Ja 233 The Story about the Barb
(Vikaṇṇakajātaka)
In the present one monk is overcome with desire and about to fall away. The Buddha tells a story about a crocodile who, hearing the king call the fish to their meal, came to feed on the fish for himself, was harpooned and eventually died.
1. Kāmaṁ yahiṁ icchasi tena gaccha,
Viddhosi mammamhi vikaṇṇakena,
Hatosi bhattena suvāditena,
Lolo ca macche anubandhamāno ti.
Surely go wherever you so desire, you are shot in the vitals with a barb, you have been killed by your food and by sound, the greedy one is following the fish.
In this connection, surely means with certainty. Kamaṁ is an indeclineable, sometimes meaning according to desire, gladly, willingly, and sometimes used as an emphatic, as here.
Go wherever you so desire means wherever you desire, to that place go.
In the vitals means in a vital place.
With a barb means with a barb or dart.
You have been killed by your food and by sound, the greedy one is following the fish, you, having perception of the sound of the drum when food was being given, becoming greedy, following along in order to eat fish, have been killed by that sound and food, there is no life in the place you have gone to, this is the meaning.
2. Evam-pi lokāmisaṁ opatanto,
Vihaññatī cittavasānuvattī,
So haññatī ñātisakhāna’ majjhe,
Macchānugo so-r-iva suṁsumāro ti.
So also when falling on worldliness, following the mind’s desire, he suffers, he dies in the midst of kin and of friends, like the crocodile following the fish.
In this connection, worldliness means the five strands of sense pleasure. Because you grasp at what is pleasing, charming, likeable, therefore worldliness is said.
Falling on, falling into that worldliness, because of defilements, and the mind’s desire, that person suffers, is exhausted.
He dies means such a person, in the midst of kin and friends, being pierced by a barb, like the crocodile following the fish, having grasped at what is likeable in the five strands of sense pleasure, is killed, exhausted, It seems here that kilamati takes on a stronger meaning than its usual wearied, tired, fatigued, and must mean something like completely exhausted (to the point of death). attains complete destruction.