Make an island for yourself, strive quickly, become wise. Free from impurities and stain, you will not return to birth and old age.

The variation from verse 236 is in the conclusion: where 236 promised the noble realm, 238 promises no return to birth and old age. Na punaṃ jātijaraṃ upehisi — you will not return to birth (jāti) and old age (jarā): liberation from the samsaric cycle.

The pair 235-236 and 237-238 functions as a mirror structure: urgency → action → result. The repetition with variation etches the teaching in memory through rhythm.

So karohi dīpamattano — the repetition of the mandate to make oneself an island/lamp underscores spiritual autonomy. No one can create this island for you, no one can light this lamp on your behalf.

The urgency of the impurity (mala) vagga is therapeutic: contemplation of death and impurity is not morbid but the medicine that cures spiritual complacency.