Shloka 70
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
मा स्प्राक्षी: साधु जानीष्व स्वशास्त्रमनुपालय । कृतेयं हि विजिज्ञासा मुक्तो नेति त्वया मम । एतत् सर्व प्रतिच्छन्न॑ मयि नाहसि गूहितुम्
mā sprākṣīḥ sādhu jānīṣva svaśāstram anupālaya | kṛteyaṃ hi vijijñāsā mukto neti tvayā mama | etat sarvaṃ praticchannaṃ mayi nāhasi gūhitum |
Janaka said: “Do not touch me. Know my conduct to be good and untainted, and continue to observe your own śāstra—your discipline of renunciation—without wavering. You undertook this inquiry to determine about me whether this king is liberated while living or not. Since this whole intention has been concealed within you, you cannot now hide it from me.”
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Janaka emphasizes disciplined adherence to one’s own dharma (here, the renunciant code) and insists on inner honesty: a seeker’s concealed motive—testing whether he is a jīvanmukta—should be brought into the open rather than hidden behind outward gestures.
A renunciant woman approaches King Janaka and attempts physical contact; Janaka stops her, affirms his spotless conduct, and directly names her unspoken purpose: she has come to examine whether he is liberated while still living, and he tells her she cannot keep that intention concealed.