Verse 2.1.47

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.1.47:

वादेषु शुद्ध-बुद्धीनां तेषां पाणि-तलस्थवत् ।
मोक्षं बोधयतां वाक्यैः सारं मेने स तन्-मतम् ॥ ४७ ॥

vādeṣu śuddha-buddhīnāṃ teṣāṃ pāṇi-talasthavat |
mokṣaṃ bodhayatāṃ vākyaiḥ sāraṃ mene sa tan-matam || 47 ||

vādeṣu–in philosophical debates; śuddha-buddhīnām–who had pure intelligence; teṣām–of them; pāṇi–of the hand; tala–in the palm; stha-vat–as if placed; mokṣam–liberation; bodhayatām–who were explaining; vākyaiḥ–with statements; sāram–the essence; mene–began to think; saḥ–he; tat-matam–of that view.

The intelligence of all those sannyāsīs was expertly applied purely in debate. Their statements on liberation from material existence were presented logically, as if liberation were a common gooseberry (āmalakī) in the palm of their hands. Therefore, listening to their discussions, the brāhmaṇa began to think that their views were quintessential and supreme.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

Śrī Parīkṣit says, “The resident sannyāsīs would say, ‘It is essential to enter the sannyāsa order to attain liberation.’ The brāhmaṇa gradually began to believe in the superiority of their opinion. The reason was that those sannyāsīs’ statements gave the impression that liberation, mokṣa, was sitting in the palms of their hands, just like a little āmalakī fruit. Those sannyāsīs were merely experts in debate and logic; their intelligence in regard to the ultimate goal of life, or paramārtha, was impure.”