सर्वारम्भसमारूढाः सुजना जनकादयः । व्यवहारपरा एव कथमुत्तमतां गताः ॥ १२ ॥
sarvārambhasamārūḍhāḥ sujanā janakādayaḥ | vyavahāraparā ēva kathamuttamatāṁ gatāḥ || 12 ||
Translation
How did good men like Janaka, engaged in every undertaking, intent on the world's dealings, reach the highest state?
Word by word
- sarva
- every
- ārambha
- undertaking
- samārūḍhāḥ
- engaged in
- sujanā
- (sujanāḥ) good men
- janaka
- Janaka
- ādayaḥ
- like
- vyavahāra
- the world's dealings
- parā
- (parāḥ) intent on
- ēva
- indeed
- katham
- how
- uttamatāṁ
- the highest state
- gatāḥ
- did reach
Meaning
The great objection to renunciation, and Rāma raises it himself. Janaka, king of Videha, ruled, judged, fought and sacrificed, and was still counted among the liberated. The commentary: like us they performed all the acts that bear seen and unseen fruit and were busy in worldly affairs; how did they reach the highest? If Janaka could, then the answer to Rāma's crisis is not to leave the palace but something else. The question shapes the whole teaching that follows, which will not ask Rāma to become a hermit. The reader with a household and a job may take this as their question too.