Shloka 35
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
ततः प्रणम्य शिरसा इदं वचनमन्रुवम् । यदि प्रीतो महादेवो भक्त्या परमया प्रभु:,“यह सुनकर मैंने मस्तक झुकाकर प्रणाम किया और कहा--“यदि मेरी परम भक्तिसे भगवान् महादेव प्रसन्न हों तो ईशान! आपके प्रति नित्य-निरन्तर मेरी स्थिर भक्ति बनी रहे।' तब “एवमस्तु' कहकर भगवान् शिव वहीं अन्तर्धान हो गये”
tataḥ praṇamya śirasā idaṁ vacanam abruvam | yadi prīto mahādevo bhaktyā paramayā prabhuḥ ||
Then, bowing my head in reverence, I spoke: “If the Lord Mahādeva is pleased by my supreme devotion, then, O Īśāna, may my steadfast devotion toward you remain constant, day after day.” Saying, “So be it,” Lord Śiva vanished from that very place.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the highest request is not for power or reward but for unwavering devotion itself; humility (bowing the head) and constancy of bhakti are presented as the proper ethical-spiritual posture before the divine.
The narrator (Vaiśampāyana, reporting the episode) describes a devotee bowing and asking Śiva (Mahādeva/Īśāna) for perpetual, steady devotion; Śiva grants the request with “evam astu” and then disappears.