इहाऽमुत्र च सिद्ध्यर्थं पुरुषार्थफलप्रदाम् । मोक्षोपायमयीं वक्ष्ये संहितां सारनिर्मिताम् ॥ ४ ॥
ihā’mutra ca siddhyarthaṁ puruṣārthaphalapradām | mōkṣōpāyamayīṁ vakṣyē saṁhitāṁ sāranirmitām || 4 ||
Translation
For success here and in the world beyond, I shall now tell a compilation made of the means to liberation, formed of the very essence, which gives the fruit of all human striving.
Word by word
- iha
- here
- amutra
- in the world beyond
- ca
- and
- siddhyarthaṁ
- for success
- puruṣārtha
- of human striving
- phala
- the fruit
- pradām
- which gives
- mōkṣa
- to liberation
- upāya
- the means
- mayīṁ
- made of
- vakṣyē
- I shall tell
- saṁhitāṁ
- a compilation
- sāra
- of the essence
- nirmitām
- formed
Meaning
Iha and amutra, here and beyond. The commentary takes them as the two liberations: freedom while living, and freedom when the body falls. This is the first place the work names itself, as a saṁhitā made of mokṣopāya, the means to liberation, and that is the name the whole composition goes by. Sāra-nirmitā, built from essence: Vasiṣṭha promises nothing added for ornament. Notice what kind of promise this is. He does not offer a belief to be held. He offers a means, and a means is tested by whether it works. The reader is invited to take the rest of these pages in that spirit, as something to be tried.