Shloka 5
Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda
Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity
देवगुह्ामिदं राजन् यमेनाक्लिष्टकर्मणा । नियमस्थेन युक्तेन तपसो महतः फलम्,राजन्! अनायास ही महान् कर्म करनेवाले यमने नियमपरायण और योगयुक्त होकर महान् तपके फलस्वरूप इस देवगुह्य रहस्यको प्राप्त किया था
bhīṣma uvāca | devaguhyam idaṃ rājan yamenākliṣṭa-karmaṇā | niyama-sthena yuktena tapaso mahataḥ phalam ||
Bhishma sprach: „O König, dies ist eine göttliche und geheime Lehre. Yama — dessen Handlungen ungetrübt und rein sind — erlangte sie, fest gegründet in Selbstzucht und in der Yoga-Disziplin geübt, als große Frucht tiefgründiger Askese.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
That access to the highest, ‘divine-secret’ dharmic knowledge is not merely intellectual but is earned through purity of action, firm observance of self-restraint (niyama), disciplined yogic steadiness, and sustained tapas—whose ‘fruit’ is spiritual attainment.
Bhishma, instructing the king, introduces an esoteric doctrine and legitimizes it by tracing its origin to Yama, who attained this secret through great austerity and disciplined observance, thereby presenting it as authoritative and ethically grounded.