Shloka 4
स ता: पिबन् क्षीरमिव नातृप्पत महामना: । अपूरयन्महौघेन महीं सर्वा च पार्थिव
sa tāḥ piban kṣīram iva nātṛppata mahāmanāḥ | apūrayan mahaughena mahīṃ sarvāṃ ca pārthiva ||
The great-souled sage drank up those waters as though they were milk, yet he did not feel satisfied. Then, O king, by releasing a mighty flood, he filled the whole earth again. The episode underscores the extraordinary potency of a brahmin-sage’s tapas and the ethical idea that immense power, when guided by restraint and purpose, can both withdraw and restore the world’s resources.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the immense efficacy of tapas and brahminical spiritual power: it can deplete even the world’s waters, yet it can also restore them. Ethically, it suggests that true power is not mere consumption but the capacity to re-establish balance and welfare.
A great sage drinks up the waters of the earth without being satiated; afterward he causes a mighty flood or stream to flow and thereby refills the entire earth with water, narrated to a king as an illustration of extraordinary ascetic potency.