Shloka 11
कामतृष्णावैराग्योपदेशः तथा राज्यविभागः
Teaching on Desire & Renunciation; Delegation of Kingdoms
विश्वाच्या देवयान्या च सहोपभोगं भुक्त्वा कामानाम् अन्तम् अवाप्स्यामीत्य् अनुदिनं तन्मनस्को बभूव ॥
viśvācyā devayānyā ca sahopabhogaṃ bhuktvā kāmānām antam avāpsyāmīty anudinaṃ tanmanasko babhūva ||
Having enjoyed the pleasures of union with Viśvācī and with Devayānī, day after day he became absorbed in the same thought: “By exhausting enjoyment, I shall reach the very end of desire.”
Sage Parāśara (narrating) to Maitreya
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Moral and spiritual instruction arising within the royal-historical narrative: the futility of attempting to exhaust desire through indulgence.
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: revealing
Concept: Trying to end desire by fully indulging it is a self-perpetuating delusion that deepens attachment.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Notice the mind’s promise of “just once more” and interrupt the cycle through mindful restraint and deliberate contentment practices.
Vishishtadvaita: Implicitly supports that lasting fulfillment is not in finite sense-objects but in turning the will toward the Lord as the true telos of the self.
FAQs
The verse highlights a common delusion: thinking that repeated indulgence will exhaust desire, whereas attachment typically deepens and binds the mind more firmly.
By narrating how the character becomes “tan-manaska” (mind-fixed) day after day, Parāśara shows that pleasure pursued as an end tends to dominate attention and shape destiny through karma.
In the Vishnu Purana’s worldview, such episodes implicitly contrast bondage to kāma with alignment to dharma upheld under Vishnu’s sovereign order—pointing toward liberation through right orientation rather than indulgence.