Shloka 88
तथैव कर्मणा कृत्स्नं महतस्तपसोडपि च । तेजो मन्युं च बिभ्रत्त्वं जातो रौद्रो महामते,महामते! तू भी (अपने पूर्वजन्ममें) भगवान् नारायणके ही समान ज्ञानवान् होकर उनके ही जैसे सत्कर्म तथा बड़ी भारी तपस्या करके उसके प्रभावसे पूर्ण तेज और क्रोध धारण करनेवाला रुद्रभक्त हुआ था और सम्पूर्ण जगत्को शंकरमय जानकर उन्हें प्रसन्न करनेकी इच्छासे तूने नाना प्रकारके कठोर नियमोंका पालन करते हुए अपने शरीरको दुर्बल कर डाला था
tathaiva karmaṇā kṛtsnaṁ mahatas tapaso 'pi ca | tejo manyuṁ ca bibhrat tvaṁ jāto raudro mahāmate ||
Vyāsa said: “In the same way, by the fullness of your righteous deeds and by your great austerity as well, you came to bear blazing spiritual power and fierce wrath, O wise one, becoming ‘raudra’ in nature. In that former birth you were, like Lord Nārāyaṇa, endowed with true knowledge; and desiring to please Śaṅkara—seeing the whole world as pervaded by him—you undertook many severe vows and disciplines, weakening your body through rigorous restraint.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links inner transformation to karma and tapas: disciplined righteous action and austerity generate tejas (spiritual potency) and can also intensify manyu (fierce resolve/anger). When directed toward devotion—seeking to please Śaṅkara and seeing the world as pervaded by him—this fierce energy is framed as a purposeful, sacred force rather than mere uncontrolled rage.
Vyāsa addresses a listener as “mahāmate,” recalling that in a former birth the person became Rudra-like (raudra) through great deeds and austerities. The speaker describes severe vows undertaken to please Śiva, resulting in bodily emaciation, while emphasizing the person’s Nārāyaṇa-like wisdom and the accumulation of spiritual radiance and wrathful power.