Shloka 15
Rudra’s Omitted Share in the Yajña (रुद्रभागानुपपत्तिः — यज्ञोपाख्यानम्)
अफक्रान्ते ततो यज्ञे संज्ञा न प्रत्यभात् सुरान् । नष्टसंज्ञेषु देवेषु न प्राज़्ायत किंचन
apakrānte tato yajñe saṃjñā na pratyabhāt surān | naṣṭasaṃjñeṣu deveṣu na prājāyata kiṃcana ||
Disse Vaiśampāyana: Quando o sacrifício então recuou e se interrompeu, a consciência deixou de brilhar nos deuses. E, tendo as divindades perdido os sentidos, nada absolutamente podia surgir ou ser por elas percebido—sinal de como a ruptura da ordem sagrada torna inertes até os poderes divinos.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores that yajña (sacred, ordered action) sustains clarity and functioning even at the divine level; when ritual order collapses or withdraws, awareness and effective agency also collapse, illustrating the ethical idea that dharma-maintaining acts uphold the world’s intelligibility and stability.
The narrator states that once the sacrifice ceased/withdrew, the gods’ consciousness no longer manifested; with their awareness lost, nothing could be perceived or occur for them—depicting a moment of ritual breakdown and its immediate cosmic effect.