Shloka 20
Cyavana’s Yogic Display and Kuśika’s Recognition of Tapas (च्यवन-योगप्रभावः कुशिकस्य तपःप्रशंसा च)
ये भगवान् च्यवन मुनि यदि कुपित हो जायँ तो तीनों लोकोंको जलाकर भस्म कर सकते हैं; फिर मुझ-जैसे तपोबलशून्य केवल बाहुबलका भरोसा रखनेवाले नरेशको नष्ट करना इनके लिये कौन बड़ी बात है? ।।
ye bhagavān cyavana muni yadi kupito bhavet tarhi trīn lokān dagdhvā bhasmasāt kartuṃ śaknoti; punaḥ mama-sadṛśaṃ tapobalahīnaṃ kevala-bāhubala-viśvāsaṃ nṛpaṃ nāśayituṃ tasya kiṃ mahad iva? agādhāmbhasi magnasya sāmātyasya sa-ṛtvijaḥ plavo bhava maharṣe tvaṃ kuru mūlya-viniścayam, maharṣe.
Nahuṣa said: “If the venerable sage Cyavana were to become angry, he could burn the three worlds to ashes. How much more easily, then, could he destroy a king like me—bereft of ascetic power and relying only on the strength of my arms? I, together with my ministers and my officiating priest, am sinking in a deep ocean of peril. O great seer, become a boat and carry me across; determine what fitting recompense is due.”
नहुष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts mere physical power with the superior, world-shaping power of ascetic merit (tapobala), urging humility before spiritual authority and the ethical necessity of seeking wise guidance and making proper restitution when one is in moral or practical संकट (peril).
King Nahuṣa acknowledges the formidable power of the sage Cyavana and admits his own vulnerability. Feeling overwhelmed—like one drowning in a deep ocean—he appeals to the great seer to act as a ‘boat’ to save him and to decide the appropriate ‘value’ or recompense required to resolve the situation.