Shloka 25
मन्दर-समुद्रमन्थन-वर्णनम् / Description of the Churning of the Ocean with Mount Mandara
आदास्यन्नात्मनो भोज्यमन्न॑ विहितमस्य यत् । विधात्रा भृगुशार्दूल क्षुधित: पतगेश्वर:,तदनन्तर समय पूरा होनेपर सर्पसंहारक गरुडका जन्म हुआ। भृगुश्रेष्ठ! पक्षिराज गरुड जन्म लेते ही क्षुधासे व्याकुल हो गये और विधाताने उनके लिये जो आहार नियत किया था, अपने उस भोज्य पदार्थको प्राप्त करनेके लिये माता विनताको छोड़कर आकाशमें उड़ गये
ādāsyann ātmano bhojyam annaṁ vihitam asya yat | vidhātrā bhṛguśārdūla kṣudhitaḥ patageśvaraḥ ||
Śaunaka said: “O tiger among the Bhṛgus, the lord of birds, tormented by hunger, set out to obtain the food that the Creator had ordained for him. Born as the destined destroyer of serpents, Garuḍa—driven by the urgency of hunger and fate—left his mother Vinatā and rose into the sky in search of his appointed sustenance.”
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames Garuḍa’s hunger and action within cosmic appointment: even basic drives like hunger operate under a larger ordained order (vihita by Vidhātṛ). It suggests that beings pursue their sustenance and roles as part of a wider moral-cosmic structure, not merely personal impulse.
After Garuḍa’s birth—marked as the future slayer of serpents—he is immediately overcome by hunger. He leaves his mother Vinatā and flies into the sky to seek the specific food that the Creator has destined for him.