The Son Who Flew to Freedom

The sages told the Pandavas of Shuka, the son of Vyasa - the very sage who composed the great epic of their own deeds - a son born already free, who attained the highest liberation, and whose going broke even his great father's heart.

Vyasa, the mighty sage, the compiler of the Vedas and the author of the Mahabharata, longed for a son - not for an ordinary heir, but for a son of supreme spiritual greatness, who would carry on his wisdom and his line. To win such a son he gave himself to a penance of immense severity, and by the grace of the gods his wish was granted. A son was born to him, and the son was named Shuka. But Shuka was no ordinary child. He was born, it is said, already enlightened - possessing from the very moment of his birth a perfect knowledge of the highest truth, and a perfect detachment from the world, as though he had brought his liberation with him into the world rather than having to seek it.