श्रीराम उवाच । भगवद्व्यासपुत्रस्य शुकस्य भगवन् कथम् । ज्ञेयेऽप्यादौ न विश्रान्तं विश्रान्तं च धिया पुनः ॥ ५ ॥
śrīrāma uvāca | bhagavadvyāsaputrasya śukasya bhagavan katham | jñēyē’pyādau na viśrāntaṁ viśrāntaṁ ca dhiyā punaḥ || 5 ||
Translation
Śrī Rāma said: Blessed one, how is it that the mind of Śuka, son of the blessed Vyāsa, did not at first rest in what was to be known, and afterwards did rest?
Word by word
- śrīrāma
- Śrī Rāma
- uvāca
- said
- bhagavad
- (bhagavat) of the blessed
- vyāsa
- Vyāsa
- putrasya
- son
- śukasya
- of Śuka
- bhagavan
- blessed one
- katham
- how
- jñēyē
- in what was to be known
- api
- even
- ādau
- at first
- na
- not
- viśrāntaṁ
- did rest
- ca
- and
- dhiyā
- the mind
- punaḥ
- afterwards
Meaning
Rāma asks the natural question, and it is a precise one. Śuka knew the truth by his own reasoning; how could the mind not rest in what it had known? And if it did not rest then, what changed, so that it rested later? The commentary paraphrases: by his own inquiry he knew, yet did not rest; by an intellect that had heard it confirmed by a teacher, he did. Rāma is asking about himself. He too has seen through the world and has not found peace. The question shows the kind of student Viśvāmitra praised: he does not take the compliment, he asks how the thing works.