Shloka 73
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
स्वाहा वौषट ब्राह्मणा: सौरभेयी धर्म चाग्रयं कालचक्रं बल॑ च | यशो दमो बुद्धिमतां स्थितिश्न शुभाशुभं ये मुनयश्न सप्त
vāyudeva uvāca | svāhā vauṣaṭ brāhmaṇāḥ saurabheyī dharmaś cāgryaṃ kālacakraṃ balaṃ ca | yaśo damo buddhimatāṃ sthitiś ca śubhāśubhaṃ ye munayaś ca sapta ||
Vāyu déclara : «Dans l’ordonnance du sacrifice se trouvent les formules “svāhā” et “vauṣaṭ” ; les Brāhmaṇa ; la vache (Saurabheyī) ; le Dharma suprême ; la roue du Temps ; et la force. De même s’y trouvent la renommée, la maîtrise de soi, la constance des sages, toute l’étendue des fruits karmiques fastes et néfastes, ainsi que les Sept Ṛṣi. Sache que tout cela—avec les nombreux principes divins et cosmiques énumérés plus haut—procède de Mahādeva (Śiva).»
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links ritual speech (svāhā, vauṣaṭ), social-religious authority (Brāhmaṇas), and ethical qualities (dharma, self-restraint, wise steadiness) with cosmic principles (Time’s wheel, karmic auspicious/inauspicious results), presenting them as parts of a single sacred order ultimately grounded in Mahādeva.
Vāyudeva continues a long enumeration of divine, ritual, and moral categories, concluding that these principles and beings should be understood as originating from Mahādeva, reinforcing a Śaiva-centered cosmology within the Anuśāsana Parva’s didactic discourse.