Shloka 25

Uttanka’s Inquiry and Vāsudeva’s Adhyātma Exposition

Guṇa–Ritual–Immanence Teaching

Devanagari script

तपस्ते सुमहद्दीप्तं गुरवश्ञापि तोषिता:

Transliteration

tapas te sumahad dīptaṁ guravaś cāpi toṣitāḥ | bālyād eva brahmacaryaṁ tvayā vṛttaṁ dvijottama | etad sarvaṁ mama sujñātaṁ tasmāt kaṣṭārjitaṁ tava tapaḥ kṣapayituṁ necchāmi ||

Translation

Vāyu nói: “Khổ hạnh của ngươi thật lớn lao, rực sáng; và ngươi cũng đã làm đẹp lòng các bậc thầy nhờ sự phụng sự tận tụy. Hỡi bậc tối thượng trong hàng ‘nhị sinh’, từ thuở ấu thơ ngươi đã giữ gìn brahmacarya. Ta biết rõ tất cả điều ấy; vì vậy ta không muốn hủy hoại công đức khổ hạnh mà ngươi đã tích lũy qua bao gian lao.”

Word by Word

• {'tapas': 'austerity

• spiritual heat/merit', 'sumahat': 'very great

• immense', 'dīpta': 'blazing

• shining with power', 'guravaḥ': 'teachers

• spiritual preceptors', 'toṣitāḥ': 'pleased

• satisfied', 'sevā': 'service

• devoted care', 'bālyāt': 'from childhood', 'brahmacarya': 'celibate student-discipline

• regulated conduct and self-restraint', 'dvijottama': 'best of the twice-born (a Brahmin)

• honorific address', 'sujñāta': 'well known

• clearly understood', 'tasmāt': 'therefore

• for that reason', 'kaṣṭa': 'hardship

• difficulty', 'ārjita/sañcita': 'earned/accumulated

• stored up', 'tava': 'your', 'tapaḥ-kṣapana': 'destruction/diminution of austerity (merit)', 'na icchāmi': 'I do not wish'}

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyudeva (Wind-god)
• guravaḥ (teachers/elders)
• dvijottama (addressed Brahmin/ascetic)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Austerity (tapas) gains ethical and spiritual force when grounded in lifelong self-restraint (brahmacarya) and respectful service to teachers; such hard-won merit is to be honored, not casually diminished—even by divine powers.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva addresses a Brahmin/ascetic, acknowledging his intense tapas, his pleasing of gurus through service, and his lifelong brahmacarya; on that basis, Vāyu declares he does not wish to nullify or reduce the ascetic merit the person has accumulated through great hardship.