विश्वामित्र उवाच । आत्मोदन्तसमं राम कथ्यमानमिदं मया । शृणु व्यासात्मजोदन्तं जन्मनामन्तकारणम् ॥ ६ ॥
viśvāmitra uvāca | ātmōdantasamaṁ rāma kathyamānamidaṁ mayā | śṛṇu vyāsātmajōdantaṁ janmanāmantakāraṇam || 6 ||
Translation
Viśvāmitra said: Rāma, hear from me the story of Vyāsa's son, which is like your own story, and which brings to an end the births of those who hear it.
Word by word
- viśvāmitra
- Viśvāmitra
- uvāca
- said
- ātma
- your own
- udanta
- story
- samaṁ
- like
- rāma
- Rāma
- kathyamānam
- told
- idaṁ
- this
- mayā
- by me
- śṛṇu
- hear
- vyāsa
- of Vyāsa
- ātmaja
- 's son
- udantaṁ
- the story
- janmanām
- of births
- anta
- to an end
- kāraṇam
- which brings
Meaning
Viśvāmitra will answer with a story (udanta, "account"). He says two things about it. It is like Rāma's own (ātma-udanta-sama): the same dispassion, the same inquiry, the same unrest at the end. And it ends births (janmanām anta-kāraṇa): the commentary, "it is a cause of liberation for those who hear it." This is a claim the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha makes for its stories throughout: they are not illustrations added to a doctrine, they do the work of the doctrine. A story in which one recognises oneself can change one where an argument does not. The reader is invited to hear Śuka's story as Rāma is told to: as one's own.