Shloka 23
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
कर्तु शतपथं चेदमपूर्व च कृतं मया । यथाभिलषितं मार्ग तथा तच्चोपपादितम्
kartuḥ śatapathaṃ cedam apūrvaṃ ca kṛtaṃ mayā | yathābhilaṣitaṃ mārgaṃ tathā tac copapāditam, nareśvara! tadantaraṃ mayā bījarūpaṃ praṇavaṃ ca sarasvatī-devīṃ ca sammukhaṃ kṛtvā bhagavat sūryasya kṛpayā śatapathasya racanām ārabdhā | etam apūrva-granthaṃ ca pūrṇaṃ kṛtavān asmi | yaś ca mokṣa-mārgo mama abhīṣṭaḥ sa api bhalībhānti sampāditaḥ ||
ヤージュニャヴァルキヤは言った。「王よ、私はこの前例なき『シャタパタ』を著し、また望みのままに、さらに先へと導く道をも示した。ついで、種子形のプラナヴァ『オーム』と女神サラスヴァティーを眼前に据え、尊き太陽の恩寵によって『シャタパタ』の編纂を始めた。いまやこの卓絶した業を成し遂げ、私が求めた解脱への道をも、しかと成就したのである。」
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Spiritual knowledge is to be properly established and completed through disciplined composition/teaching, grounded in sacred sound (Oṃ), guided speech and learning (Sarasvatī), and sustained by divine grace (Sūrya). The verse links scholarship and liberation: a true ‘path’ is not merely conceived but responsibly ‘set forth’ and fulfilled toward mokṣa.
Yājñavalkya addresses a king and reports that he has composed an extraordinary work called the Śatapatha and has also articulated the liberation-path he intended. He describes beginning the work by invoking Oṃ and Sarasvatī and relying on the Sun’s grace, and he declares the text and his intended mokṣa-oriented undertaking complete.