Shloka 23
अध्याय १६ — शङ्कर-उमा-वरदानम् तथा तण्डि-स्तुतिः (Śaṅkara–Umā Boon-Granting and Taṇḍi’s Hymn)
त्वं वै स्वर्गश्न मोक्षक्ष॒ काम: क्रोधस्त्वमेव च । सत्त्वं रजस्तमश्नैव अधश्चोर्थ्व त्वमेव हि
tvaṃ vai svargaś ca mokṣaś ca kāmaḥ krodhas tvam eva ca | sattvaṃ rajas tamaś caiva adhaś cordhvaṃ tvam eva hi | bhūr vāyuḥ salilam agniś ca khaṃ vāk-buddhiḥ sthitir matiḥ | karma satyānṛte cobhe tvam evāsti ca nāsti ca ||
Vāyu-deva sprach: „Du allein bist der Himmel, und du allein bist die Befreiung; du bist Verlangen, und du bist auch Zorn. Du bist die drei Guṇas—sattva, rajas und tamas—und du bist sowohl die höheren als auch die niedrigeren Zustände des Daseins. Du bist Erde, Wind, Wasser, Feuer und Raum; du bist Rede und Intellekt, Standhaftigkeit und Einsicht. Du bist das Handeln (Karma), und du bist sowohl Wahrheit als auch Unwahrheit; ja, du bist, was ist, und du bist, was nicht ist.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents an all-encompassing vision of the Supreme principle: it is the source and substance of opposites—heaven and liberation, desire and anger, truth and untruth, being and non-being—as well as the guṇas and the elements. Ethically, it redirects the listener from ego-centered judgment to self-mastery and dharmic living grounded in a larger unity.
Vāyu-deva speaks in a didactic context within the Anuśāsana Parva, offering a theological-philosophical declaration that the divine reality pervades all constituents of the cosmos and the inner faculties. The speech functions as instruction meant to elevate understanding and guide conduct.