Shloka 6
Vānaprastha-vṛtti and the Transition toward the Fourth Āśrama (वानप्रस्थवृत्तिः चतुर्थाश्रमोपक्रमश्च)
यदि वा सर्ववेदज्ञो यदि वाप्यनूचो द्विज: । यदि वा धार्मिको यज्वा यदि वा पापकृत्तम:
yadi vā sarvavedajño yadi vāpy anūco dvijaḥ | yadi vā dhārmiko yajvā yadi vā pāpakṛttamaḥ |
Vyāsa said: Whether a man is a knower of all the Vedas, or a twice-born who is unlearned; whether he is righteous and devoted to sacrifice, or even the worst of sinners—if he truly realizes (through direct knowledge) these twelve yogas, he crosses beyond the exceedingly hard-to-traverse ocean of old age and death.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Spiritual realization is not restricted by social status, learning, or even one’s past conduct: whoever directly realizes the prescribed yogic disciplines attains liberation, transcending the cycle symbolized by the ocean of old age and death.
Vyāsa is instructing about the liberating power of yogic realization, emphasizing that diverse types of people—learned or unlearned, virtuous or sinful—can cross beyond mortality if they gain true experiential knowledge of the stated yogas.