Sumati Satakam 4

సిరిదా వచ్చిన వచ్చును
సలలితముగ నారికేళ సలిలము భంగిన్
సిరిదా పోయిన పోవును
కరి మ్రింగిన వెలగపండు కరణిని సుమతీ
siridA vaccinavaccunu
salalitamuga nArikEla salilamu Bhangin
sirida pOyina pOvunu
kari mringina velagapandu karaNini sumati

సిరి = wealth
తాన్(దా) = by itself
వచ్చిన = when it comes
వచ్చును = will come
సలలితముగ = beautifully
నారికేళ = coconut
సలిలము = water
భంగిన్ = in the fashion
సిరిదా పోయిన పోవును = when wealth goes, it goes
కరి మ్రింగిన వెలగపండు కరణిని = like the wood apple that is gulped by an elephant
సుమతీ
One more poem on the vagaries of wealth. Baddena says that wealth comes like the water in the coconut, when it comes. It also disappears equally mysteriously like the contents of wood apple that an elephant has gulped.

This is an interesting poem. Those with a bit of scientific knowledge will question the content of it. But, poets are after all poets. They go by the understanding of the contemporary life.
Anyway, poet describes here the mysterious ways of the wealth. He says, when wealth come, it come s like the water in a coconut. For a common man, the existence of water in the coconut indeed is a mystery. How does the water get there? Even if one explains that it gets there through the roots, it still is a mystery. You never get to see the way it reaches there. Poet means that when money comes it comes in mysterious way. In the present day society, wealth either comes through hard work or some kind of cheating. I really do not know if there is any mystery in it. We can accept that strange are the ways through which money comes.
The second part of the poem is another problem. Poet says that when money goes also it is mysterious. It is indeed mysterious the way rich people gamble and lose money in business or speculation. The simile given here is interesting. Poet says that wealth disappears like the wood apple that is gulped by an elephant. Elephant need not gulp the wood apple as it is. It will crush it and enjoy the contents. It will even digest the fruit and perhaps the shell is not digested. In olden days, there was a belief that when the elephant gulps the wood apple even without crushing, the contents will be digested and empty shell comes out later. I am sure no one checked on this and even the intelligent poet followed the common understanding.
All said and done, we accept that the ways the wealth comes and goes are the strangest.