Shloka 15
Nārāyaṇasya Guhya-nāmāni Niruktāni (Etymologies of Nārāyaṇa’s Secret Epithets) / नारायणस्य गुह्यनामानि निरुक्तानि
इन्द्रियैरिन्द्रियार्थान् यश्चरत्यात्मवशैरिह । असज्जमान: शान्तात्मा निर्विकार: समाहित:
indriyair indriyārthān yaś caraty ātmavaśair iha | asajjamānaḥ śāntātmā nirvikāraḥ samāhitaḥ ||
Nārada disse: Aquele que, tendo os sentidos submetidos ao governo do Si (Ātman), experimenta neste mundo os objetos dos sentidos sem apego—cujo ser interior é calmo, imperturbável e firmemente recolhido—, embora habite entre o corpo e os sentidos que parecem ser o eu, permanece distinto deles e não se identifica com eles. Tal pessoa está liberta e, muito depressa, alcança o bem supremo.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
True freedom is not the absence of sensory experience but the absence of attachment: when the senses are governed by the Self, one can engage with sense-objects without clinging. Such steadiness—calm (śāntātmā), unmodified (nirvikāra), and concentrated (samāhita)—marks liberation and leads swiftly to the highest good.
Within the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, Nārada is speaking as a teacher, defining the liberated person. He describes how a wise individual lives amid body and senses yet remains inwardly separate from identification with them, thereby attaining mokṣa-oriented welfare.