Shloka 19
Aṣṭāvakra–Bandi Vāda at Janaka’s Assembly
Numerical Cosmology and Restitution
सो ुहं श्रुत्वा ब्राह्मणानां सकाशाद् ब्रह्माद्वैतं कथयितुमागतो<स्मि । क्वासौ बन्दी यावदेनं समेत्य नक्षत्राणीव सविता नाशयामि,मैं ब्राह्णोंक समीप यह समाचार सुनकर अद्दैत ब्रह्मके विषयमें वर्णन करनेके लिये यहाँ आया हूँ। वे बन्दी कहाँ हैं? मैं उनसे मिलकर उनके तेजको उसी प्रकार शान्त कर दूँगा, जैसे सूर्य ताराओंकी ज्योतिको विलुप्त कर देते हैं
so 'haṁ śrutvā brāhmaṇānāṁ sakāśād brahmādvaitaṁ kathayitum āgato 'smi | kvāsau bandī yāvad enaṁ sametya nakṣatrāṇīva savitā nāśayāmi ||
Having heard from the brāhmaṇas about the doctrine of non-dual Brahman, I have come here to expound it. Where is that disputant, Bandī? Let me meet him and quell his brilliance—just as the sun makes the stars’ light disappear. The verse frames spiritual truth as a higher authority than mere rhetorical victory, and it signals a moral intent to end prideful display through the supremacy of right knowledge.
अष्टावक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds brahmādvaita—non-dual Brahman—as the highest truth, implying that genuine spiritual knowledge surpasses mere argumentative brilliance and should dispel ego-driven display.
Aṣṭāvakra arrives after hearing from brāhmaṇas about the teaching of non-duality and seeks out Bandī, a famed disputant, declaring he will meet him and eclipse his intellectual ‘radiance’ like the sun outshining the stars.