Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 104
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
पितृलोकसमीपस्थास्त उज्छन्ति यथाविधि । इनके अतिरिक्त दूसरे भी बहुत-से शुद्धचित्त, दयाधर्मपरायण एवं पुण्यात्मा संत हैं, जिनमें कुछ चक्रचर (चक्रके समान विचरनेवाले), कुछ सोमलोकमें रहनेवाले तथा कुछ पितृलोकके निकट निवास करनेवाले हैं। ये सब शास्त्रीय विधिके अनुसार उज्छवृत्तिसे जीविका चलाते हैं || १०३ $ ।।
pitṛlokasamīpasthās ta ujjhanti yathāvidhi | samprakṣālāśmakutṭāśn dantolūkhalikāśn te |
Śrī Maheśvara said: “There are also many other pure-minded, compassionate, dharma‑devoted, and meritorious ascetics—some who move in a ‘wheel-like’ course, some who dwell in the Soma-world, and some who reside near the realm of the Pitṛs. All of them sustain themselves according to scriptural rule by the ujjha mode of livelihood (living on what is left over). Among them, some are called samprakṣāla, some aśmakutṭa, and some dantolūkhalika. Living near the deities known as Soma‑drinkers and heat‑drinkers, they maintain themselves without wives, restrain their senses, and continue their austere, leftover-based subsistence in accordance with dharma.”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage praises disciplined ascetic livelihoods that follow śāstric rules: living on what is left over (ujjhavṛtti), remaining celibate, and practicing strict sense-restraint. Ethical purity (śuddhacitta), compassion (dayā), and steadfastness in dharma are presented as the defining virtues of such renunciants.
Maheśvara enumerates different classes of austere sages and where they dwell (near Pitṛloka or in Somaloka), describing their distinctive modes of subsistence (samprakṣāla, aśmakutṭa, dantolūkhalika) and their proximity to certain deities (Somapa and Uṣṇapa), emphasizing their regulated, renunciant way of life.