शापेनाऽज्ञपदं नीत्वा पृच्छकस्त्वं मया कृतः । पुत्राऽस्य ज्ञानसारस्य समस्तजनसिद्धये ॥ ३८ ॥
śāpēnā’jñapadaṁ nītvā pṛcchakastvaṁ mayā kṛtaḥ | putrā’sya jñānasārasya samastajanasiddhayē || 38 ||
Translation
"By the curse I brought you to the state of not knowing, son, and made you a questioner of this essence of knowledge, so that all people might attain it.
Word by word
- śāpēna
- by the curse
- ajña
- of not knowing
- padaṁ
- to the state
- nītvā
- bringing
- pṛcchakas
- (pṛcchakaḥ) a questioner
- tvaṁ
- you
- mayā
- by me
- kṛtaḥ
- were made
- putra
- son
- asya
- of this
- jñāna
- of knowledge
- sārasya
- the essence
- samasta
- all
- jana
- people
- siddhayē
- for the attainment
Meaning
Here is the secret of the story. The curse was never a punishment. Brahmā knew from the start that a teaching needs a questioner, and that a true questioner must have felt the sorrow. So he made one. Vasiṣṭha went through the dark so that the road could be marked, and every later reader walks on what that cost him. Samasta-jana-siddhaye, for the fulfilment of all people. There may be a comfort here for anyone in the grip of a confusion that seems senseless. The verse does not promise that every trouble has a purpose. It does show that someone who has been lost, and found the way, is of a use to others that one who was never lost cannot be.