बन्धस्य तावद्रूपं त्वं कथ्यमानमिदं शृणु । ततः स्वरूपं मोक्षस्य ज्ञास्यसीन्दुनिभानन ॥ २१ ॥
bandhasya tāvadrūpaṁ tvaṁ kathyamānamidaṁ śṛṇu | tataḥ svarūpaṁ mōkṣasya jñāsyasīndunibhānana || 21 ||
Translation
First hear from me the nature of bondage as I describe it; then, moon-faced one, you will know the nature of liberation.
Word by word
- bandhasya
- of bondage
- tāvad
- first
- rūpaṁ
- the nature
- tvaṁ
- you
- kathyamānam
- as I describe it
- idaṁ
- this
- śṛṇu
- hear
- tataḥ
- then
- svarūpaṁ
- the nature
- mōkṣasya
- of liberation
- jñāsyasi
- you will know
- indu
- the moon
- nibha
- like
- ānana
- faced one
Meaning
Rāma is called moon-faced, a tender word before a hard teaching. The commentary joins this verse to the last: first the nature of that māyā, bondage; and once he has heard it, he will understand the nature of freedom. Bondage is described first because freedom is only its absence; one who has seen the chain clearly already knows what it is to be without it.