Shloka 80
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
ऋषि-मुनि तपस्याद्वारा जिसका अन्वेषण करते हैं, उस सदा स्थिर रहनेवाले अनिर्वचनीय परम सूक्ष्म तत्त्वस्वरूप सदाशिवको मैं जीवन-रक्षाके लिये नमस्कार करता हूँ। जिन अविनाशी प्रभुकी मेरे द्वारा सदा ही स्तुति की गयी है, वे महादेव यहाँ मुझे अभीष्ट वरदान दें ।। इमं स्तवं संनियतेन्द्रियश्व भूत्वा शुचिर्य: पुरुष: पठेत । अभग्नयोगो नियतो मासमेकं सम्प्राप्तुयादश्चमेधे फलं यत्,जो पुरुष इन्द्रियोंको वशमें करके पवित्र होकर इस स्तोत्रका पाठ करेगा और नियमपूर्वक एक मासतक अखण्डरूपसे इस पाठको चलाता रहेगा, वह अश्वमेध-यज्ञका फल प्राप्त कर लेगा
vāyudeva uvāca | ṛṣi-muni-tapasyā-dvārā yasyānveṣaṇaṃ kriyate taṃ sadā-sthiraṃ anirvacanīyaṃ parama-sūkṣma-tattva-svarūpaṃ sadāśivaṃ jīvana-rakṣārthaṃ namasyāmi | yasya avināśinaḥ prabhoḥ mayā sadā stutiḥ kṛtā, sa mahādeva iha mām adya īpsitaṃ varadānaṃ dadātu || imaṃ stavaṃ saṃniyatendriyaś ca bhūtvā śucir yaḥ puruṣaḥ paṭhet | abhagna-yogo niyato māsam ekaṃ sa aśvamedha-phalaṃ samāpnuyāt ||
Vāyu said: “I bow, for the protection of life, to that ever-steady Sadāśiva—indescribable, supremely subtle, the very essence of Reality—whom sages and seers seek through austerity. May that imperishable Lord, whom I have always praised, Mahādeva himself, grant me here and now the boon I desire. Whoever, having restrained the senses and become pure, recites this hymn, and with disciplined constancy continues the practice unbroken for a full month, attains the merit equal to that of the Aśvamedha sacrifice.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse elevates disciplined devotion: restraining the senses, cultivating purity, and maintaining uninterrupted practice are presented as spiritually potent—so potent that sustained recitation of a Śiva-hymn for a month is said to yield merit comparable to a grand royal sacrifice.
Vāyu addresses Śiva in prayer, saluting him as the subtle, indescribable, ever-stable reality sought by ascetics, requesting a desired boon, and then declaring the promised fruit for anyone who recites this stotra with self-control and steady observance for one month.