Shloka 23
Vidyā–Avidyā and the Twenty-Fifth Principle
Sāṃkhya–Yoga Clarification
नाप्राप्यं तपस: किंचित् त्रैलोक्येडपि परंतप । उपभोगपरित्याग: फलान्यकृतकर्मणाम्,परंतप! त्रिलोकीमें कोई ऐसी वस्तु नहीं है, जो तपस्यासे प्राप्त न हो सके; किंतु जिन्होंने काम्य अथवा निषिद्ध कर्म नहीं किये हैं, उनकी तपस्याका फल सुखभोगोंका परित्याग ही है
nāprāpyaṃ tapasaḥ kiṃcit trailokye ’pi paraṃtapa | upabhoga-parityāgaḥ phalāny akṛta-karmaṇām, paraṃtapa ||
Parāśara said: “O scorcher of foes, there is nothing anywhere in the three worlds that cannot be attained through austerity. Yet for those who have not performed desire-driven or forbidden acts, the fruit of their austerity is precisely this: the renunciation of sense-enjoyments.”
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Austerity has immense power—nothing in the three worlds is beyond it. But the highest and most fitting result of tapas for the ethically restrained (those not driven by desire or transgression) is not acquisition; it is growing detachment and the renunciation of sense-pleasures.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, the sage Parāśara addresses a heroic listener (“Paraṃtapa”), contrasting worldly attainments possible through tapas with the superior spiritual outcome: renunciation for those whose conduct is free from desire-based or forbidden actions.