Shloka 26
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
तस्य वाक्यस्य निधने पार्थ जातो हाहं मृगः । ततो मां शरणं प्राप्तं प्राह योगी महेश्वर:
tasya vākyasya nidhane pārtha jāto hāhaṃ mṛgaḥ | tato māṃ śaraṇaṃ prāptaṃ prāha yogī maheśvaraḥ |
โอ ปารถะ! ครั้นวาจานั้นสิ้นสุดลง—อนิจจา!—ข้าก็กลายเป็นสัตว์ป่า แล้วข้าจึงไปขอพึ่งพระโยคีมหेशวร ครั้นพระองค์ทอดพระเนตรข้า ผู้มาขออาศัยเป็นที่พึ่ง พระมหेशวรจึงตรัสดังนี้.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the immediacy of karmic consequence and the ethical power of speech (vākyaphala): a spoken utterance can precipitate drastic change. It also foregrounds śaraṇāgati—seeking refuge in Śiva—as the proper response when one is overwhelmed by the results of past actions or curses.
The narrator reports that, upon the completion of a certain statement (likely a curse or decisive pronouncement), the speaker is transformed into a wild beast. Distressed, he approaches Śiva for protection, and Śiva, described as the great yogin Maheśvara, begins to address him.