Shloka 67
Nāgendra–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Praśna-vidhi and Dharmic Approach on the Gomatī Riverbank
अनेन नून॑ वेदानां कृतमाहरणं रसात् । कस्यैष को नु खल्वेष कि च स्वपिति भोगवान्
Vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca: anena nūna vedānāṃ kṛtam āharaṇaṃ rasāt | kasya eṣa ko nu khalv eṣa kiṃ ca svapiti bhogavān | rajo-guṇa-tamo-guṇābhyām āviṣṭau tau ubhau asurau parasparaṃ kathayām āsa-tuḥ—“ya eṣa śveta-varṇaḥ puruṣaḥ nidrāyāṃ nimagnaḥ svapiti, niścayaṃ eṣa eva rasātalaṃ vedānām apaharaṇaṃ kṛtavān | eṣa kasya putraḥ? ko ’yam? kutaḥ? kim-arthaṃ ca atra sarpa-śarīra-śayyāyāṃ svapiti?”
Dijo Vaiśaṃpāyana: Dominados por las cualidades de rajas y tamas, los dos Asuras se dijeron el uno al otro: «Sin duda este hombre de tez blanca, hundido en el sueño, es el mismo que se llevó los Vedas desde Rasātala. ¿De quién es hijo—quién es, y por qué yace aquí dormido sobre un lecho que es el cuerpo de una serpiente?»
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how rajas and tamas cloud discernment: driven by passion and darkness, the Asuras hastily attribute the theft of sacred knowledge (the Vedas) to a sleeping figure. Ethically, it warns against judgment under the sway of the guṇas and frames the Vedas as a cosmic trust whose loss disrupts order.
Two Asuras, overwhelmed by rajas and tamas, see a white-complexioned person asleep on a serpent-bodied couch and conclude he must be the one who carried the Vedas down to Rasātala. They question his identity—whose son he is, who he is, and why he sleeps there.