Shloka 106
नित्यं हनशनादू् वापि नाग्निशुश्रूषणादपि । न चोदकप्रवेशेन न च क्ष्माशयनादपि,मनुष्य पुण्यके प्रभावसे ही उत्तम गतिको प्राप्त होते हैं। उपवास भी पुण्यसे अर्थात् निष्कामभावसे ही शुद्धिका कारण होता है। (बिना शुद्धभावके) केवल फल-मूल खाने, मौन रहने, हवा पीने, सिर मुँड़ाने, एक स्थानपर कुटी बनाकर रहने, सिरपर जटा रखाने, वेदीपर सोने, नित्य उपवास, अग्निसेवन, जलप्रवेश तथा भूमिशयन करनेसे भी शुद्धि नहीं होती है
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | nityaṁ hanaśanād vāpi nāgniśuśrūṣaṇād api | na codakapravēśena na ca kṣmāśayanād api ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “A person does not attain purity or the highest good merely through constant fasting, nor by tending the sacred fire, nor by immersing oneself in water, nor by sleeping on the bare earth. Such outward austerities, when divorced from inner merit and selfless intention, do not by themselves bring true purification or the supreme path.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
External austerities—fasting, fire-ritual service, ritual bathing, and sleeping on the ground—do not by themselves produce purification or the highest good; inner merit and selfless intention are essential.
In the Vana Parva discourse context, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the limits of mere ascetic practices, emphasizing that ethical intention and genuine virtue, not outward observances alone, lead to true spiritual progress.