Shloka 20
Dāna-Śreṣṭhatā: Abhaya, Anugraha, and the Ethics of Honoring the Worthy (दानश्रेष्ठता: अभय-अनुग्रह-विप्रपूजा)
फिर मैं अन्तर्धान हुआ और पुनः तुम्हारे घरमें आकर योगका आश्रय ले इक्कीस दिनोंतक सोया ।। क्षुधितो मामसूयेथां श्रमाद् वेति नराधिप । एवं बुद्धि समास्थाय कर्शितौ वां क्षुधा मया,नरेश्वर! मैंने सोचा था कि तुम दोनों भूखसे पीड़ित होकर या परिश्रमसे थककर मेरी निन््दा करोगे। इसी उद्देश्यसे मैंने तुमलोगोंको भूखे रखकर क्लेश पहुँचाया
kṣudhito mām asūyethāṁ śramād veti narādhipa | evaṁ buddhiṁ samāsthāya karśitau vāṁ kṣudhā mayā ||
Chyavana said: “Then I vanished and returned again to your house; taking refuge in yoga, I slept for twenty-one days. O king, I thought that when hunger pressed you, you two might speak ill of me—either from hunger or from sheer fatigue. With that intention, I kept you both without food and thus caused you distress.”
च्यवन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights an ethical test: whether hardship (hunger and fatigue) leads one to blame and disparage a revered guest/ascetic. It underscores restraint in speech and steadiness of mind under suffering.
Chyavana explains to the king that he deliberately imposed hunger and distress on the king and another person as a trial, expecting they might criticize him when pressed by hunger or exhaustion.