Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
ब्रह्मा शक्रो मारुतो ब्रह्म सत्यं वेदा यज्ञा दक्षिणा वेदवाहा: । सोमो यष्टा यच्च हव्यं हविश्व रक्षा दीक्षा संयमा ये च केचित्
brahmā śakro māruto brahma satyaṁ vedā yajñā dakṣiṇā vedavāhāḥ | somo yaṣṭā yac ca havyaṁ haviś ca rakṣā dīkṣā saṁyamā ye ca kecit ||
Vāyu sprach: „Brahmā, Indra und ich (Marut/Vāyu); die heilige Silbe Brahman und die Wahrheit; die Veden, die Opfer und die rituelle Gabe (dakṣiṇā); die Träger des Veda; Soma; der Opferherr; was als Oblation dargebracht wird und die Oblation selbst; Schutz, Weihe (dīkṣā) und alle Formen der Selbstzucht—alles, was dieser Art ist: erkennt, dass dies alles in der heiligen Ordnung wurzelt, die der Große Herr, Mahādeva, trägt.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Ritual power (Veda, yajña, oblations) and ethical power (satya, saṁyama, dīkṣā) are presented as parts of one sacred, divinely grounded order; true dharma integrates truthfulness, disciplined restraint, and rightful worship rather than treating them as separate domains.
Vāyu speaks in a didactic setting, listing major deities and key ritual-ethical elements to assert their sanctity and interdependence, reinforcing that the foundations of religious practice and moral discipline are upheld by higher divine principles.