Shloka 80
Śiva-stavarāja: Upamanyu’s Preface and Initiation of the Śarva-Nāma Enumeration
Anuśāsana-parva 17
अक्षरं परम॑ ब्रह्म बलवच्छक्र एव च । नीतिहानीति: शुद्धात्मा शुद्धो मान्यो गतागत:
akṣaraṁ paramaṁ brahma balavac chakra eva ca | nītiḥ anītiḥ śuddhātmā śuddho mānyo gatāgataḥ ||
वायुरुवाच—अक्षरं परमं ब्रह्म बलवच्छक्र एव च। नीतिरनीतिः शुद्धात्मा शुद्धो मान्यो गतागतः॥
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents the Supreme as all-encompassing: the Imperishable Brahman that is beyond change, yet also manifest as divine power (Indra). It frames the Absolute as transcending opposites—policy and non-policy—while remaining perfectly pure and worthy of reverence, and as the underlying principle behind worldly movement (the cycle of coming and going).
Vāyudeva is speaking in a didactic passage, describing the nature of the highest reality through a chain of epithets. The narrative function is theological and ethical: to identify the Supreme with both transcendent Brahman and immanent divine rulership, thereby grounding dharma and worldly order in the same ultimate source.