Shloka 3
Nāgendra–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda: Praśna-vidhi and Dharmic Approach on the Gomatī Riverbank
हव्यकव्यभुजो विष्णुरुदक्पूर्वे महोदधौ
Śaunaka uvāca: havyakavyabhujo Viṣṇur udakpūrve mahodadhau; samudrake uttarapūrvabhāge havyaṃ ca kavyaṃ ca bhogaṃ gṛhṇan bhagavān Viṣṇur mahān Hayagrīvāvatāraṃ dhārayāmāsa—etad bhavān pūrvaṃ mama kathitavān. sārdhaṃ caitad api vyākhyātaṃ yat bhagavān Parameṣṭhī Brahmā tasya rūpasya pratyakṣa-darśanaṃ kṛtavān.
Wika ni Śaunaka: “Noon ay sinabi mo sa akin na si Panginoong Viṣṇu—na tumatanggap ng handog para sa mga diyos (havya) at para sa mga ninuno (kavya)—ay nag-anyong dakilang Hayagrīva sa hilagang-silangang bahagi ng malawak na karagatan. Ipinaliwanag mo rin na si Brahmā (Parameṣṭhī), ang Kataas-taasang Lumikha, ay tuwirang nakakita sa anyong iyon.”
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores Viṣṇu’s role as the ultimate recipient and sanctifier of both divine and ancestral offerings (havya and kavya), and affirms the authority of direct divine revelation—Brahmā himself beholds the Lord’s form—thereby grounding ritual and theology in a higher, witnessed reality.
Śaunaka recalls a prior account: Viṣṇu manifested as Hayagrīva in the north‑eastern part of the great ocean, and Brahmā (Parameṣṭhī) directly saw that incarnation. The speaker is prompting continuation or clarification of that earlier narration.