शोचन्नेव मुहुः क्रौञ्चीमुप श्लोकमिमं पुनः।
जगावन्तर्मना भूत्वा शोकपरायणः॥
śocann eva muhuḥ krauñcīm upa ślokam imaṁ punaḥ
jagāv antar-manā bhūtvā śoka-parāyaṇaḥ
śocan eva = lamenting; muhuḥ = still thinking; krauñcīm = about the female krauñca bird; upa = he; ślokam = the śloka; imam = beginning mā niṣāda; punaḥ = again; jagau = sang; antar-manāḥ bhūtvā =to himself; śoka-parāyaṇaḥ = overcome by distress [over the death of the male krauñca bird].
Overcome by distress over the death of the male krauñca bird and still lamenting about the female krauñca bird, he again sang the śloka beginning mā niṣāda to himself.
1 The very fact that even in the presence of Lord Brahmā, the spiritual master of the universe, the self-disciplined Vālmīki’s mind recited that verse beginning mā niṣāda indicates that it was happening by the desire of Lord Brahmā.
The words upa and jagau have to be read together [according to a grammatical rule, and the combined meaning of these two words is “sang”]. Vālmīki sang the verse mā niṣāda (text 15) within his mind.1