Shloka 44
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
नित्योपलेपनं धर्मस्तथा नित्योपवासिता । पति और पत्नीका स्वभाव एक-सा होना चाहिये। यह गृहस्थका धर्म है। घरके देवताओंकी प्रतिदिन पुष्पोंद्वारा पूजा करना, उन्हें अन्नकी बलि समर्पित करना, रोज-रोज घर लीपना और प्रतिदिन व्रत रखना भी गृहस्थका धर्म है ।।
nityopalepanaṁ dharmas tathā nityopavāsitā | susammṛṣṭopalipte ca sājya-dhūmo bhaved gṛhe ||
Śrī Maheśvara said: “For a householder, it is a duty to keep the home regularly plastered and purified, and to observe regular fasting or disciplined vows. In a dwelling that has been well swept and freshly plastered, one should offer oblations with ghee so that the sanctifying smoke pervades the house. This is declared to be the Brahmin’s householder-dharma—protective of the world—maintained continually in the homes of the virtuous.”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames household cleanliness and disciplined observance (regular plastering/purification of the home, and regular fasting/vows) as essential gṛhastha-dharma, and adds that ghee-offerings producing sanctifying smoke in a well-cleaned, plastered house are part of the Brahmin householder’s protective duty toward social and cosmic order.
Śrī Maheśvara is instructing about proper conduct for householders—especially Brahmin householders—describing concrete daily practices of cleanliness and ritual offering that sustain dharma and are said to contribute to the welfare and protection of the world.