पुंसो वर्षशतं ह्यायुस्तदर्धं चाजितात्मन: । निष्फलं यदसौ रात्र्यां शेतेऽन्धं प्रापितस्तम: ॥ ६ ॥
pumso varsa-satam hy ayus tad-ardham cajitatmanah nisphalam yad asau ratryam sete ’ndham prapitas tamah
- pumsah
- of every human being
- varsa-satam
- one hundred years
- hi
- indeed
- ayuh
- duration of life
- tat
- of that
- ardham
- half
- ca
- and
- ajita-atmanah
- of a person who is a servant of his senses
- nisphalam
- without profit, without meaning
- yat
- because
- asau
- that person
- ratryam
- at night
- sete
- sleeps
- andham
- ignorance (forgetting his body and soul)
- prapitah
- being completely possessed of
- tamah
- darkness.
Every human being has a maximum duration of life of one hundred years, but for one who cannot control his senses, half of those years are completely lost because at night he sleeps twelve hours, being covered by ignorance. Therefore such a person has a lifetime of only fifty years.