Shloka 96
Vāsudeva’s Upadeśa: The Inner Enemy and the Indra–Vṛtra Precedent (आत्मशत्रु-बोधः; इन्द्र-वृत्रोपाख्यानम्)
विवेश सहसा तोयं जग्राह विषयं ततः । तत्पश्चात् उन्होंने कुपित हो वृत्रासुरके ऊपर घोर वज्रका प्रहार किया। महातेजस्वी वज्जसे अत्यन्त आहत हो वह असुर सहसा जलमें जा घुसा और उसके विषयभूत रसको ग्रहण करने लगा
viveśa sahasā toyaṃ jagrāha viṣayaṃ tataḥ | tatpaścāt kupito vṛtrāsurasyopari ghora-vajra-prahāraṃ cakāra | mahātejasvī vajreṇātyantam āhato 'sāv asuraḥ sahasā jale praviśya tasya viṣayabhūtaṃ rasaṃ jagrāha |
Vāyu-deva said: He suddenly entered the water and then seized it as his object of enjoyment. After that, in anger, he dealt Vṛtrāsura a terrible blow with the thunderbolt. Struck down with extreme force by that blazing vajra, the asura abruptly plunged into the waters and began to draw in the essence—making the water itself the field of his grasping. The passage underscores how wrath and craving can drive a being to seek refuge in sense-objects even amid violent conflict.
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a moral psychology: anger leads to violent action, while attachment turns even a place of refuge (water) into a sense-object to be possessed. It cautions that in conflict, inner impulses—krodha (wrath) and viṣaya-grahaṇa (grasping at objects)—can dominate conduct and obscure restraint.
After a sudden movement into the water and treating it as an object to seize, a furious deity delivers a dreadful blow with the vajra against Vṛtrāsura. Severely struck, the asura plunges into the water and begins to take in its ‘essence’ (rasa), depicting both the physical turn of events and the asura’s grasping response.