Shloka 18
Vānaprastha-vṛtti and the Transition toward the Fourth Āśrama (वानप्रस्थवृत्तिः चतुर्थाश्रमोपक्रमश्च)
तथा देहाद् विमुक्तस्य पूर्व रूपं भवत्युत । अथ धूमस्य विरमे द्वितीयं रूपदर्शनम्
tathā dehād vimuktasya pūrva-rūpaṃ bhavaty uta | atha dhūmasya virame dvitīyaṃ rūpa-darśanam ||
Vyāsa said: “So, for the yogin who has become free from identification with the body, this is indeed the first mode of experience. Then, when the ‘smoke’—the obscuring haze of inner confusion—subsides, the second mode of vision is attained.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation begins with freedom from deha-abhimāna (identifying the Self with the body). As inner obscurations—likened to smoke—fade, clearer and higher realization arises in successive stages.
Vyāsa is describing a graded contemplative experience: first, the yogin’s initial realization after loosening bodily identification; next, a deeper vision that appears when the remaining mental ‘haze’ (dhūma) ceases.