Shloka 12
दुर्वासाशापः, क्षीरसागरमन्थनम्, श्रीः (लक्ष्मी) उद्भवः तथा श्रीस्तुतिः
ऐश्वर्यमददुष्टात्मन्न् अतिस्तब्धो ऽसि वासव श्रियो धाम स्रजं यस् त्वं मद्दत्तां नाभिनन्दसि
aiśvaryamadaduṣṭātmann atistabdho 'si vāsava śriyo dhāma srajaṃ yas tvaṃ maddattāṃ nābhinandasi
O Vāsava (Indra), your inner being has been corrupted by the intoxication of power; you have grown exceedingly arrogant. You, who are the abode of prosperity, do not even welcome the garland I have bestowed upon you.
Śacī (Indrāṇī), admonishing Indra (Vāsava) (contextual identification within the Indra–Śacī episode in Ansha 1)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Why Durvāsā condemns Indra’s pride and links it to the loss of Śrī
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Aisvarya (power) becomes self-destructive when it breeds mada (pride), severing one from Śrī—prosperity understood as grace and auspicious order.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: When receiving honors or gifts, respond with gratitude and humility; treat auspicious symbols as reminders of responsibility, not entitlement.
Vishishtadvaita: Śrī is inseparable from right orientation to the Lord’s order; prosperity adheres to the dhārmic person and departs from the arrogant even if they hold office.
Bhakti Type: Dasya
Lakshmi Presence: Sri
FAQs
This verse frames prosperity (Śrī) as something that stays with humility and reverence; when a ruler becomes intoxicated with power and rejects due honor, Śrī is implicitly endangered, foreshadowing decline in authority and order.
Through rebuke of Indra’s arrogance, it presents downfall as rooted in inner corruption (mada/ego), not merely external conflict—ethical failure precedes political and cosmic instability.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Purāṇa’s theology implies that stable sovereignty and Śrī ultimately depend on alignment with dharma upheld by Vishnu as the Supreme sustaining reality.