Liberation of Sukadeva.
After Ráma had delivered his speech in an audible voice before the assembly, he was tenderly accosted by the sage Viswámitra who sat before him; saying:—
2. Ráma! that art the best of the most intelligent, and hast nothing more to learn besides all that thou hast come to know by thy nice observation.
3. Thou hast an understanding clear as the mirror by its own nature (reflecting every image within itself); and yet thy queries about the same, serve as the cleansing of the reflector (in order to refract its light to others).
4. Thou hast a mind like that of Suka—the son of the great Vyása, who knowing the knowable by intuition, was yet in need of some precepts for confirmation of his belief.
5. Ráma said: How was it sir, that Suka—the son of the great Vyása—who did not rest assured at first of his knowledge of the knowable, came to be settled in his belief afterwards.
6. Viswámitra answered: “Hear me relate to thee Ráma, the narrative of Sukadeva, whose case was exactly like thine, and the narration of which is a preventive of future births (in this world).”
7. There is the great Vyása sitting on his seat of gold by thy father’s side, swarthy in his complexion like a coal-black hill, but blazing as the burning sun (by his brilliancy).
8. His son was named Suka, a boy of great learning and wisdom, of a moon-like countenance, and a stature sedate as the sacrificial altar.