Shloka 26
Uttanka’s Inquiry and Vāsudeva’s Adhyātma Exposition
Guṇa–Ritual–Immanence Teaching
कौमारं ब्रह्मचर्य ते जानामि द्विजसत्तम | दुःखार्जितस्य तपसस्तस्मान्नेच्छामि ते व्ययम्,आपका तप और तेज बहुत बढ़ा हुआ है। आपने गुरुजनोंको भी सेवासे संतुष्ट किया है। द्विजश्रेष्ठट आपने बाल्यावस्थासे ही ब्रह्मचर्यका पालन किया है। ये सारी बातें मुझे अच्छी तरह ज्ञात हैं। इसलिये अत्यन्त कष्ट सहकर संचित किये हुए आपके तपका मैं नाश कराना नहीं चाहता हूँ
kaumāraṁ brahmacaryaṁ te jānāmi dvijasattama | duḥkhārjitasya tapasas tasmān necchāmi te vyayam ||
Vāyu said: “O best of twice-born, I know well the brahmacarya you have observed since boyhood. Therefore I do not wish to cause any loss to your austerity—painfully accumulated through hardship.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Austerity (tapas) and lifelong self-restraint (brahmacarya) are hard-won spiritual capital; even a deity should not casually diminish or waste another’s accumulated merit. The verse highlights ethical restraint and reverence toward disciplined virtue.
Vāyudeva addresses a revered twice-born ascetic, acknowledging his lifelong brahmacarya and the hardship through which his tapas was accumulated, and declares that he does not wish to cause any loss to that ascetic power.