स्वयं प्राप्ते परे वस्तुन्यविश्रान्तमनाः स्थितः । इदं वस्त्विति विश्वासं नाऽसावात्मन्युपाययौ ॥ ११ ॥
svayaṁ prāptē parē vastunyaviśrāntamanāḥ sthitaḥ | idaṁ vastviti viśvāsaṁ nā’sāvātmanyupāyayau || 11 ||
Translation
Though he had himself reached the highest reality, he remained with a mind not at rest; he did not come to the conviction in himself, "This is the reality."
Word by word
- svayaṁ
- himself
- prāptē
- though he had reached
- parē
- the highest
- vastuny
- (vastuni) reality
- aviśrānta
- not at rest
- manāḥ
- with a mind
- sthitaḥ
- he remained
- idaṁ
- this
- vastv
- (vastu) the reality
- iti
- thus
- viśvāsaṁ
- the conviction
- na
- not
- asāv
- (asau) he
- ātmany
- (ātmani) in himself
- upāyayau
- did come to
Meaning
Here is the knot of the story. Śuka has reached the highest (para vastu), and still his mind is not at rest (aviśrānta-manāḥ). The reason is given exactly: he lacked conviction (viśvāsa), the inner certainty, "this is it" (idaṃ vastu iti). The commentary: without trust there is no rest, and the cause of his unrest was distrust alone. It is a very modern condition. One may have read and understood the truth of non-duality, may even have glimpsed it, and still go on searching, because something in us does not believe that what we found can be the end. The Yoga Vāsiṣṭha treats this doubt as the last obstacle, and the rest of the story shows how it is removed.