv.       N.n.      Adj.n.      N.n.
Acc.Sg.     |          |______|        Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|                |_________|                   |            |________|
|_____________|                             |__________|
          |_____________________________|

jighaccha: jighaccha-, N.f.: appetite, hunger. Nom.Pl. = jighaccha.

parama: parama-, Adj.: most, highest, absolute. Nom.Pl.m. = parama.

roga: roga-, N.m.: disease, illness. Nom.Pl. = roga.

savkhara: savkhara-, N.m.: conditioned thing, world of phenomena. The meaning of this word is very wide, here we will use "conditioned thing". It comprises all of the world around us, including ourselves. Nom.Pl. = savkhara.

parama: parama-, Adj.: see above. Nom.Pl.m. = parama.

dukha: dukha-, Adj.: unpleasant, painful, difficult. Spelled dukha- here instead of the more usual (and proper) dukkha-. As an N.m.: suffering. Nom.Pl. = dukha.

List of Abbreviations

etaj: etad-, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.n. = etaj.

batva, V.ger.: having known. It is a ger. of the verb ba- (to know).

yathabhutaj, Adv.: as it is, according to reality. It is a compound of:
    yatha, Rel.Adv.: as, just like.
    bhuta-, Adj.: being, having become. It is a p.p. of the verb bhu- (to be).
Acc.Sg. = yathabhutaj, here used as an Adv.

nibbanaj: nibbana-, N.n.: Nirvana, the goal of Buddhism. Nom.Sg. = nibbanaj.

paramaj: parama-, Adj.: most, highest, absolute. Nom.Sg.n. = paramaj.

sukhaj: sukha-, N.n.: happiness. Nom.Sg. = sukhaj.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically independent sentences. They are:
    1) jighaccha parama roga (hunger is the highest illness). The subject is the noun jighaccha (hungers, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the noun roga (illnesses, nominative plural) with its attribute, the adjective parama (highest, nominative plural).
    2) savkhara parama dukha (conditioned things are the highest suffering). The subject is the noun savkhara (conditioned things, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the noun dukha (sufferings, nominative plural) with its attribute, the adjective parama (highest, nominative plural).
    3) etaj batva yathabhutaj nibbanaj paramaj sukhaj (having known this as it is, Nirvana is the highest happiness). This can be further analyzed into two sentences:
    a) etaj batva yathabhutaj (having known this as it is). The subject is omitted. The verb is batva (having known, gerund). It has an attribute, the adverb yathabhutaj (as it is, according to reality). The object is the pronoun etaj (this, accusative singular).
    b) nibbanaj paramaj sukhaj (Nirvana is the highest happiness). The subject is the noun nibbanaj (Nirvana, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the noun sukhaj (happiness, nominative singular) with its attribute, the adjective paramaj (highest, nominative singular).

    Once the Buddha came to the village of Alavi. On that day, one poor man had lost his ox and he spent the whole morning looking for it everywhere.
    The villagers offered almsfood to the Buddha and monks. After the meal, everybody got ready to listen to the Dharma, but the Buddha waited for the poor man, because he knew the man was very close to attaining the first stage of Awakenment.
    When the man found his ox, he came back to the village. He was very tired and hungry. So the Buddha directed the villagers to let him eat first and only then he expounded the Dharma. At the end of the discourse, the poor man attained the first stage of Awakenment.
    Later the monks asked the Buddha why he waited for the man before he delivered the discourse. The Buddha told them that the man was very hungry and very tired and if he had not eaten, he might not be able to comprehend the Dharma fully and reach the first stage of Awakenment.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

jighaccha
parama
roga
savkhara
dukha
etaj
batva
yathabhutaj
yatha
bhutaj
nibbanaj
paramaj
sukhaj