Shloka 56
देवि! जो ब्राह्मण नियमपूर्वक रहकर यथोचित रीतिसे वनवास-व्रतकी दीक्षा ले अपने मनको परमात्मचिन्तनमें लगाकर ममताशून्य और धर्मका अभिलाषी होकर बारह वर्षोतक इस मनोगत दीक्षाका पालन करके अरणी-सहित अग्निको वृक्षकी डालीमें बाँधकर अर्थात् अग्निका परित्याग करके अनावृत भावसे यात्रा करता है, सदा वीर मार्गसे चलता है, वीरासनपर बैठता है और वीरकी भाँति खड़ा होता है, वह वीरगतिको प्राप्त होता है ।। स शक्रलोकगो नित्यं सर्वकामपुरस्कृत: । दिव्यपुष्पसमाकीर्णो दिव्यचन्दनभूषित:,वह इन्द्रलोकमें जाकर सदा सम्पूर्ण कामनाओंसे सम्पन्न होता है। उसके ऊपर दिव्य पुष्पोंकी वर्षा होती है तथा वह दिव्य चन्दनसे विभूषित होता है
devi! yo brāhmaṇaḥ niyamapūrvakaṁ rahitvā yathocita-rītyā vanavāsa-vratasya dīkṣāṁ gṛhītvā manasaḥ paramātma-cintane niveśya mamatāśūnyaḥ dharmābhilāṣī ca bhūtvā dvādaśa-varṣāṇi yāvat etāṁ manogatāṁ dīkṣāṁ pālayitvā araṇī-sahitam agniṁ vṛkṣa-śākhāyāṁ baddhvā—arthāt agniṁ parityajya—anāvṛta-bhāvena yātrāṁ karoti, sadā vīra-mārgeṇa gacchati, vīrāsane upaviśati, vīravat tiṣṭhati, sa vīra-gatiṁ prāpnoti. sa śakra-loka-gaḥ nityaṁ sarva-kāma-puraskṛtaḥ, divya-puṣpa-samākīrṇaḥ divya-candana-bhūṣitaḥ.
Maheshvara said: “O Goddess, a brahmin who, living under strict discipline, duly undertakes the vow of forest-dwelling; who fixes his mind on contemplation of the Supreme Self; who is free from possessiveness and intent on dharma; who maintains this inwardly held consecration for twelve years; who then binds the fire together with the fire-drills (araṇi) to a tree-branch—meaning, he relinquishes the household fire—and travels openly without concealment; who always walks on the ‘hero’s path,’ sits in the hero’s posture, and stands like a hero—such a man attains the ‘hero’s destiny.’ Having gone to the world of Shakra (Indra), he is ever endowed with the fulfillment of all desires; he is showered with divine flowers and adorned with divine sandalwood.”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Disciplined ascetic practice—forest-dwelling, sustained inner consecration, meditation on the Supreme Self, and freedom from possessiveness—culminates in a ‘heroic’ spiritual destiny, portrayed as attaining Indra’s world with divine honors.
Maheshvara instructs the Goddess by describing a brahmin-ascetic who undertakes a twelve-year forest vow, then symbolically relinquishes the ritual fire (binding the fire-drills and abandoning the fire), lives openly with heroic discipline (vīra-mārga, vīrāsana), and is said to reach Indraloka, honored with divine flowers and sandalwood.