Shloka 10
शुकस्य मिथिलागमनम् (Śukasya Mithilāgamanam) — Śuka’s Journey to Mithilā and the Courtly Test
भक्षयामास भगवान् वायुरष्टात्मको बली । विचरन्नमितप्राणस्तिर्यगूर्धल्वमधस्तथा
bhakṣayāmāsa bhagavān vāyur aṣṭātmako balī | vicarann amitaprāṇas tiryag ūrdhvam adhastathā ||
Yājñavalkya dit : «Le Vent, puissant et divin, se manifestant en huit formes et possédant un souffle vital sans mesure, se met à dévorer (toutes choses). Se mouvant partout—de côté, vers le haut et vers le bas—il parcourt les mondes et se répand en toutes directions.»
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights Vāyu as both sustainer and withdrawer of life: prāṇa pervades all directions, and in the cosmic cycle it can become the consuming force that gathers creation back, reminding the listener of impermanence and the supremacy of cosmic order (dharma/time).
Yājñavalkya describes a cosmic process where the powerful Wind-god, manifest in eight forms and moving everywhere—up, down, and across—begins to consume, suggesting the onset of dissolution and the all-pervading motion of prāṇa.