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.
绍那迦说道：“你先前曾告诉我：受纳献给诸天之供（havya）与献给祖灵之供（kavya）的毗湿奴世尊，在浩瀚大海的东北方显现为伟大的‘马首’海耶格利瓦（Hayagrīva）化身。你也说明了，至上造物主梵天（Parameṣṭhī）曾亲见那一形相。”
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.