Shloka 123
Śiva-stavarāja: Upamanyu’s Preface and Initiation of the Śarva-Nāma Enumeration
Anuśāsana-parva 17
समाम्नायो5समाम्नायस्तीर्थदेवो महारथ: । निर्जीवो जीवनो मन्त्र: शुभाक्षो बहुकर्कश:
samāmnāyo 'samāmnāyas tīrthadevo mahārathaḥ | nirjīvo jīvano mantraḥ śubhākṣo bahukarkaśaḥ ||
Vāyu sprach: „Er ist der Veda selbst und auch das, was außerhalb des Veda steht; er ist die Gottheit, die in allen tīrtha gegenwärtig ist, und der große Wagenkrieger. Obgleich er leblos erscheint, ist er der Spender des Lebens; er ist das Mantra selbst. Sein Blick ist glückverheißend, doch zur Zeit der Auflösung wird er überaus streng und unerbittlich.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a comprehensive vision of the divine as the source and support of all sacred authority: both Vedic revelation (samāmnāya) and the wider sacred tradition (asamāmnāya). It also unites apparent opposites—lifeless form and life-giving power, gentleness and severe dissolution—teaching that the ultimate reality encompasses and governs all phases of cosmic and ethical order.
Vāyudeva is describing the nature of the supreme divine principle (as praised in this section): identifying it with scripture and tradition, with the sanctity of pilgrimage places, with mantra-power, and with cosmic functions—benevolent in sustaining life yet formidable in the time of destruction.