तत्र वर्षसहस्राणि निर्विकल्पसमाधिना । दश स्थित्वा शशामाऽसावात्मन्यस्नेहदीपवत् ॥ ४४ ॥
tatra varṣasahasrāṇi nirvikalpasamādhinā | daśa sthitvā śaśāmā’sāvātmanyasnēhadīpavat || 44 ||
Translation
There, in samādhi without thought-forms, he stayed ten thousand years, and went out into the Self like a lamp without oil.
Word by word
- tatra
- there
- varṣa
- years
- sahasrāṇi
- thousand
- nirvikalpa
- without thought-forms
- samādhinā
- in samādhi
- daśa
- ten
- sthitvā
- he stayed
- śaśāma
- went out
- asāv
- (asau) he
- ātmany
- (ātmani) into the Self
- asnēha
- without oil
- dīpa
- a lamp
- vat
- like
Meaning
Śuka remains in nirvikalpa samādhi, absorption in which no form of thought arises, for ten thousand years, and then he "went out" (śaśāma) in the Self, like a lamp whose oil (sneha) is spent. The commentary: he became liberated without the body (videha-mukta). The image of the lamp is exact. A lamp is not put out by force; it goes out when there is nothing left to burn. When the fuel of latent desire is gone, the flame of separate life ends by itself. The word sneha also means affection, attachment: the lamp goes out when attachment is spent.