Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 1223
Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa
Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results
वरुणश्रेश्वरो देवो लभतां काममीप्सितम् | “भगवन्! हम सब लोग और चराचरसहित सारा जगत् ये सब-के-सब आपकी ही संतान हैं। अत: अब ये प्रकाशमान अग्नि और ये वरुणरूपधारी ईश्वर महादेव भी अपना मनोवांछित फल प्राप्त करें!
varuṇaśreśvaro devo labhatāṃ kāmam īpsitam | bhagavan! vayaṃ sarve lokaś ca carācarasahitaḥ—ete sarve-sarve bhavata eva santānaḥ | ataḥ idānīṃ ayaṃ prakāśamāno 'gniḥ ca ayaṃ varuṇarūpadhārī īśvaraḥ mahādevaś ca svamano-vāñchitaṃ phalaṃ prāpnuyātām ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “May the divine Lord—supreme as Varuṇa—grant the desired wish. O Blessed One, all of us, and the entire world together with all moving and unmoving beings, are wholly your own offspring. Therefore, let this radiant Agni, and this Lord Mahādeva who has assumed the form of Varuṇa, now obtain the fruit each has inwardly desired.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames all beings—moving and unmoving—as the Lord’s own progeny, grounding ethics in a shared divine origin. From that vision of universal kinship arises a benediction: divine powers (Agni and Mahādeva in Varuṇa-form) should receive their rightful, desired fruits, implying harmony among cosmic forces under one supreme source.
Vasiṣṭha offers a prayer-like declaration: addressing the supreme Lord, he affirms that the entire cosmos belongs to Him as offspring, and then asks that the radiant Agni and Mahādeva—appearing in the guise of Varuṇa—be granted the outcomes they seek. The moment functions as a conciliatory blessing that aligns multiple deities within a single divine sovereignty.