Mahabharata — Udyoga Parva, Shloka 14
Sanatsujāta on the Imperceptible Eternal Light (यत्तच्छुक्रं महज्ज्योतिः)
एकं पाद॑ं नोत्क्षिपति सलिलाद्धंस उच्चरन् । त॑ं चेत् संततमूर्थ्वाय न मृत्युर्नामृतं भवेत् । योगिनस्तं प्रपश्यन्ति भगवन्तं सनातनम्
ekaṃ pādaṃ notkṣipati salilād haṃsa uccaran | taṃ cet santatam ūrdhvāya na mṛtyur nāmṛtaṃ bhavet | yoginas taṃ prapaśyanti bhagavantaṃ sanātanam |
Wika ni Sanatsujāta: Ang isang sisne, na gumagalaw sa ibabaw ng tubig, ay hindi iniaangat ang isa nitong paa mula sa baha. Kung iaangat pa nito ang paang iyon—itaas nang ganap at magpakailanman—kung gayon, wala nang matitira ni kamatayan ni kawalang-kamatayan. Nasasaksihan ng mga yogin ang walang-hanggang Panginoon: ang Kataas-taasang Katotohanan, na tulad ng sisne, nakatindig sa ibabaw ng mga tubig ng pag-iral sa sanlibutan.
सनत्सुजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the swan-on-water image to point to the Supreme Reality that remains above and untouched by the ‘waters’ of saṃsāra. Yogins can directly perceive that eternal Lord. The striking claim—‘if that foot were lifted, neither death nor immortality would remain’—suggests a transcendence beyond all dualities (mṛtyu/amṛta), where ordinary categories of bondage and liberation lose their meaning in the highest realization.
In the Sanatsujātīya section of Udyoga Parva, Sanatsujāta instructs Dhṛtarāṣṭra on spiritual truth and the conquest of death through knowledge. Here he offers a contemplative metaphor: the Lord as a haṃsa moving over the flood of worldly existence, indicating the possibility of realizing the eternal principle that stands beyond the cycle of death and its opposite.