नित्यं क्षुत्क्षामदेहस्य दरिद्रस्यान्नकाङ्क्षिण: । इन्द्रियाण्यनुशुष्यन्ति हिंसापि विनिवर्तते ॥ १६ ॥
nityaṁ kṣut-kṣāma-dehasya daridrasyānna-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ indriyāṇy anuśuṣyanti hiṁsāpi vinivartate
- nityam
- always
- kṣut
- with hunger
- kṣāma
- weak, without necessary strength
- dehasya
- of the body of a poor man
- daridrasya
- poverty-stricken
- anna-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ
- always desiring to get sufficient food
- indriyāṇi
- the senses, which are compared to snakes
- anuśuṣyanti
- gradually become weaker and weaker, with less potency
- hiṁsā api
- the tendency to be envious of others
- vinivartate
- reduces
Always hungry, longing for sufficient food, a poverty-stricken man gradually becomes weaker and weaker. Having no extra potency, his senses are automatically pacified. A poverty-stricken man, therefore, is unable to perform harmful, envious activities. In other words, such a man automatically gains the results of the austerities and penances adopted voluntarily by saintly persons.