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 ||
Канва сказал: «О могучий владыка, о Всепроникающий! Я не знал поистине всей меры твоей высшей силы. Потому ныне понимаю — увы! — что моя доблесть не равна доблести других (по-настоящему сильных).»
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.