Shloka 24
Adhyāya 136: Yavakrī–Bharadvāja Saṃvāda and the Bāladhī–Dhanuṣākṣa Gāthā
Arrogance, Boons, and Nimitta
घोरेण तपसा राजंस्तप्यमानो महत् तपः । संतापयामास भृशं देवेन्द्रमिति नः श्रुतम्,राजन! उसने घोर तपस्याद्वारा महान् तपका संचय करते हुए देवराज इन्द्रको अत्यन्त संतप्त कर दिया; यह बात हमारे सुननेमें आयी है
ghoreṇa tapasā rājan tapyamāno mahat tapaḥ | santāpayāmāsa bhṛśaṃ devendram iti naḥ śrutam ||
Lomaśa said: “O King, we have heard that by undertaking a fierce austerity and steadily enduring it—accumulating a great store of tapas—he severely distressed even Devendra (Indra).”
लोमश उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the potency of tapas: disciplined austerity generates a force so intense that it can unsettle even divine authority. Implicitly, it warns that spiritual power without balance can become disruptive, and it underscores the ethical need to pair ascetic strength with restraint and right intention.
Lomaśa reports a received tradition: someone (spoken of in the surrounding story) performed extremely severe austerities, building immense ascetic power, and this intensity caused Indra himself to become greatly distressed—an omen that the ascetic’s power is becoming formidable.