Shloka 30
Book 10, Adhyāya 12: Aśvatthāmā’s Request for the Cakra and the Brahmaśiras Context
“ब्रह्म! जो मनुष्य समाजमें सदा ही परम प्रामाणिक समझे जाते हैं, जिनके पास गाण्डीव धनुष और श्वेत घोड़े हैं, जिनकी ध्वजापर श्रेष्ठ वानर विराजमान होता है, जिन्होंने बन्द्रयुद्धमें साक्षात् देवदेवेश्वर नीलकण्ठ उमा-वल्लभ भगवान् शंकरको पराजित करनेका साहस करके उन्हें संतुष्ट किया था, इस भूमण्डलमें मुझे जिनसे बढ़कर परम प्रिय दूसरा कोई मनुष्य नहीं है, जिनके लिये मेरे पास स्त्री, पुत्र आदि कोई भी ऐसी वस्तु नहीं है, जो देने योग्य न हो, अनायास ही महान् कर्म करनेवाले मेरे उस प्रिय सुहृद् कुन्तीकुमार अर्जुनने भी पहले कभी ऐसी बात नहीं कही थी, जो आज तुम मुझसे कह रहे हो ।। ब्रह्मचर्य महद् घोरें तीर्त्वा द्वादशवार्षिकम् | हिमवत्पाश्वमास्थाय यो मया तपसार्जित:
brahmacaryaṁ mahad ghore tīrtvā dvādaśavārṣikam | himavatpārśvam āsthāya yo mayā tapasārjitaḥ ||
“O Brāhmaṇa! He who among men is ever held to be the highest standard of authority—bearer of the Gāṇḍīva bow and the white horses, whose banner bears the foremost of monkeys; he who, in a bound combat, dared to confront Śaṅkara himself—Śiva of the blue throat, Umā’s lord—and yet pleased him; he than whom none is dearer to me upon this earth, and for whose sake there is nothing—wife and sons included—that I would not give; even my beloved friend Arjuna, Kuntī’s son, doer of great deeds without strain, never before spoke such words as you speak to me today. And having completed a great and dreadful observance of brahmacarya for twelve years, dwelling upon the flank of the Himālaya, I obtained through my tapas him of whom this is spoken.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that extraordinary attainments are ‘earned’ through sustained self-restraint (brahmacarya) and austerity (tapas). Ethical authority and power are portrayed as arising from disciplined practice rather than impulsive desire or brute strength.
The speaker refers to someone obtained through the narrator’s austerities after a severe twelve-year brahmacarya undertaken near the Himālaya. It functions as a credentialing detail—establishing the spiritual legitimacy and potency behind the person/aid being invoked in the surrounding episode.