Shloka 43
Atithi-prāpti and the Brāhmaṇa’s Deliberation on Triadic Dharma (अतिथिप्राप्तिः धर्मत्रयविचारश्च)
ब्रद्माजी बोले--देवताओ! तुमने मुझे अच्छी बात सुझायी है! तुम्हारा कल्याण हो। तुम्हारे हृदयमें जो चिन्ता उत्पन्न हुई है, वही मेरे हृदयमें भी पैदा हुई है ।।
Brahmā uvāca—devatāḥ, yūyaṁ me śobhanāṁ matiṁ darśitavantaḥ; bhavataṁ kalyāṇaṁ bhavatu. yā yuṣmākaṁ hṛdaye cintā samutpannā sā mama hṛdaye ’pi samutpannā. lokatrayasya kṛtsnasya kathaṁ kāryaḥ parigrahaḥ? kathaṁ balakṣayo na syāt yuṣmākaṁ cātmanas ca me?
Brahmā said: “O gods, you have offered me sound counsel—may well-being attend you. The very concern that has arisen in your hearts has arisen in mine as well. How is the full responsibility for the affairs of the three worlds to be undertaken and carried through? And how can it be done so that neither your strength nor my own is diminished?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even divine governance must be guided by prudent counsel and shared concern: one should undertake necessary duties for the welfare of all realms while avoiding wasteful depletion of strength—seeking sustainable means to uphold order (dharma).
Brahmā responds to the gods, affirming their advice and admitting he shares their anxiety. He frames the practical problem of administering the entire threefold cosmos and asks how to accomplish this without exhausting either the gods’ power or his own.