From practice, knowledge is born. From absence of practice, loss of knowledge.
Having understood this crossroad of existence and cessation of knowledge,
one should so conduct oneself that the knowledge may grow.

yogā     ve     jāyatī      bhūri      ayogā bhūri+saṅkhayo
|             |           |             |             |         |           |
N.m.   part. V.med.in.    N.f.       N.m.   N.f.     N.m.
Abl.Sg.   |    3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Abl.Sg.    |     Nom.Sg.
|_______|______|              |             |         |______|
                   |___________|             |________|

List of Abbreviations

etaṃ     dvedhā+pathaṃ ñatvā bhavāya vibhavāya ca
|                 |           |          |           |             |          |
Pron.m.  Adv.     N.m.   V.ger.  N.m.       N.m.   conj.
Acc.Sg.      |      Acc.Sg.     |     Dat.Sg.    Dat.Sg.     |
|                 |______|           |           |_______|          |
|_____________|                |                  |_________|
           |________________|_______________|
                         |________|
                                 |_______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

tathā  attānaṃ niveseyya yathā     bhūri    pavaḍḍhati
|              |             |            |             |              |
Adv.    N.m.     V.act.    Rel.Adv.   N.f.      V.act.in.
|        Acc.Sg.  3.Sg.opt.      |        Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
|              |_______|            |              |________|
|____________|                  |____________|
           |_______________________|
__________________|

yogā: yoga-, N.m.: yoke, connection, application. Here: practice, meditation. Abl.Sg. = yogā.

ve, part.: indeed.

jāyatī, V.: is born. The verb root is jan- (to be born). 3.Sg.med.in.pres. = jāyati. The form jāyatī is sometimes used in poetry.

bhūri: bhūri-, N.f.: knowledge, understanding, intelligence. Nom.Sg. = bhūri.

ayogā: ayoga-, N.m.: absence of practice. It is the word yoga- (see above), negated by the negative prefix a-. Abl.Sg. = ayogā.

bhūrisaṅkhayo: bhūrisaṅkhaya-, N.m.: loss of knowledge. It is a compound of:
    bhūri-, N.f.: see above.
    saṅkhaya-, N.m.: destruction, loss. It is derived from the word khaya-, N.m. (destruction) with the prefix sam- (completely).
Nom.Sg. = bhūrisaṅkhayo.

List of Abbreviations

etaṃ: etad-, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.m. = etaṃ.

dvedhāpathaṃ: dvedhāpatha-, N.m.: crossroad, a branching road. It is a compound of:
    dvedhā, Adv.: in two, twofold.
    patha-, N.m.: road, path.
Acc.Sg. = dvedhāpathaṃ.

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

bhavāya: bhava-, N.m.: becoming, existence. It is derived from the verb root bhū- (to be).
Dat.Sg. = bhavāya.

vibhavāya: vibhava-, N.m.: non-existence, cessation, annihilation. It is the word bhava- (see above), negated by the negative prefix vi-. Dat.Sg. = vibhavāya.

List of Abbreviations

ca, conj.: and.

tathā, Adv. thus, in such way.

attānaṃ: attan-, N.m.: self. Acc.Sg. = attānaṃ.
Euphonic combination: tathā + attānaṃ = tathāttānaṃ.

niveseyya, V.: should settle down, should establish oneself. The verb root is vis- (to enter) with the prefix ni- (into, onto). 3.Sg.act.opt. = niveseyya.

yathā, Rel.Adv.: as, just like.

bhūri:  see above.

pavaḍḍhati, V.: grows. The verb root is vaḍḍh-, with the strengthening prefix pa-.
3.Sg.act.in.pres. = pavaḍḍhati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) yogā ve jāyatī bhūri (from practice, knowledge is born). The subject is the noun bhūri (knowledge, nominative singular). The verb is jāyatī (is born, 3^rd person, singular, medium, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun yogā (from practice, ablative singular). The particle ve (indeed) serves mainly for metrical purposes.
    2) ayogā bhūrisaṅkhayo (from absence of practice, loss of knowledge). The subject is the compound bhūrisaṅkhayo (loss of knowledge, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb jāyatī from the previous sentence. It has an attribute, the noun ayogā (from absence of practice, ablative singular).
    3) etaṃ dvedhāpathaṃ ñatvā bhavāya vibhavāya ca tathāttānaṃ niveseyya yathā bhūri pavaḍḍhati (having understood this crossroad of existence and cessation [of knowledge], one should so conduct oneself that the knowledge may grow). This can be further analysed into two related sentences:
    a) etaṃ dvedhāpathaṃ ñatvā bhavāya vibhavāya ca (having understood this crossroad of existence and cessation [of knowledge]). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is in gerund, ñatvā (having understood). The object is the compound dvedhāpathaṃ (crossroad, accusative singular). It has three attributes: the pronoun etaṃ (this, accusative singular) and the nouns bhavāya (to knowledge, dative singular) and vibhavāya (to cessation, dative singular). They are connected by the conjunction ca (and).
    b) tathāttānaṃ niveseyya yathā bhūri pavaḍḍhati (one should so conduct oneself that the knowledge may grow). This sentence has two parts:
    I) tathāttānaṃ niveseyya (one should so conduct oneself). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is niveseyya (one should conduct, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun/pronoun attānaṃ (oneself, accusative singular). The adverb tathā (thus) connects this segment to the following one.
    II) yathā bhūri pavaḍḍhati (that the knowledge may grow). The subject is the noun bhūri (knowledge, nominative singular). The verb is pavaḍḍhati (grows, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The relative adverb yathā (as, in such a way) connects this segment to the previous one.

    There was a monk name Pothila. He knew the Dharma very well and taught it to many followers. But he did not practice meditation and was conceited. The Buddha wanted to put him on the right path and therefore called him "useless Pothila". Pothila reflected on those words and realized what did the Buddha mean. So he went to the senior monk and humbly asked to be his pupil. But the monk sent him to the next senior monk. This happened several times until Pothila ended up as a pupil of a young novice (who was an Arahant).
    He followed the meditation instructions diligently and was no longer conceited because of his theoretical mastery of the Dharma. The Buddha saw his effort and told him this verse. Soon after, Pothila reached the Awakenment.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yogā
ve
jāyatī
bhūri
ayogā
bhūrisaṅkhayo
saṅkhayo
etaṃ
dvedhāpathaṃ
dvedhā
pathaṃ
ñatvā
bhavāya
vibhavāya
ca
tathā
attānaṃ
niveseyya
yathā
pavaḍḍhati