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 |
Śakra sprach: „Wer von den Strahlen der Sonne erwärmt wird, streift alle Sünde ab. Ob in der Glut des Sommers oder in der kalten Jahreszeit: Durch das Erwärmtwerden von Sonnenstrahlen wird die Sünde auf diese Weise getilgt. So wird der Mensch frei von Verfehlung; und von Sünde befreit erlangt er dauernden Glanz—er leuchtet aus eigener Kraft wie die Sonne und ist lichtvoll wie der Mond.“
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.