Shloka 35

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

Devanagari script

ततः प्रणम्य शिरसा इदं वचनमन्रुवम्‌ । यदि प्रीतो महादेवो भक्त्या परमया प्रभु:

Transliteration

tataḥ praṇamya śirasā idaṁ vacanam abruvam | yadi prīto mahādevo bhaktyā paramayā prabhuḥ ||

Translation

Тогда, склонив голову в почтении, я сказал: «Если Владыка Махадева доволен моей высшей преданностью, о Ишана, да пребудет моя стойкая бхакти к тебе неизменной, день за днём, без перерыва». Сказав: «Да будет так», Господь Шива исчез в том же самом месте.

Word by Word

• ततः: then, thereafter
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः
• Form: indeclinable (ablatival adverb)

• प्रणम्य: having bowed
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र-√नम्
• Form: absolutive (क्त्वा-प्रत्यय), indeclinable

• शिरसा: with (my) head
• शिरसा: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिरस्
• Form: neuter, instrumental, singular

• इदम्: this
• इदम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: इदम्
• Form: neuter, accusative, singular

• वचनम्: speech, words
• वचनम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: वचन
• Form: neuter, accusative, singular

• अन्रुवम्: I said, I spoke
• Type: Verb
• Root: अनु-√ब्रू
• Form: imperfect (लङ्), 1st person, singular, parasmaipada

• यदि: if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदि
• Form: indeclinable

• प्रीतः: pleased, satisfied
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रीत
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• महादेवः: Mahādeva (Great God, Śiva)
• महादेवः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: महादेव
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• भक्त्या: by devotion
• भक्त्या: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: भक्ति
• Form: feminine, instrumental, singular

• परमया: supreme, highest
• Type: Adjective
• Root: परम
• Form: feminine, instrumental, singular

• प्रभुः: the Lord
• प्रभुः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रभु
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Mahādeva (Śiva)
• Īśāna

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that the highest request is not for power or reward but for unwavering devotion itself; humility (bowing the head) and constancy of bhakti are presented as the proper ethical-spiritual posture before the divine.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator (Vaiśampāyana, reporting the episode) describes a devotee bowing and asking Śiva (Mahādeva/Īśāna) for perpetual, steady devotion; Śiva grants the request with “evam astu” and then disappears.