Shloka 15

Devanagari script

एतत्‌ समृद्धमप्यूर्थ्य तपो भवति केवलम्‌ | सत्त्वात्‌ प्रच्यवमानानां संकल्पेन समाहितम्‌,जो (वैराग्यकी कमीके कारण) सत्त्वसे भ्रष्ट हो गये हैं, ऐसे मनुष्योंके दिव्य लोकोंकी प्राप्तिके संकल्पसे संचित किया हुआ यह इन्द्रियनिग्रहरूप तप समृद्ध होनेपर भी केवल ऊर्ध्वलोकोंकी प्राप्तिका कारण होता है [मुक्तिका नहीं]

Transliteration

etat samṛddham apy ūrdhvya tapaḥ bhavati kevalam | sattvāt pracyavamānānāṁ saṅkalpena samāhitam ||

Translation

Sanatsujāta said: “Even when it becomes abundant and well-developed, this austerity—consisting in restraint of the senses—remains merely a means to attain higher worlds, if it is gathered and sustained by a deliberate resolve in those who have fallen away from sattva. Lacking dispassion, such practice yields heavenly ascent, not liberation.”

Word by Word

एतत्this

समृद्धम्well-endowed, abundant

अपिeven, although

ऊर्ध्व्यleading upward (to higher worlds)

तपःausterity, penance

भवतिbecomes, is

केवलम्only, merely

सत्त्वात्from goodness/steadfastness (sattva)

प्रच्यवमानानाम्of those who are falling away

संकल्पेनby/with an intention, resolve

समाहितम्collected, concentrated, composed

Speaker

सनत्युजात उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanatsujāta

tapas (austerity)

sattva

ūrdhva-loka (higher worlds)

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Austerity based on sense-restraint can be powerful, but if it is driven by intention for heavenly reward—especially in one who has slipped from sattvic clarity due to lack of dispassion—it produces only higher-world attainment, not liberation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Sanatsujāta’s instruction to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he distinguishes between spiritually liberating discipline and merit-producing discipline: the same outward practice (tapas/indriya-nigraha) yields different results depending on inner quality (sattva) and motive (saṅkalpa).