Shloka 20
Udyoga Parva, Adhyaya 104: Nārada on Suhṛt and Nirbandha; the Viśvāmitra–Gālava Exemplum Begins
त्रैलोक्यमपि मे कृत्स्नमशक्त देहधारणे । अहमेवात्मना5>5त्मानं वहामि त्वां च धारये
trailokyam api me kṛtsnam aśakta deha-dhāraṇe | aham evātmanātmānaṃ vahāmi tvāṃ ca dhāraye ||
Kaṇva said: “Even the entire three worlds together are incapable of bearing the weight of my body. I alone, by my own self, carry myself—and I also sustain you.”
कण्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that genuine capacity to endure and to uphold others comes from one’s own inner power and discipline. External supports—even imagined as vast as the three worlds—are secondary to self-sustaining strength rooted in self-mastery.
Kaṇva, speaking with the authority of an ascetic, emphasizes his extraordinary self-sufficiency: he bears his own bodily burden by his own power and can also sustain another. The line functions as a forceful assertion of spiritual strength and responsibility within the episode’s dialogue.