Shloka 34
Utkramaṇa-sthāna and Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇa: Yājñavalkya’s Instruction on Departure Pathways and Mortality Signs
यदा प्रबुद्धा हव्यक्तमवस्थाजन्मभीरव: । बुध्यमान प्रबुध्यन्ति गमयन्ति समं तदा
yadā prabuddhā hy avyaktam avasthā-janma-bhīravaḥ | budhyamānāḥ prabudhyante gamayanti samaṃ tadā ||
Lorsque des hommes de discernement — alarmés par les changements des âges de la vie et par la naissance et la mort — s’éveillent véritablement à la réalité de l’Absolu inmanifesté et conscient, alors leur intelligence s’illumine pleinement ; ils sont conduits à l’état de parfaite équanimité, atteignant le Brahman suprême tel qu’il est.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Fear arising from life’s changing conditions (childhood, youth, old age) and from birth and death is resolved through right knowledge: when one awakens to the unmanifest, conscious Absolute, one attains equanimity and realization of the Supreme.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing about liberation: he describes the inner turning point where a wise person, shaken by saṃsāra’s instability, gains clear insight into the unmanifest reality and thereby reaches the state of sameness (sama) and the Supreme.