Shloka 203
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
पश्यन्तु तपसो वीर्यमद्य मे चिरसम्भूतम् । 'ये देवता, गन्धर्व और महर्षि सब लोग आज मेरी चिरसंचित तपस्याका प्रभाव देखें
paśyantu tapaso vīryam adya me cirasambhūtam |
Vaiśampāyana sprach: «Sie sollen heute die Kraft schauen, die aus meiner lange angesammelten Askese geboren ist; die Götter, die Gandharvas und die großen Seher mögen die Wirkmacht meiner über die Zeit gesammelten Buße bezeugen.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the Mahābhārata’s ethical-spiritual idea that sustained tapas (disciplined austerity) generates real efficacy (vīrya/prabhāva). Such power is not for display alone; it functions as a form of moral-spiritual authority that even divine and sage communities acknowledge.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana reports a declaration that the accumulated power of long penance is about to be demonstrated, with gods, Gandharvas, and great seers as witnesses—signaling an imminent manifestation of ascetic potency within the Āśramavāsika context.