Shloka 16
कपिलगोसंवादे गृहस्थ-त्यागधर्मयोः प्रमाण्यविचारः
Kapila–Cow Dialogue: Authority of Householder and Renunciant Dharmas
वातातपसहो ग्रीष्मे न च धर्ममविन्दत । दुःखशय्याश्व विविधा भूमौ च परिवर्तते
vātātapasaho grīṣme na ca dharmam avindata | duḥkhaśayyāś ca vividhā bhūmau ca parivartate ||
Bhishma sprach: „Im Sommer ertrug er glühenden Wind und brennende Sonne, und doch fand er das wahre Dharma nicht. Er legte sich auf mancherlei schmerzhafte Lager und wälzte sich auf nackter Erde—nahm Entbehrung auf vielfältige Weise auf sich—doch das wirkliche Verständnis der Rechtschaffenheit erwachte nicht in ihm.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Severe austerity and physical mortification—enduring heat, wind, and painful sleeping practices—do not by themselves yield realization of dharma. Ethical clarity and right understanding are distinct from mere suffering.
Bhishma describes an ascetic figure who undertakes extreme bodily hardships (bearing summer heat, lying on painful beds, rolling on the ground), yet fails to attain the true knowledge or realization of dharma.