Shloka 17
कपिलगोसंवादे गृहस्थ-त्यागधर्मयोः प्रमाण्यविचारः
Kapila–Cow Dialogue: Authority of Householder and Renunciant Dharmas
ततः कदाचित् स मुनिर्वर्षास्वाकाशमास्थित: । अन्तरिक्षाज्जलं मूर्ध्ना प्रत्यगृह्नान्मुहुर्मुहु:
tataḥ kadācit sa munir varṣāsv ākāśam āsthitaḥ | antarīkṣāj jalaṁ mūrdhnā pratyagṛhṇān muhur muhuḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: Then, on one occasion, when the rainy season arrived, that sage stood out in the open beneath the sky. Again and again he received upon his head the pounding torrents of water falling from the heavens—enduring the blows of the downpour as a deliberate act of austerity and self-discipline.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights tapas—voluntary endurance of hardship—as a means of cultivating self-mastery and forbearance. By consciously accepting discomfort (the repeated impact of heavy rain), the ascetic trains steadiness of mind and commitment to dharma.
A sage, during the rainy season, stands under the open sky and repeatedly lets the rain strike his head, deliberately receiving the downpour as part of his ascetic observance.