Shloka 23
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
कर्तु शतपथं चेदमपूर्व च कृतं मया । यथाभिलषितं मार्ग तथा तच्चोपपादितम्
kartuḥ śatapathaṃ cedam apūrvaṃ ca kṛtaṃ mayā | yathābhilaṣitaṃ mārgaṃ tathā tac copapāditam, nareśvara! tadantaraṃ mayā bījarūpaṃ praṇavaṃ ca sarasvatī-devīṃ ca sammukhaṃ kṛtvā bhagavat sūryasya kṛpayā śatapathasya racanām ārabdhā | etam apūrva-granthaṃ ca pūrṇaṃ kṛtavān asmi | yaś ca mokṣa-mārgo mama abhīṣṭaḥ sa api bhalībhānti sampāditaḥ ||
قال ياجْنَفَلْكْيَا: «أيها الملك، لقد ألّفتُ هذا الشَتَبَثَة (Śatapatha) تأليفًا لم يُسبق إليه، وبيّنتُ كذلك—كما اشتهيت—الطريقَ الذي يمضي بالمرء قُدُمًا. ثم، واضعًا أمامي البرَنَفَة “أوم” (Praṇava, Oṃ) في صورة البذرة والإلهةَ سَرَسْوَتِي، وبنعمة الشمس الموقّرة بدأتُ تأليف الشَتَبَثَة. وها أنا قد أتممتُ هذا العمل الجليل، وأتممتُ أيضًا على وجهٍ قويم طريقَ التحرّر الذي كنتُ أبتغيه.»
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Spiritual knowledge is to be properly established and completed through disciplined composition/teaching, grounded in sacred sound (Oṃ), guided speech and learning (Sarasvatī), and sustained by divine grace (Sūrya). The verse links scholarship and liberation: a true ‘path’ is not merely conceived but responsibly ‘set forth’ and fulfilled toward mokṣa.
Yājñavalkya addresses a king and reports that he has composed an extraordinary work called the Śatapatha and has also articulated the liberation-path he intended. He describes beginning the work by invoking Oṃ and Sarasvatī and relying on the Sun’s grace, and he declares the text and his intended mokṣa-oriented undertaking complete.