Shloka 24
ये च ते पूर्वकथिता धर्मास्ते वनवासिनाम् | यदि सेवन्ति धर्मास्तानाप्रुवन्ति तप:फलम्,पहले जो तुम्हारे समक्ष वनवासियोंके धर्म बताये गये हैं, उन सबका यदि वे पालन करते हैं तो उन्हें अपनी तपस्याका पूर्ण फल मिलता है
ye ca te pūrvakathitā dharmās te vanavāsinām | yadi sevanti dharmās tān āpnuvanti tapaḥphalam ||
Maheshvara said: “Those duties of the forest-dwellers that were previously described to you—if they truly practice and uphold those very dharmas, then they attain the full fruit of their austerity.”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Austerity is not merely hardship; its true ‘fruit’ arises when one actually lives by the prescribed dharmas. Observance (sevana) of right conduct is presented as the condition for tapas to become spiritually effective.
Śrīmaheśvara continues instructing the listener about the dharmas appropriate to forest-dwellers. He concludes this point by stating that if those earlier-described rules are followed, the practitioners attain the complete result of their austerities.