Shloka 5
Uttanka’s Viśvarūpa Request and the ‘Uttanka Clouds’ Boon (उत्तङ्क-विष्वरूप-दर्शनम्)
सदसच्चैव यत् प्राहुरव्यक्तं व्यक्तमेव च । अक्षरं च क्षरं चैव सर्वमेतन्न्मदात्मकम्,विद्वान लोग जिसे सत-असत, व्यक्त-अव्यक्त और क्षर-अक्षर कहते हैं, यह सब मेरा ही स्वरूप है
sadasac caiva yat prāhur avyaktam vyaktam eva ca | akṣaraṃ ca kṣaraṃ caiva sarvam etan madātmakam ||
Vāyu sprach: „Was immer die Weisen als Sein und Nichtsein, als Unmanifestes und Manifestes, als Unvergängliches und Vergängliches bezeichnen — wisse, dass all dies von meiner eigenen Natur ist.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches an all-pervading unity: categories like existent/non-existent, manifest/unmanifest, and perishable/imperishable are conceptual divisions used by the wise, but the underlying reality is one—identified here with Vāyu’s own essence. Ethically, it encourages seeing beyond rigid oppositions and recognizing a single sustaining principle behind changing forms.
Vāyudeva is speaking in a didactic passage, presenting a metaphysical instruction. He asserts his pervasive presence across all states of reality—subtle and gross, changing and unchanging—framing the teaching as authoritative knowledge conveyed to the listener(s) within the Ashvamedhika Parva context.