कां दृष्टिं समुपाश्रित्य भवन्तो वीतकल्मषाः । महान्तो विचरन्तीह जीवन्मुक्ता महाशयाः ॥ १४ ॥
kāṁ dṛṣṭiṁ samupāśritya bhavantō vītakalmaṣāḥ | mahāntō vicarantīha jīvanmuktā mahāśayāḥ || 14 ||
Translation
Relying on what way of seeing do you great ones, free of stain, liberated while living, large of heart, move about here?
Word by word
- kāṁ
- what
- dṛṣṭiṁ
- way of seeing
- samupāśritya
- relying on
- bhavantō
- (bhavantaḥ) you
- vīta
- free
- kalmaṣāḥ
- of stain
- mahāntō
- (mahāntaḥ) great ones
- vicaranti
- move about
- iha
- here
- jīvanmuktā
- (jīvanmuktāḥ) liberated while living
- mahāśayāḥ
- large of heart
Meaning
Rāma now turns to the sages before him: Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra and the others in the hall. They are free of stain (vīta-kalmaṣa), liberated in life (jīvanmukta), wide-hearted (mahāśaya), and they move about in this same world. What do they see that he does not? He asks for a dṛṣṭi, a way of seeing, not a rule of conduct. That is the right question. The liberated do not live in another world; they see this one differently. The word jīvanmukta, the one freed while living, names what the whole work will explain. The reader may think of someone who moves through ordinary life with an evident freedom, and ask the same: what do they see?