Shloka 56

Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

भविष्यथ विश क्षिप्रं द्रष्टासि पितरं क्षये । माताकी बात सुनकर मैं पिताके दर्शनसे निराश हो गया और मनको संयममें रखकर महादेवजीकी आराधना करके उनका दर्शन किया। उस समय वे मुझसे बोले--“वत्स! तुम्हारे पिता

Transliteration

bhaviṣyatha viśa kṣipraṃ draṣṭāsi pitaraṃ kṣaye |

Translation

Gālava disse: «Em breve verás teu pai, quando cessar o teu desalento». Ao ouvir essas palavras, abandonei a desesperança de encontrar meu pai, contive a mente e adorei Mahādeva até obter sua visão. Então o Senhor me disse: «Filho, teu pai, tua mãe e tu—os três—ficareis livres da morte. Entra agora em tua casa sem demora; ali obterás a visão de teu pai». Com a permissão de Bhagavān Śiva, voltei ao lar, realizei um sacrifício e vi meu pai sair do recinto do yajña, trazendo lenha ritual (samidhā), relva kuśa e frutos maduros e outras oferendas que haviam caído por si mesmas das árvores.

Word by Word

• भविष्यथ: you all will be / will become
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू (धातु)
• Form: लृट् (simple future), 2, plural, परस्मैपद

• विश: enter
• Type: Verb
• Root: विश् (धातु)
• Form: लोट् (imperative), 2, singular, परस्मैपद

• क्षिप्रम्: quickly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: क्षिप्र (प्रातिपदिक)

• द्रष्टासि: you will see
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश् (धातु)
• Form: लृट् (periphrastic future), 2, singular, परस्मैपद

• पितरम्: father
• पितरम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पितृ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, accusative, singular

• क्षये: at the end / in destruction (i.e., at death/end-time)
• क्षये: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: masculine, locative, singular

Speaker

गालव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Gālava
• Mahādeva (Śiva)
• father of Gālava
• mother of Gālava
• Yudhiṣṭhira
• home (gṛha)
• yajña (sacrifice)
• yajñaśālā (sacrificial hall)
• samidh (fuel-sticks)
• kuśa grass
• ripe fruits
• havya (oblations)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Steadfast devotion and self-restraint in distress invite divine guidance; despair is to be ended through disciplined mind and dharmic action, after which rightful aims—such as reunion and protection of family—are fulfilled by grace.

What is happening in the narrative?

Gālava, having become despondent about seeing his father, worships Śiva (Mahādeva). Śiva appears, promises freedom from death for Gālava and his parents, and instructs him to return home. Gālava obeys, performs a sacrifice, and then sees his father emerging from the sacrificial hall carrying ritual materials and offerings.