श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । विषमोऽयमतिप्रश्नो भवता समुदाहृतः । भेत्ताऽस्म्यहं त्वयत्नेन नैशं तम इवांऽशुमान् ॥ ५ ॥
śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | viṣamō’yamatipraśnō bhavatā samudāhṛtaḥ | bhēttā’smyahaṁ tvayatnēna naiśaṁ tama ivāṁ’śumān || 5 ||
Translation
Vasiṣṭha said: This is a crooked question, an over-question, that you have put; yet I shall pierce it without effort, as the sun pierces the darkness of night.
Word by word
- viṣamō
- (viṣamaḥ) crooked, uneven
- ayam
- this
- ati
- over-, beyond the limit
- praśnō
- (praśnaḥ) a question
- bhavatā
- by you
- samudāhṛtaḥ
- has been put
- bhēttā
- one who will pierce
- asmi
- am
- ahaṁ
- I
- tu
- yet
- ayatnēna
- without effort
- naiśaṁ
- of night
- tama
- (tamaḥ) the darkness
- iva
- as
- aṁśumān
- the sun (the rayed one)
Meaning
Vasiṣṭha calls the question viṣama, uneven or crooked, and atipraśna, a question that oversteps. The commentary explains: Rāma asked without catching the speaker's intent, and so the question looks crooked; once the intent is uncovered, the doubt is cut to pieces, as the sun by its own natural light destroys the night's darkness. The word atipraśna recalls the Upaniṣad, where Yājñavalkya warns Gārgī not to question beyond the limit; but Vasiṣṭha does not refuse. The question oversteps because it asks of the formless the questions one asks of things; he will answer it by showing what the words were aimed at. The sun needs no effort to end the night: the image says that the answer is not a contrivance but light falling on what was only unseen.