यस्तूदारचमत्कारः सदाचारविहारवान् । स निर्याति जगन्मोहान्मृगेन्द्रः पञ्जरादिव ॥ २८ ॥
yastūdāracamatkāraḥ sadācāravihāravān | sa niryāti jaganmōhānmṛgēndraḥ pañjarādiva || 28 ||
Translation
But he of noble brilliance, who moves in good conduct, goes out of the world's delusion as a lion from a cage.
Word by word
- yas
- (yaḥ) he who
- tu
- but
- udāra
- of noble
- camatkāraḥ
- brilliance
- sadācāra
- in good conduct
- vihāravān
- who moves
- sa
- (saḥ) he
- niryāti
- goes out
- jagan
- (jagat) of the world
- mōhān
- (mohāt) from the delusion
- mṛgēndraḥ
- a lion
- pañjarād
- (pañjarāt) from a cage
- iva
- as
Meaning
The counter-portrait. The lion (mṛgendra, king of beasts) answers the tethered beast of the last verse. He has two marks: noble brilliance (udāra-camatkāra), which the commentary renders as being generous by nature and skilled in effort, and a life that moves in good conduct (sadācāra-vihāravān). Delusion is a cage, which means it has bars and it can be broken. And the commentary stresses "by his own exertion": as the lion gets out of the cage by its own effort, so such people get out of the world's delusion. What is striking is the plainness of the means. The cage is left through right living, kept up day after day. There is nothing here of secret powers.