Shloka 20

Devanagari script

दैवतं कतमं होतदुत्तमां गतिमास्थितम्‌ । सुनिश्चितमिहायाति विमुक्तमिव नि:स्पृहम्‌

Transliteration

daivataṁ katamaṁ hotad uttamāṁ gatim āsthitam | niścinītam ihāyāti vimuktam iva niḥspṛham ||

Translation

ศูกะกล่าวว่า—“เทพองค์ใดเล่าที่ตั้งมั่นอยู่ในคติอันสูงสุด—ผู้ซึ่งผู้คนมุ่งมาหาที่นี่ด้วยความแน่ชัด ราวกับว่าท่านหลุดพ้นแล้ว ปราศจากความใคร่และความยึดถือ?”

Word by Word

दैवतंdivinity; deity; fate

कतमंwhich (one) among (many)?

होतत्the Hotṛ priest (invoking priest)

उत्तमांhighest; best

गतिम्course; path; state; goal

आस्थितम्having attained/assumed; having taken (as a state)

सुनिश्चितम्well-determined; firmly resolved; certain

इहhere; in this world/at this point

आयातिcomes; arrives; reaches

विमुक्तम्freed; released; liberated

इवas if; like

नि:स्पृहम्desireless; free from longing

Speaker

शुक उवाच

Characters & Entities

Śuka

daivata (unspecified deity/divine principle)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames liberation as a state marked by niḥspṛhatā (freedom from craving). It asks which divine reality, being established in the highest goal, is approached with certainty by one who has become inwardly detached—suggesting that true spiritual attainment is inseparable from desirelessness.

What is happening in the narrative?

Śuka, in the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, poses a probing question about the supreme object of realization or worship: which ‘daivata’ is truly the highest, such that approaching it is tantamount to liberation—like one already freed from worldly grasping.