Shloka 56
Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda
Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity
रश्मिभिस्तापितो<र्कस्य सर्वपापमपोहति । ग्रीष्मकाले5थ वा शीते एवं पापमपोहति
śakra uvāca | raśmibhis tāpito 'rkasya sarvapāpam apohati | grīṣmakāle 'tha vā śīte evaṃ pāpam apohati |
قال شَكرا: «مَن تدفّأ بأشعّة الشمس أزالَ عنه كلَّ إثم. سواءٌ في قيظِ الصيف أو في بردِ الشتاء، فإن التسخّن بأشعّة الشمس يمحو الإثم على هذا النحو. وهكذا يصير المرء بريئًا من الخطيئة؛ فإذا تخلّص من الإثم نالَ بهاءً دائمًا—يتلألأ بضيائه كالشمس، ويشرق كالقمر.»
शक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Contact with the Sun’s rays—enduring heat or cold with steadiness—functions as a purificatory discipline: it is said to destroy sin and yield lasting inner radiance (kānti/tejas). The ethical emphasis is on purification and transformation through disciplined endurance aligned with cosmic forces.
Indra (Śakra) is speaking as an instructor, describing a specific means of expiation/purification: being warmed by the Sun’s rays in different seasons. He links this practice to the removal of pāpa (sin) and the attainment of a luminous, exalted state.