Shloka 50
Pratyakṣa–Āgama–Ācāra: Doubt, Proof, and the Practice of Dharma (प्रत्यक्ष–आगम–आचारविचारः)
अश्मना चरणोौ भित्त्वा गुह्॒ुकेषु स मोदते । साधयित्वा55त्मना>5>5त्मान निर्दधन्द्धो निष्परिग्रह:
aśmanā caraṇau bhittvā guhakeṣu sa modate | sādhayitvā ātmanā ātmānaṃ nirdvandvo niṣparigrahaḥ ||
قال مهيشفارا: «إذا شقّ قدميه بحجر ثم ترك الجسد، ابتهج بين الغوهياكا. ومن اعتمد على نفسه وحدها في القوت، وتحرر من الثنائيات وكان بلا متاع، أقام انضباط النذر اثنتي عشرة سنة؛ ثم في الختام، إذ يثقب قدميه بحجر ويترك الجسد، يبلغ عالم الغوهياكا ويتمتع هناك بالنعيم.»
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse praises rigorous ascetic discipline: living with self-reliance, freedom from dualities, and non-possessiveness. Such sustained vow-observance is presented as producing a specific posthumous spiritual reward—attainment of the Guhyaka realm—highlighting the Mahabharata’s theme that inner restraint and renunciation can yield transcendent results.
Maheśvara describes the fate of an ascetic who completes a long vow (twelve years, per the accompanying gloss), lives without possessions and without being shaken by opposites, and finally relinquishes the body through an extreme act involving a stone and his feet. The narrative outcome is that he reaches the world of the Guhyakas and experiences joy there.