Shloka 66

Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)

Devanagari script

भित्त्वा भित्त्वा च कूलानि हुत्वा सर्वमिदं जगत्‌

Transliteration

bhittvā bhittvā ca kūlāni hutvā sarvam idaṃ jagat

Translation

风神（Vāyu）说道：“一次又一次冲决河岸，如祭火般吞噬这整个世界。”此句唤起不可阻挡之势的图景——如洪水屡屡决堤——警示：不受节制的权力或欲念一旦放纵，便会越过一切界限，招致普遍毁灭；因此，自制与法（dharma）的正序，乃其伦理上的对衡。

Word by Word

• भित्त्वा: having broken / having split
• भित्त्वा: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: भिद् (√भिद्)
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), कर्तरि

• भित्त्वा: again having broken
• भित्त्वा: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: भिद् (√भिद्)
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), कर्तरि

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• कूलानि: banks, shores, embankments
• कूलानि: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कूल
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Plural

• हुत्वा: having offered (as oblation), having sacrificed
• हुत्वा: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: हु (√हु)
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), कर्तरि

• सर्वम्: all, entire
• सर्वम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• इदम्: this
• इदम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: इदम्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• जगत्: world, universe
• जगत्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: जगत्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Wind-god)
• kūla (riverbanks/embankments)
• jagat (the world/universe)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses the imagery of repeatedly breached banks and all-consuming fire to suggest that when force (or desire/anger) exceeds rightful bounds, it becomes universally destructive; dharma is implied as the principle that sets and protects necessary limits.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu speaks in a vivid, compressed metaphor: something powerful surges beyond embankments again and again and then ‘offers up’ (i.e., consumes) the whole world like fire, underscoring the danger of unchecked, boundary-breaking power.