Shloka 55

Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)

Devanagari script

यच्चाप्यननुरूपं ते लिड्रस्यास्य विचेष्टितम्‌ । मुक्तो<यं स्यान्न वेति स्याद्‌ धर्षितो मत्परिग्रह:

Transliteration

yaccāpy ananurūpaṃ te liṅgasya asya viceṣṭitam | mukto ’yaṃ syān na veti syād dharṣito mat-parigrahaḥ ||

Translation

“Lagipun, tingkah lakumu tidak sepadan dengan tanda lahiriah (jalan pelepasan) yang kau bawa—iaitu tridaṇḍa, tongkat tiga. Untuk menguji sama ada orang ini benar-benar bebas atau tidak, engkau telah mencabuli apa yang menjadi milikku—engkau memaksa menguasai tubuhku sendiri.”

Word by Word

• {'yaccāpi': 'and moreover

• and also', 'ananurūpam': 'not in conformity

• inconsistent', 'te': 'your', 'liṅgasya': 'of the sign/mark

• outward emblem (especially of an ascetic)', 'asya': 'of this', 'viceṣṭitam': 'conduct

• actions', 'muktaḥ': 'liberated

• freed (from bondage)', 'ayam': 'this (person)', 'syāt': 'might be

• could be', 'na': 'not', 'veti': 'or else

• or whether', 'dharṣitaḥ': 'violated

• forcibly overpowered', 'mat-parigrahaḥ': 'what is mine/under my protection

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Janaka
• tridaṇḍa (ascetic’s staff, implied by liṅga)
• liṅga (outward sign of renunciation)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Outward symbols of renunciation (liṅga) must be matched by inner discipline and ethical restraint; testing another’s liberation cannot justify violating dharma, especially by coercion or infringement upon another’s rightful person and protection.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Janaka rebukes an ascetic whose behavior contradicts his renunciant emblem. Janaka says the ascetic, under the pretext of examining whether someone is liberated, has forcibly overstepped boundaries and wronged what is under Janaka’s rightful domain—his own person/body.