Shloka 24

Ulūka’s Provocation and Keśava’s Counter-Message (उलूकदूत्ये केशवप्रत्युत्तरम्)

Devanagari script

भवान्‌ नो गतिरव्यग्रा भवान्‌ नः परम: सुह्ृत्‌ । ते वयं सहिता: सर्वे भवन्तं शरणं गता:

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | bhavān no gatir avyagrā bhavān naḥ paramaḥ suhṛt | te vayaṃ sahitāḥ sarve bhavantaṃ śaraṇaṃ gatāḥ |

Translation

आप ही हमारे निश्चिन्त आश्रय हैं, आप ही हमारे परम सुहृद् हैं। इसलिए हम सब एक साथ संगठित होकर आपकी शरण में आए हैं।

Word by Word

• {'bhavān': 'you (honorific singular)', 'naḥ/no': 'our, to us', 'gatiḥ': 'refuge, resort, course, means of safety', 'avyagrā': 'undistracted

• free from anxiety (i.e., a calm/safe refuge)', 'paramaḥ': 'supreme, highest', 'suhṛt': 'well-wisher, friend, benevolent ally', 'te': 'therefore, for that reason', 'vayam': 'we', 'sahitāḥ': 'together, united, assembled', 'sarve': 'all', 'śaraṇam': 'shelter, protection, asylum', 'gatāḥ': 'have gone

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• unnamed group of supplicants (vayaṃ sarve)
• the addressed protector (bhavān)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds śaraṇāgati—approaching a perceived protector as one’s ‘refuge’ and ‘well-wisher.’ It also invites ethical reflection: praise and collective submission can be sincere dependence, but can also be a rhetorical strategy that risks misplaced trust if the protector is not truly benevolent.

What is happening in the narrative?

A group speaks in a deferential tone to someone they regard as capable of granting safety. They emphasize unity (‘all of us together’) and frame the addressee as both refuge (gati/śaraṇa) and intimate ally (parama-suhṛt), thereby strengthening their plea for protection.