Shloka 326

Kapālamocana-tīrtha (Auśanasa) and Balarāma’s Sarasvatī Pilgrimage

Devanagari script

आपगामवगाढस्य राजन प्रक्रीडितं महत्‌ । राजन! कुमारावस्थासे ही ब्रह्मचर्यव्रतका पालन तथा प्रतिदिन सरस्वती नदीमें स्नान करनेवाले मंकणक मुनिका महान्‌ लीलामय चरित्र सुनो

Transliteration

āpāgām avagāḍhasya rājan prakrīḍitaṃ mahat | rājan! kumārāvasthāse hi brahmacaryavratakā pālana tathā pratidina sarasvatī-nadīṃ snāna-karṇavāle maṅkaṇaka-muneḥ mahān līlāmaya-caritraṃ śṛṇu |

Translation

Вайшампаяна сказал: «О царь, выслушай великое, исполненное игры (лилы), сказание о мудреце Манканаке (Maṅkaṇaka): как, погрузившись в речной поток, он предавался могучему веселью; и как с отрочества он соблюдал обет брахмачарьи (brahmacarya) и ежедневно совершал омовение в реке Сарасвати (Sarasvatī).» Этот рассказ подчёркивает силу дисциплинированных обетов и тонкую нравственную необходимость обуздывать даже духовную гордыню и неумеренный восторг.

Word by Word

• आपगाम्: river (as object: the river)
• आपगाम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: आपगा
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• अवगाढस्य: of (one) immersed/entered (in it)
• अवगाढस्य: Sambandha
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अवगाढ
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• राजन्: O king
• राजन्: Sambodhana
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• प्रक्रीडितम्: sporting/playing; sport (act of play)
• प्रक्रीडितम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रक्रीडित
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• महत्: great
• महत्: Visheshana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महत्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• rājan (the King, i.e., Janamejaya as listener)
• Maṅkaṇaka Muni
• Sarasvatī River
• āpāgā (river-stream)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds the ethical value of sustained discipline—especially brahmacarya and regular purificatory practice—while preparing the listener for a story that also cautions that even spiritual achievement can be accompanied by exuberance that must be governed by humility and self-control.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses the King and introduces an upcoming episode about the sage Maṅkaṇaka: his great, playful act while immersed in a river-stream, along with background details that he observed brahmacarya from boyhood and bathed daily in the Sarasvatī.