Shloka 18
Garuḍa Learns the Cause of Vinatā’s Bondage and the Nāgas Demand Amṛta (Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 23)
त्वं महानभिभू: शश्वदमृतं त्वं महद् यश: । त्वं प्रभास्त्वमभिप्रेतं त्वं नस्त्राणमनुत्तमम्,आप ही महत्तत््व और अहंकार हैं। आप ही सनातन, अमृत और महान् यश हैं। आप ही प्रभा और आप ही अभीष्ट पदार्थ हैं। आप ही हमलोगोंके सर्वोत्तम रक्षक हैं
tvam mahān abhibhūḥ śaśvad amṛtaṁ tvaṁ mahad yaśaḥ | tvaṁ prabhās tvam abhipretaṁ tvaṁ nas trāṇam anuttamam ||
You are the great Overpowering Lord; you are everlasting and deathless; you are vast renown itself. You are radiance; you are the cherished goal. You are our unsurpassed refuge and protector.
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches śaraṇāgati (taking refuge): the highest protection is sought not in power or possessions but in the eternal, deathless, radiant principle regarded as the supreme guardian and ultimate goal.
Śaunaka addresses a revered, supreme figure with a hymn-like praise, enumerating divine attributes—eternity, immortality, glory, radiance—and concluding with an appeal to that being as the unsurpassed protector of the speakers.