Shloka 33
कामस्य तु रतिर्भार्या शमस्य प्राप्तिरड्नना | नन्दा तु भार्या हर्षस्थ यासु लोका: प्रतिछ्तिता:,कामकी पत्नीका नाम रति है। शमकी भार्या प्राप्ति है। हर्षकी पत्नी नन््दा है। इन्हींमें सम्पूर्ण लोक प्रतिष्ठित हैं
vaiśampāyana uvāca | kāmasya tu ratir bhāryā śamasya prāptir aṅganā | nandā tu bhāryā harṣasya yāsu lokāḥ pratiṣṭhitāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Desire has Rati as its wife; Tranquillity has Prāpti as its consort. And Nandā is the wife of Joy (Harṣa). Upon these (personified powers and their unions) the worlds are said to be established—suggesting that the order of life rests on desire and attraction, the attainment that follows self-control, and the sustaining force of contentment and joy.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a moral-cosmic psychology through personification: desire (kāma) naturally seeks pleasure (rati), tranquillity/self-control (śama) leads to attainment (prāpti), and joy (harṣa) is sustained by contentment (nandā). Together they indicate that worldly stability depends on balancing desire with restraint, and grounding life in contentment.
Vaiśampāyana is describing abstract forces as divine-like couples—Kāma with Rati, Śama with Prāpti, and Harṣa with Nandā—stating that the worlds are ‘established’ upon them. It functions as a reflective, didactic statement within the Adi Parva’s broader genealogical and cosmological discourse.