Shloka 57
Śiva-nāmānukīrtana-prastāvaḥ
Prologue to the praise of Śiva and the Upamanyu testimony
गोचारिणो<5थाश्मकुट्टा दन्तोलूखलिकास्तथा । मरीचिपा: फेनपाश्चव तथैव मृगचारिण:
gocāriṇo ’tha aśmakuṭṭā dantolūkhalikās tathā | marīcipāḥ phenapāś ca tathaiva mṛgacāriṇaḥ ||
Vāsudeva said: “Some undertook the vow of serving cattle and lived and wandered together with the cows. Others lived on food ground upon stone; some even used their teeth as a mortar and pestle. Some sustained themselves by drinking sunbeams and foam; and likewise, many sages adopted the vow of living like deer, roaming in the company of deer.”
वासुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the diversity and extremity of ascetic vows—living with cows, subsisting on minimally processed food, or even on rays and foam—underscoring ideals of self-control, simplicity, and disciplined restraint as recognized forms of dharmic practice.
Vāsudeva is describing various groups of sages/ascetics and the distinctive vows they follow, illustrating different modes of austere living and how some renunciants model their lifestyle on animals (cows or deer) or on highly reduced forms of sustenance.