Shloka 4
श्रीशक्रसंवादः — The Dialogue of Śrī
Lakṣmī) and Śakra (Indra
भीष्म उवाच मासपक्षोपवासेन मन्यन्ते यत् तपो जना: । आत्मतन्त्रोपघातस्तु न तपस्तत्सतां मतम्
bhīṣma uvāca māsa-pakṣopavāsena manyante yat tapo janāḥ | ātma-tantro-paghātas tu na tapas tat satāṃ matam ||
Bhishma said: “O King, ordinary people think that austerity consists in fasting for a month or a fortnight. But such a practice, when it becomes a self-willed harming of one’s own body, is not regarded as true austerity by the wise.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma distinguishes genuine tapas (disciplined, dharmic self-restraint) from mere extreme fasting that damages the body; the wise do not call self-harming practices ‘austerity’.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Shanti Parva, he advises the king on the nature of true religious discipline, correcting a common belief that long fasts alone constitute tapas.