Shloka 29
Udyoga Parva, Adhyaya 104: Nārada on Suhṛt and Nirbandha; the Viśvāmitra–Gālava Exemplum Begins
न हि ज्ञातं बल देव मया ते परमं विभो । तेन मन्ये हाहं वीर्यमात्मनो न सम॑ परै:
na hi jñātaṃ bala deva mayā te paramaṃ vibho | tena manye hāhaṃ vīryam ātmano na samaṃ paraiḥ ||
ਕਣਵ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ— ਹੇ ਦੇਵ, ਹੇ ਵਿਭੋ! ਮੈਂ ਤੁਹਾਡੇ ਪਰਮ ਬਲ ਨੂੰ ਨਹੀਂ ਜਾਣਿਆ ਸੀ। ਇਸ ਲਈ ਹੁਣ ਸਮਝ ਆਈ—ਹਾਏ! ਮੇਰਾ ਆਪਣਾ ਪਰਾਕ੍ਰਮ ਹੋਰਾਂ (ਸੱਚੇ ਬਲਵਾਨਾਂ) ਦੇ ਬਰਾਬਰ ਨਹੀਂ।
कण्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights humility born of insight: recognizing a higher power and admitting one’s own limitations is ethically superior to pride, and it encourages restraint and reverence in action.
Kaṇva addresses a revered, powerful figure as “Deva” and “Vibhu,” confessing that he had not understood the other’s supreme strength; this realization leads him to regretfully reassess his own valor as not comparable.