Shloka 42

Vamana's Three Steps — Vamana’s Three Steps and the Binding of Bali

Devanagari script

किं वा देवो ऽस्मद्विधैर्बुद्धिहीनैः शिक्षापनीयः साधु वासाधु चैव स्वयं श्रुतीनामपि चादिकर्त्ता व्याप्य स्थितः सदसद् यो जगद् वै

Transliteration

kiṃ vā devo 'smadvidhairbuddhihīnaiḥ śikṣāpanīyaḥ sādhu vāsādhu caiva svayaṃ śrutīnāmapi cādikarttā vyāpya sthitaḥ sadasad yo jagad vai

Translation

നമ്മുപോലെയുള്ള ബുദ്ധിഹീനർ ദേവനെ എന്തു പഠിപ്പിക്കും—സാധുവും അസാധുവും എന്ന വിവേചനത്തിലും? അവൻ തന്നെയാണ് വേദങ്ങളുടെയും ആദികർത്താവ്; എല്ലായിടത്തും വ്യാപിച്ച് അവൻ തന്നെയാണ് ഈ ജഗത്ത്, സത്-അസത് ഇരുരൂപമായും നിലകൊള്ളുന്നു.

Speakers

• Unspecified in the provided excerpt (devotional/theological voice addressing the supreme deity).

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (implied as supreme, source of śruti)

Key Themes

• Divine transcendence (beyond instruction)
• Divine immanence (vyāpaka)
• Vedic primacy and divine source of śruti
• Sat–asat ontology in Purāṇic theology

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "adbhuta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

Does ‘ādi-kartā of the śrutis’ mean the deity ‘composed’ the Vedas?

In Purāṇic idiom, it asserts the deity as the ultimate source/cause of revelation—either as the revealer of eternal Veda or as the cosmic intelligence from which śruti is manifested at creation. It is a theological claim of supremacy rather than a historical authorship claim.

How should ‘sat’ and ‘asat’ be understood here?

The pair commonly indicates the manifest and unmanifest dimensions of reality, or the seen and unseen aspects of the cosmos. The verse emphasizes that the Lord pervades the totality—what appears as ‘being’ and what is beyond ordinary appearance.

Why does the speaker call humans ‘buddhi-hīna’ in a praise hymn?

It is a conventional stuti strategy: self-deprecation highlights the deity’s incomparability and frames devotion as reliance on divine grace rather than on one’s limited moral/intellectual capacity.