Shloka 5
Vānaprastha-vṛtti and the Transition toward the Fourth Āśrama (वानप्रस्थवृत्तिः चतुर्थाश्रमोपक्रमश्च)
एतेषां चेदनुद्रष्टा पुरुषोडपि सुदारुण:
vyāsa uvāca | eteṣāṃ ced anudraṣṭā puruṣo 'pi sudāruṇaḥ, manuṣyaḥ atyanta-dāruṇo vā sampūrṇa-vedānāṃ jñātā vā brāhmaṇo 'pi vaidika-jñāna-śūnyaḥ vā dharma-parāyaṇaḥ yajña-śīlaḥ vā ghora-pāpācārī vā puruṣeṣu siṃha-samo śūravīro vā mahā-kaṣṭena jīvanaṃ dhārayan vā | sa yadi imān dvādaśa yogān samyag sākṣātkṛtya jñātvā jarā-mṛtyoḥ parama-durgama-samudrāt pāraṃ gacchati ||
Vyāsa said: Even if a person is exceedingly harsh and cruel, or fully learned in all the Vedas; even if he is a brāhmaṇa yet devoid of Vedic understanding; even if he is devoted to dharma and diligent in sacrifice, or, on the contrary, a grievous sinner; even if he is a lion-like hero among men, or one who barely sustains life through great hardship—if he truly realizes and knows these twelve yogas, he crosses beyond the supremely difficult ocean of old age and death.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is not restricted by birth, reputation, learning, or moral history; direct realization of the prescribed yogic disciplines is presented as the decisive means to transcend the cycle symbolized by the ocean of old age and death.
Vyāsa is emphasizing, through a sweeping list of contrasting human types (learned and ignorant, righteous and sinful, heroic and destitute), that anyone who truly realizes the ‘twelve yogas’ taught in this section can cross beyond jarā and mṛtyu.