जीवन्मुक्तं मुनिश्रेष्ठं केवलं हि पदार्थवत् । पश्यामः पुरतो नाऽस्य पुनर्विद्मोऽन्तराशयम् ॥ ३ ॥
jīvanmuktaṁ muniśrēṣṭhaṁ kēvalaṁ hi padārthavat | paśyāmaḥ puratō nā’sya punarvidmō’ntarāśayam || 3 ||
Translation
We see the best of sages, free while living, before us merely as an object; we do not know his inner state.
Word by word
- jīvanmuktaṁ
- free while living
- muni
- of sages
- śrēṣṭhaṁ
- the best
- kēvalaṁ
- merely
- hi
- indeed
- padārtha
- an object
- vat
- as
- paśyāmaḥ
- we see
- puratō
- (purataḥ) before us
- na
- not
- asya
- his
- punar
- (punaḥ) but
- vidmō
- (vidmaḥ) we do know
- antar
- (antaḥ) inner
- āśayam
- state
Meaning
Why then does Vyāsa seem embodied? Because we look at him from outside. We see him only as a thing among things (padārthavat), a body in front of us; his inner state (antarāśaya) we do not know. The commentary: we see Vyāsa as embodied by our own imagining; by his own certainty he is bodiless, and in his own experience there is no difference. The verse turns the question back on the questioner. "Is he in a body?" is a question about how we see him, not about how he is. The reader may apply it to every judgement of another's inner life made from his outward form.