Shloka 18
Puruṣaikatva-vyākhyāna: The One Virāṭ Puruṣa and the Many ‘Puruṣas’
Rudra–Brahmā Saṃvāda
स्मृतिस्त्वेने न हि जहौ तदा नारायणाज्ञया । देवास्तु सहिता: सर्वे वसो: शापविमोक्षणम्
smṛtis tv ene na hi jahau tadā nārāyaṇājñayā | devās tu sahitāḥ sarve vasoḥ śāpavimokṣaṇam ||
Bhīṣma dit : Par l’ordre de Nārāyaṇa, sa faculté de mémoire ne l’abandonna pas en cet instant. Pendant ce temps, tous les dieux s’assemblèrent et se mirent à délibérer sur la manière de délivrer Vasu de la malédiction. D’un esprit apaisé, ils se dirent les uns aux autres : « Le roi n’a accompli que des mérites ; c’est à cause de nous que cette malédiction est tombée sur ce souverain à la grande âme. »
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when a curse or suffering arises, divine governance and moral causality remain operative: Nārāyaṇa’s will preserves what is necessary (here, memory), and the gods acknowledge ethical accountability—recognizing that a righteous person’s misfortune can be caused by others’ actions, prompting a duty to seek remedy.
Bhīṣma narrates that, by Nārāyaṇa’s command, the affected person does not lose memory. At the same time, the assembled gods confer about how to free Vasu from a curse, admitting that the king’s curse is undeserved in terms of his conduct and has occurred due to their involvement.