Shloka 52
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
राज्यैश्वर्यमय: पाश: स्नेहायतनबन्धन: । मोक्षाश्मनिशितेनेह च्छिन्नस्त्यागासिना मया
rājyaiśvaryamayaḥ pāśaḥ snehāyatanabandhanaḥ | mokṣāśmani niśiteneha chinnaḥ tyāgāsinā mayā ||
Janaka berkata: “Di sini, dengan pedang pelepasan—yang diasah pada batu asah pembebasan—aku telah memutus jerat yang terbuat daripada kerajaan dan kekuasaan duniawi, dan juga belenggu yang berakar pada kasih sayang, yakni keterikatan ‘milikku’ yang menjadikan isteri, anak-anak, dan seumpamanya sebagai tempat bersandar. Maka aku berdiri bebas daripada ikatan yang menambat minda kepada pemerintahan dan kepada rasa ‘kepunyaanku’.”
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly sovereignty and familial possessiveness are portrayed as binding ‘nooses.’ Liberation is achieved by cultivating renunciation and detachment—symbolized as a sword sharpened on the whetstone of moksha—so that one cuts through attachment and ‘mine-ness’ while remaining ethically steady.
King Janaka, speaking in the Shanti Parva’s discourse setting, declares his inner victory: he has severed attachment to royal power and to the emotional bonds that generate possessive clinging (especially toward wife and children). The statement frames his ideal of a ruler who is inwardly free even amid worldly roles.