Shloka 16
Uttanka’s Viśvarūpa Request and the ‘Uttanka Clouds’ Boon (उत्तङ्क-विष्वरूप-दर्शनम्)
धर्मस्य सेतुं बध्नामि चलिते चलिते युगे । तास्ता योनी: प्रविश्याहं प्रजानां हितकाम्यया
dharmasya setuṁ badhnāmi calite calite yuge | tāstā yonīḥ praviśyāhaṁ prajānāṁ hitakāmyayā ||
“I bind fast the bridge of Dharma whenever an age is shaken and passes into change. For the welfare of beings, I enter again and again into diverse wombs and forms, so that the boundaries of righteousness are restored and living creatures are protected from the drift into lawlessness.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
When moral order becomes unstable in times of yuga-transition, a divine power acts to re-establish dharma, motivated by the welfare of living beings, even by taking embodied forms suited to the situation.
Vāyudeva speaks in the first person, declaring an ongoing cosmic role: at recurring moments of upheaval across ages, he ‘fastens’ the support/bridge of dharma by entering different births and forms for the good of creatures.