Shloka 35
शरद्वर्णनं, योगोपमा, तथा गोवर्धन-यज्ञप्रवर्तनम्
यदा चैते ऽपराध्यन्ते तेषां ये काननौकसः तदा सिंहादिरूपैस् तान् घातयन्ति महीधराः
yadā caite 'parādhyante teṣāṃ ye kānanaukasaḥ tadā siṃhādirūpais tān ghātayanti mahīdharāḥ
And whenever those forest-dwellers commit transgression, the mountain-lords assume the forms of lions and the like, and strike the offenders down.
Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: How the forest/mountain region maintains moral order through its guardian powers.
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: warning, norm-enforcing
Concept: Adharma in sacred spaces invites swift correction; nature itself, as guardian, becomes an instrument of moral order.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Treat environments and communities with restraint—avoid exploitation; recognize that harmful actions generate consequences (social, ecological, karmic).
Vishishtadvaita: The world is not inert; it functions as a divinely ordered system where even ‘nature’ can serve as dharma’s instrument.
FAQs
This verse presents mountains and forest realms as dharmic guardians: when boundaries are violated, corrective force manifests through nature itself, preserving sacred order.
Parāśara frames punishment as an automatic response within the world’s moral ecology—mountain-lords and forest-dwellers take fierce forms (like lions) to eliminate those who offend.
Even without naming Vishnu directly, the verse reflects a Vaishnava worldview where the cosmos functions under Vishnu’s sovereignty: dharma is upheld through ordained agencies within creation.