Shloka 4
दिवि देवा महीपाल क्रीडार्थमवनिं गता: । कृत्वा कार्यमिदं चैव ततश्न दिवमागता:
divi devā mahīpāla krīḍārtham avaniṁ gatāḥ | kṛtvā kāryam idaṁ caiva tataś ca divam āgatāḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana sprach: „O König, die Götter des Himmels stiegen zur Erde herab um des göttlichen Spiels (līlā) des Herrn willen. Nachdem sie eben dieses Werk vollbracht hatten, kehrten sie wieder in den Himmel zurück.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames major worldly events as part of a divinely guided purpose: higher beings may enter human history to uphold cosmic order, complete a destined task, and then withdraw. Ethically, it suggests humility before dharma and the limits of human control, while still affirming that actions have a role within a larger moral-cosmic design.
Vaiśaṃpāyana addresses the king and explains that the gods came down from heaven to the earth for a specific purpose—described as a divine ‘sport’—and, once that purpose was fulfilled, they returned to heaven.