Text 5
dṛṣṭvānuyāntam ṛṣim ātmajam apy anagnaṁ
devyo hriyā paridadhur na sutasya citram
tad vīkṣya pṛcchati munau jagadus tavāsti
strī-pum-bhidā na tu sutasya vivikta-dṛṣṭeḥ
dṛṣṭvā — by seeing; anuyāntam — following; ṛṣim — the sage; ātmajam — his son; api — in spite of; anagnam — not naked; devyaḥ — beautiful damsels; hriyā — out of shyness; paridadhuḥ — covered the body; na — not; sutasya — of the son; citram — astonishing; tat vīkṣya — by seeing that; pṛcchati — asking; munau — unto the muni (Vyāsa); jagaduḥ — replied; tava — your; asti — there are; strī-pum — male and female; bhidā — differences; na — not; tu — but; sutasya — of the son; vivikta — purified; dṛṣṭeḥ — of one who looks.
シュリー・ヴィヤーサデーヴァが彼の息子の後を歩いていたときに、ヴィヤーサは裸ではなかったが、美しい若い娘が裸で水浴びをしてヴィヤーサに気づいて布で体を覆った。しかし、彼の息子が通り過ぎたときには彼女たちはそのようにはしなかった。聖者がこのことについて質問した。すると若い娘は、彼の息子は純粋で彼女たちを見た時に男女の区別をしなかったと答えた。しかし、聖者はその区別をしたのだった。
In the Bhagavad-gītā (5.18) it is said that a learned sage looks equally on a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a caṇḍāla (dog-eater), a dog or a cow due to his spiritual vision. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī attained that stage. Thus he did not see a male or female; he saw all living entities in different dress. The ladies who were bathing could understand the mind of a man simply by studying his demeanor, just as by looking at a child one can understand how innocent he is. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a young boy sixteen years old, and therefore all the parts of his body were developed. He was naked also, and so were the ladies. But because Śukadeva Gosvāmī was transcendental to sex relations, he appeared very innocent. The ladies, by their special qualifications, could sense this at once, and therefore they were not very concerned about him. But when his father passed, the ladies quickly dressed. The ladies were exactly like his children or grandchildren, yet they reacted to the presence of Vyāsadeva according to the social custom because Śrīla Vyāsadeva played the part of a householder. A householder has to distinguish between a male and female; otherwise he cannot be a householder. One should therefore attempt to know the distinction between body and soul without any attachment for male and female. As long as such distinction is there, one should not try to become a sannyāsī like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. At least theoretically one must be convinced that a living entity is neither male nor female. The outward dress is made of matter by material nature to attract the opposite sex and thus keep one entangled in material existence. A liberated soul is above this perverted distinction. He does not distinguish between one living being and another. For him they are all one and the same spirit. The perfection of this spiritual vision is the liberated stage, and Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī attained that stage. Śrīla Vyāsadeva was also in the transcendental stage, but because he was in the householder’s life, he did not pretend to be a liberated soul, as a matter of custom.