वीतशोकभयः शान्तनिर्वाणो गतकल्पनः । जीवन्मुक्तो जितमना व्यासोऽयमिति वर्णितः ॥ ३१ ॥
vītaśōkabhayaḥ śāntanirvāṇō gatakalpanaḥ | jīvanmuktō jitamanā vyāsō’yamiti varṇitaḥ || 31 ||
Translation
Free of grief and fear, at peace in nirvāṇa, his imaginings gone, his mind mastered: this Vyāsa is described as free while living.
Word by word
- vīta
- free of
- śōka
- grief
- bhayaḥ
- and fear
- śānta
- at peace
- nirvāṇō
- (nirvāṇaḥ) in nirvāṇa
- gata
- gone
- kalpanaḥ
- his imaginings
- jīvanmuktō
- (jīvanmuktaḥ) free while living
- jita
- mastered
- manā
- (manāḥ) his mind
- vyāsō
- (vyāsaḥ) Vyāsa
- ayam
- this
- iti
- thus
- varṇitaḥ
- is described
Meaning
The full answer. Even now, Vyāsa is jīvanmukta, free while living. He is free of grief and fear, at peace (śānta-nirvāṇa), without imaginings (gata-kalpana), master of his mind (jita-manas). The commentary: even now this Vyāsa is free of every bond. Rāma had assumed that freedom must mean leaving the body. Vasiṣṭha says that the freedom is already complete in Vyāsa while he lives; leaving the body adds nothing to it. That Śuka's body fell away and Vyāsa's did not is a difference of circumstance, not of freedom. The next sarga develops exactly this point.