विश्वामित्रेण मुनिना दैवमुत्सृज्य दूरतः । पौरुषेणैव सम्प्राप्तं ब्राह्मण्यं राम नाऽन्यथा ॥ २० ॥
viśvāmitrēṇa muninā daivamutsṛjya dūrataḥ | pauruṣēṇaiva samprāptaṁ brāhmaṇyaṁ rāma nā’nyathā || 20 ||
Translation
The sage Viśvāmitra cast fate far away, and by effort alone gained the state of a brāhmaṇa, Rāma, in no other way.
Word by word
- viśvāmitrēṇa
- Viśvāmitra
- muninā
- the sage
- daivam
- fate
- utsṛjya
- cast
- dūrataḥ
- far away
- pauruṣēṇa
- by effort
- ēva
- alone
- samprāptaṁ
- gained
- brāhmaṇyaṁ
- the state of a brāhmaṇa
- rāma
- Rāma
- na
- no
- anyathā
- other way
Meaning
A living example, sitting in the same hall. Another commentary points this out: "this very Viśvāmitra who sits before you". He was born a warrior king, and the story of how he became a brahmarṣi is the great legend of changing what birth had given. If anything was thought to be fixed by fate, it was one's birth. Vasiṣṭha, who in the old stories was Viśvāmitra's great rival, is the one bearing witness to it here, and the words "cast far away" (dūrataḥ) repeat the opening of the discourse (2.6.1). The reader may consider what he or she has treated as given and beyond change, and how sure that really is.