Shloka 35
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
ततः प्रणम्य शिरसा इदं वचनमन्रुवम् । यदि प्रीतो महादेवो भक्त्या परमया प्रभु:
tataḥ praṇamya śirasā idaṁ vacanam abruvam | yadi prīto mahādevo bhaktyā paramayā prabhuḥ ||
Alors, inclinant la tête avec révérence, je dis : «Si le Seigneur Mahādeva est satisfait de ma dévotion suprême, ô Īśāna, que mon attachement ferme envers toi demeure constant, jour après jour, sans défaillir.» Ayant dit : «Qu’il en soit ainsi», le Seigneur Śiva disparut en ce lieu même.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the highest request is not for power or reward but for unwavering devotion itself; humility (bowing the head) and constancy of bhakti are presented as the proper ethical-spiritual posture before the divine.
The narrator (Vaiśampāyana, reporting the episode) describes a devotee bowing and asking Śiva (Mahādeva/Īśāna) for perpetual, steady devotion; Śiva grants the request with “evam astu” and then disappears.