Shloka 21
Kuntī–Karṇa Saṃvāda: Lineage Disclosure and Appeal to Fraternal Dharma
“जब मैं पिताके घर रहती थी
yadāhaṃ pituḥ gṛhe vasāmi sma, tadā svasevayā bhagavantaṃ durvāsasam ārādhitavatī; sa ca me varaṃ dadau—mantroccāraṇapūrvakam āvāhane kṛte ahaṃ yathā-kāmaṃ yaṃ yaṃ devaṃ samīpam ānayituṃ śakṣyāmi. mama pitā kuntibhojaḥ māṃ mahad ādareṇa pālayām āsa. ahaṃ rājñaḥ antaḥpure duḥkhitahṛdayā mantrāṇāṃ balābalaṃ brāhmaṇavācaḥ śaktiṃ ca bahuvidhaṃ vicārayām āsaṃ.
Vaiśampāyana said: “When I was living in my father’s house, I pleased the revered sage Durvāsā through my service. He granted me a boon: if I invoked with the proper recitation of a mantra, I could summon to my presence whichever deity I wished. My father Kuntibhoja held me in great honor. Yet, living within the royal inner apartments, my heart grew troubled as I reflected in many ways on the power and limits of mantras, and on the formidable potency of a brahmin’s spoken word.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Extraordinary powers gained through devotion and ascetic grace (such as mantra-based invocation) demand ethical restraint and discernment. The passage highlights that sacred speech—mantra and a brahmin’s word—has real consequences, so one must reflect on its proper use and limits.
Kuntī recounts that while living in her father’s home she served the sage Durvāsā and received a boon enabling her to summon any deity by mantra-invocation. Though honored by Kuntibhoja and living in the palace inner quarters, she becomes inwardly uneasy and begins contemplating the potency and boundaries of mantras and the power of brahminical speech.