One is indeed one's own lord. What other lord would there be?
With oneself well restrained, one will obtain the lord that is so hard to get.

attā        hi     attano    nātho       ko        hi     nātho      paro          siyā
|              |          |            |            |           |          |            |               |
N.m.     part.   N.m.     N.m.    Pron.m.  part.   N.m.     Adj.m.     V.act.
Nom.Sg.  |    Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.   |     Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
|              |          |_______|            |          |          |_______|               |
|________|_________|                   |         |                 |____________|
         |___|                                    |_____|________________|

List of Abbreviations

attanā  va sudantena nāthaṃ   labhati  dullabhaṃ
|            |         |            |              |             |
N.m.   part.  Adj.m.    N.m.    V.act.in.   Adj.m.
Ins.Sg.   |     Ins.Sg.   Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg.
|_______|_____|           |________|________|
         |__|                                    |       |
           |_____________________|____|
                             |___________|

āttā: attan-, N.m.: self. Nom.Sg. = attā.

hi, part.: indeed.

attano: attan-, N.m./Pron.: self, oneself. Gen.Sg. = attano.

nātho: nātha-, N.m.: lord, protector. Nom.Sg. = nātho.

ko: kiṃ-, Inter.Pron.: who. Nom.Sg.m. = ko.

hi: see above.

nātho: see above.

paro: para-, Adj.m.: other. Nom.Sg.m. = paro.

List of Abbreviations

siyā, V.: would be. The verb root is as-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = siyā.

attanā: attan-, N.m.: self. Ins.Sg. = attanā.

va, part.: just, only.
Euphonic combination: attanā + va = attanā'va.

sudantena: sudanta-, Adj.: well restrained, tamed, controlled. It is a p.p. of the verb dam- (to restrain, to control, to tame) with the prefix su- (well). Ins.Sg.m. = sudantena.

nāthaṃ: nātha-, N.m.: lord, protector. Acc.Sg. = nāthaṃ.

labhati, V.: obtains, gets. The verb root is labh-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = labhati.

dullabhaṃ: dullabha-, Adj.: hard to get, difficult to obtain. It is the word labha-, Adj.: receiving, with the prefix du(l)- (difficult, bad, hard). Acc.Sg.m. = dullabhaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This sentence consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) attā hi attano nātho (one is indeed one's own lord). The subject is the noun attā (one, self; nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the noun nātho (lord, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun/pronoun attano (one's own, genitive singular). The particle hi (indeed) serves mainly for metrical purposes.
    2) ko hi nātho paro siyā (what other lord would there be?). The subject is the interrogative particle ko (who, nominative singular). The verb is siyā (would be, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun nātho (lord, nominative singular) with its attribute, the adjective paro (other). The particle hi (indeed) serves mainly for metrical purposes.
    3) attanā'va sudantena nāthaṃ labhati dullabhaṃ (with oneself well restrained, one will obtain the lord that is so hard to get). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is labhati (obtains, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun attanā (by oneself, instrumental singular). This in turn has the adjective sudantena (by well restrained, instrumental singular) as an attribute. The object is the noun nāthaṃ (lord, accusative singular) with its attribute, the adjective dullabhaṃ (difficult to get, accusative singular). The particle va (just) serves mainly for metrical purposes.

    There was a young married woman who wanted to become a nun. She got permission from her husband and entered the Order. She became a pupil of Devadatta, the Buddha's cousin. Before she became a nun, she was already pregnant but did not know about it. When she found out, she asked Devadatta what to do. He sent her back to the lay life. But the woman was not happy and went to see the Buddha. The Buddha sent for Upāli, who was the master of Vinaya, rules of conduct. He further asked the king Pasenadi and the famous lay devotes, Anāthapindika and Visākhā to come and settle the case.
    Visākhā examined the young woman and told Upāli that she was already pregnant when she joined the Order. Upāli therefore declared that the woman was pure of any misconduct and could continue her life as a nun. Later the woman gave birth to a son. He was named Kumāra Kassapa and king Pasenadi adopted him. At the age of seven, the boy became a novice and when he was eighteen, he received the full ordination. He went to the forest to practice meditation and soon attained Arahantship. He lived in the forest for twelve years and then went back to the monastery.
    His mother was very attached to him and whenever she saw him she would run after him calling his name. Kumāra Kassapa decided that he should help his mother to get rid of this attachment. Therefore he spoke coolly to her, "How is it possible that you, as a nun, can not cut off even the affection for your son?" The woman reflected, "I have been weeping for twelve years, waiting for my son. Now he speaks so harshly to me! Why should I be attached to him?" Then she realized danger of all attachments and very soon reached Arahanthsip.
    The monks then remarked to the Buddha that if the woman had listened to Devadatta's words, neither she nor her son would have reached Arahantship. The Buddha replied with this verse, saying that in striving for the goal one must depend only on himself and not seek others to lean on.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

attā
hi
attano
nātho
ko
paro
siyā
attanā
va
sudantena
nāthaṃ
labhati
dullabhaṃ