Be devoted to conscientiousness. Guard your own mind.
Lift yourself up from this bad place, just like an elephant sunk in mud.

appamāda+ratā       hotha     sa+cittam anurakkhatha
|                   |             |          |        |              |
N.m.       Adj.m.    V.act.    Adj.  N.n.       V.act.
|             Nom.Pl. 2.Pl.imp.    |   Acc.Sg.  2.Pl.imp.
|___________|            |          |_____|              |
         |_____________|               |__________|

List of Abbreviations

duggā uddharatha attānaṃ   paṅke    sanno     va    kuñjaro
|                  |             |            |            |           |          |
N.m.       V.act.      N.m.     N.m.     Adj.m.  part.    N.m.
Abl.Sg.  2.Pl.imp.  Acc.Sg. Loc.Sg. Nom.Sg.    |     Nom.Sg.
|__________|              |           |_______|          |           |
         |_____________|                  |_________|______|
                     |                                       |____|
                     |________________________|

appamādaratā: appamādarata-, Adj.: devoted to conscientiousness. It is a compound of:
    appamāda-, N.m.: conscientiousness, non-negligence. A negated (by the negative prefix a-) word pamāda-, N.m.: negligence. Euphonic combination: a- + pamāda- = appamāda-.
    rata-, Adj.: devoted. It is a p.p. of the verb ram- (to delight in, to be devoted to).
Nom.Pl.m. = appamādaratā.

hotha, V.: be. The verb root is (b)hū-. 2.Pl.act.imp. = hotha.

sacittam: sacitta-, N.n.: one's own mind. This word is itself a compound of:
    sa-, Adj.: own.
    citta-, N.n.: mind.
Acc.Sg. = sacittam.

anurakkhatha, V.: guard, protect. The verb root is rakkh- (to protect) with the prefix anu- (along). 2.Pl.act.imp. = anurakkhatha.

List of Abbreviations

duggā: dugga-, N.m.: bad place, difficult road. It is derived from the verb root gam- (to go) and the prefix du- (bad, difficult). Abl.Sg. = duggā.

uddharatha, V.: rise, lift up. The verb root is dhar- (to hold) with the prefix ud- (up).
2.Pl.act.imp. = uddharatha.

attānaṃ: attan-, N.m.: self. Acc.Sg. = attānaṃ.
Euphonic combination: uddharatha + attānaṃ = uddharathattānaṃ.

paṅke: paṅka-, N.m.: mud, dirt. Loc.Sg. = paṅke.

sanno: sanna-, Adj.: sunk. It is a p.p. of the verb root sad- (to sit). Nom.Sg.m. = sanno.

va, part.: as, like.

kuñjaro: kuñjara-, N.m.: elephant. Nom.Sg. = kuñjaro.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) appamādaratā hotha (be devoted to conscientiousness). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is hotha (be, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). The object is the compound appamādaratā (devoted to conscientiousness, nominative singular).
    2) sacittam anurakkhatha (guard your own mind). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is anurakkhatha (guard, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). The object is the compound sacittam (own mind, accusative singular).
    3) duggā uddharathattānaṃ paṅke sanno va kuñjaro (lift yourself up from this bad place, just like an elephant sunk in mud). This can be further analysed into the main sentence a) and the dependent clause b):
    a) duggā uddharathattānaṃ (lift yourself up from this bad place). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is uddharatha (lift up, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). It has an attribute, the noun duggā (from the bad place). The object is the noun attānaṃ (yourself, accusative singular).
    b) paṅke sanno va kuñjaro (just like an elephant sunk in mud). The subject is the noun kuñjaro (elephant, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle sanno (sunk, nominative singular). This word has also an attribute, the noun paṅke (in mud, locative singular). The particle va (as, like) connects the clause to the main sentence.

    There was an elephant that was very strong when young, but as he got old, he became weak. Once he went to a pond and got stuck in the mud. The king sent some elephant trainers to help him. They started to beat the battle-drums. When the elephant heard them, his spirit rose and he freed himself from the mud.
    When the Buddha heard about this, he spoke this verse, saying that just as the elephant pulled himself out of mud, so we must pull ourselves from the mud of defilements and suffering.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

appamādaratā
appamāda
ratā
hotha
sacittam
sa
cittam
anurakkhatha
duggā
uddharatha
attānaṃ
paṅke
sanno
va
kuñjaro