Shloka 5
धृष्टद्युम्नेन समागतक्षत्रियगणगणना
Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s Enumeration of Assembled Kṣatriyas
अथ छित्त्वा नदी पाशांस्तस्यारिबलसूदन । स्थलस्थं तमृषिं कृत्वा विपाशं समवासृजत्,शत्रुसेनाका संहार करनेवाले अर्जुन! उस नदीने वसिष्ठजीके बन्धन काटकर उन्हें स्थलमें पहुँचा दिया और उन्हें विपाश (बन्धनरहित) करके छोड़ दिया
atha chittvā nadī-pāśāṁs tasyāribala-sūdana | sthala-sthaṁ tam ṛṣiṁ kṛtvā vipāśaṁ samavāsṛjat ||
Then the river cut the bonds that held that sage. O Arjuna, slayer of hostile forces, she brought the ṛṣi onto firm ground and released him as ‘Vipāśa’—free from fetters—thus turning deliverance itself into his new identity.
गन्धर्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
Aid to the righteous is portrayed as a dharmic force in nature itself: the river becomes an agent of protection, and freedom from bondage is elevated into a defining identity (Vipāśa), suggesting that liberation and compassion are central ethical values.
Addressing Arjuna, the speaker says that the river severed the sage’s bonds, brought him onto dry land, and released him; the act of freeing him is memorialized by calling him ‘Vipāśa’—one who is without fetters.