Shloka 2
अन्तर्वन-विद्यारण्योपमा
The Allegory of the Inner Forest of Knowledge
विषयैकात्ययाध्वानं कामक्रोधविरोधकम् | तदतीत्य महादुर्ग प्रविष्टोडस्मि महद् वनम्
viṣayaikātyayādhvānaṁ kāmakrodhavirodhakam | tad atītya mahādurgaṁ praviṣṭo 'smi mahad vanam ||
ব্রাহ্মণ বললেন—ইন্দ্রিয়বিষয়ের দিকেই ধাবিত সেই একাকী পথ, যেখানে কাম ও ক্রোধ শত্রুরূপে দাঁড়িয়ে থাকে—সে মহাদুর্গসম দুঃসাধ্য বাধা অতিক্রম করে আমি এখন ব্রহ্মরূপ মহাবনে প্রবেশ করেছি।
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly life is portrayed as a perilous, solitary passage dominated by sense-objects, with desire and anger as chief adversaries. Liberation is framed as ‘crossing beyond’ this fortress-like difficulty and entering the spiritual expanse of Brahman—i.e., turning from viṣaya toward self-knowledge and inner freedom.
A Brahmin speaker declares a decisive transition: he has overcome the obstructive forces of kāma and krodha that guard the difficult worldly route, and he now describes himself as having entered the ‘great forest’ of Brahman, a metaphor for the contemplative, liberated state.