Shloka 1
Vānaprastha-vṛtti and the Transition toward the Fourth Āśrama (वानप्रस्थवृत्तिः चतुर्थाश्रमोपक्रमश्च)
ऑपन--माजल छा असल षट्त्रिशर्दाधिकद्विशततमो< ध्याय: ध्यानके सहायक योग
Vyāsa uvāca: atha ced yo rocayed etad uhyeta srotasā yathā | unmajjaṁś ca nimajjaṁś ca jñānavān plavavān bhavet ||
毗耶娑说：若有人选择此道（洞见之道），则——正如人被河流的水势裹挟，时而浮出水面、时而复又沉没——在世间生死流转的洪流中，具足智慧者便如同得舟在手，能够渡越彼岸。
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Knowledge (jñāna) is presented as the saving ‘boat’ that enables a person, otherwise swept up and down by the current of saṁsāra, to cross beyond suffering and attain liberation-oriented stability.
Vyasa introduces an instructive simile: like someone repeatedly surfacing and sinking while being carried by a river’s flow, an ordinary person is carried by worldly currents; but the wise person, taking refuge in knowledge, gains a means of crossing over.