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 ||
The Brahmin said: “Having crossed that great, fortress-like hardship—the lonely road that runs only toward sense-objects, where desire and anger stand as hostile opponents—I have now entered the vast forest of Brahman.”
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.