Deva–Asura–Gandharva–Nāga Vaṃśa-kathana
Genealogies and Partial Descents
मन:सागरसम्भूतां महर्षेर्भावितात्मन: । कथयस्व सतां श्रेष्ठ सर्वरत्नमयीमिमाम्,यह कथा पवित्र अन्तःकरणवाले महर्षि वेद-व्यासके हृदयरूपी समुद्रसे प्रकट हुए सब प्रकारके शुभ विचाररूपी रत्नोंसे परिपूर्ण है। साधुशिरोमणे! आप इस कथाको मुझे सुनाइये
manaḥ-sāgara-sambhūtāṃ maharṣer bhāvitātmanaḥ | kathayasva satāṃ śreṣṭha sarva-ratna-mayīm imām ||
O Bester unter den Frommen, berichte diese heilige Erzählung—entsprungen aus dem meeresgleichen Geist und Herzen des großen ṛṣi, dessen Inneres geläutert und gezügelt ist. Sie ist erfüllt von jeder Art glückverheißender Gedanken, wie eine Schatzkammer von Juwelen; darum erzähle sie mir, denn sie heiligt das Innere des Menschen.
शौनक उवाच
Sacred history and dharmic instruction should be received from the virtuous and transmitted as a means of inner purification; true teaching is portrayed as arising from a seer’s disciplined, purified consciousness and containing many ‘jewel-like’ auspicious insights.
Śaunaka respectfully requests the foremost among the virtuous to narrate a holy account, praising it as a jewel-filled story that has arisen from the vast, ocean-like mind/heart of a great seer (understood in context as Vyāsa) and that purifies the listener’s inner faculty.