Shloka 4
Udyoga Parva, Adhyaya 104: Nārada on Suhṛt and Nirbandha; the Viśvāmitra–Gālava Exemplum Begins
निसर्गात् सर्वभूतानां सर्वभूतेश्वरेण मे । आहारो विदितो धात्रा किमर्थ वार्यते त्वया
nisargāt sarvabhūtānāṁ sarvabhūteśvareṇa me | āhāro vidito dhātrā kimarthaṁ vāryate tvayā ||
قال غارودا: «بحكم الفطرة، لقد عيَّن الخالقُ—سيِّدُ جميع الكائنات—طعامي منذ زمن الخلق. فإذا كان المُدبِّر قد قدَّر رزقي، فعلى أيِّ أساسٍ تمنعني الآن؟»
गरुड उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral argument from cosmic order: each being’s sustenance is assigned by the Creator according to its nature. Garuda appeals to this ordained arrangement to question human (or other) interference, raising the ethical tension between compassion and the legitimacy of a creature’s natural, divinely allotted means of survival.
Garuda confronts someone who is trying to stop him from taking his customary food. He argues that his diet was fixed at creation by Dhātṛ, the cosmic Ordainer, and therefore asks why the other party is placing an obstacle in what has been divinely determined.