आश्वस्तान्तःकरणः शान्तविकल्पः स्वरूपसारमयः । परमशमामृततृप्तस्तिष्ठति विद्वान्निरावरणः ॥ ३६ ॥
āśvastāntaḥkaraṇaḥ śāntavikalpaḥ svarūpasāramayaḥ | paramaśamāmṛtatṛptastiṣṭhati vidvānnirāvaraṇaḥ || 36 ||
Translation
His inner instrument consoled, his imaginings stilled, made of the essence of his own nature, unveiled, the knower abides, filled with the nectar of supreme peace.
Word by word
- āśvasta
- consoled
- antaḥkaraṇaḥ
- his inner instrument
- śānta
- stilled
- vikalpaḥ
- his imaginings
- svarūpa
- of his own nature
- sāra
- the essence
- mayaḥ
- made of
- parama
- supreme
- śama
- peace
- amṛta
- with the nectar of
- tṛptas
- (tṛptaḥ) filled
- tiṣṭhati
- abides
- vidvān
- the knower
- nirāvaraṇaḥ
- unveiled
Meaning
The sarga ends in the āryā metre, with the state of the knower. After the vast, dizzying picture of endless creations, Vasiṣṭha gives the still point within it. The knower's inner instrument (antaḥkaraṇa) is consoled (āśvasta); his imaginings (vikalpa) are stilled; he is "made of the essence of his own nature" (svarūpa-sāra-maya); he is unveiled (nirāvaraṇa); and he is filled with the nectar of supreme peace. The commentary: even if a free being takes on various bodies for some divine office, he does not fall from freedom; when the covering of ignorance is gone, he is filled with peace. It adds: freedom while living is the fruit of knowledge, and comes from knowledge alone, not from rites. This is the answer to Rāma beneath the cosmology. Whether the waves rise or fall, whether the body remains or goes, the one who knows rests. The reader may take away the image of a still depth under a moving sea.