Shloka 81
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
वेदान् कृत्स्नान् ब्राह्मण: प्राप्तुयात् तु जयेन्नूप: पार्थ महीं च कृत्स्नाम् । वैश्यो लाभ प्राप्त॒यान्नैपुणं च शूद्रो गतिं प्रेत्य तथा सुखं च
vedān kṛtsnān brāhmaṇaḥ prāpnuyāt tu jayed nṛpaḥ pārtha mahīṁ ca kṛtsnām | vaiśyo lābhaṁ prāpnuyān naipuṇaṁ ca śūdro gatiṁ pretya tathā sukhaṁ ca, kuntīnandana |
वेदान् कृत्स्नान् ब्राह्मणः प्राप्तुयात् तु जयेन्नृपः पार्थ महीं च कृत्स्नाम् । वैश्यो लाभं प्राप्तुयात् नैपुणं च शूद्रो गतिं प्रेत्य तथा सुखं च ॥
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a phalaśruti: the claimed fruits of reciting a sacred instruction differ according to varṇa—Vedic-study merit for the brāhmaṇa, sovereignty for the kṣatriya, commercial success for the vaiśya, and worldly happiness plus a good afterlife for the śūdra—framing spiritual practice as supporting each group’s dharmic aims.
Vāyu addresses Arjuna (called Pārtha and Kuntīnandana) and concludes or reinforces a teaching by stating the rewards that accrue from its recitation, mapping those rewards onto the traditional fourfold social order.