Verse 20
Ask a boon· Verses 19–23
श्रीभगवानुवाच ।त्वयाहं तोषितः सम्यग्वेदगर्भ सिसृक्षया ।चिरं भृतेन तपसा दुस्तोषः कूटयोगिनाम्
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19Bhagavan said: You have pleased me well, you who carry the Veda within you, by the austerity you have borne so long out of your wish to send forth. I am hard for false yogins to please. 20Ask a boon, and may it go well with you; ask me, the lord of boons, for what you want. Brahmin, all a man's toil after what is good comes to its end in the sight of me. 21This looking upon my world is the fruit of what you longed for, since it was on hearing that word in secret that you did the highest austerity. 22It was I who instructed you then, when you were bewildered about the work to be done. Faultless one, austerity is my very heart, and I am the self of austerity.
23By austerity I send this forth; by austerity I swallow it again; by austerity I hold the world up. Austerity, which is hard to walk in, is my strength.