Shloka 17
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Kṛṣṇa’s Rudra-Cosmogony Explanation (सौप्तिक पर्व, अध्याय १७)
स भक्ष्यमाणस्त्राणार्थी पितामहमुपाद्रवत् । आशभ्यो मां भगवांस्त्रातु वृत्तिरासां विधीयताम्
sa bhakṣyamāṇas trāṇārthī pitāmaham upādravat | āśabhyo māṃ bhagavāṃs trātu vṛttir āsāṃ vidhīyatām ||
যেতিয়া প্ৰজাসকলে প্ৰজাপতিক আহাৰ কৰিবলৈ উদ্যত হ’ল, তেতিয়া ভক্ষণৰ পৰা ৰক্ষা পাবলৈ আশ্ৰয়প্ৰাৰ্থী হৈ তেওঁ পিতামহ ব্ৰহ্মাৰ ওচৰলৈ বেগেৰে ধাৱিত হৈ ক’লে— “ভগৱান! মোক এই প্ৰজাসকলৰ পৰা ৰক্ষা কৰক, আৰু ইহঁতৰ বাবে জীৱিকাৰ এক বিধান নিৰ্ধাৰণ কৰি দিয়ক।”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
When beings are driven solely by hunger, life collapses into predation; dharma requires an ordered livelihood (vṛtti) so that survival is regulated and the weak are protected. The verse presents governance—here attributed to Brahmā—as the setting of norms that prevent creation from consuming itself.
A being, about to be devoured by newly arisen creatures, flees to Brahmā for refuge. He asks Brahmā both to save him immediately and to establish a sustainable means of subsistence for those creatures so that they need not prey upon him.