Shloka 3.6.2
षष्ठस्सर्गः — तपस्विरक्षणे राजधर्मोपदेशः (Sarga 6: The Sages’ Appeal and Instruction on Royal Duty)
वैखानसा वालखिल्यास्सम्प्रक्षाला मरीचिपाः।अश्मकुट्टाश्च बहवः पत्राहाराश्च तापसाः।।।।दन्तोलूखलिनश्चैव तथैवोन्मज्जकाः परे।गात्रशय्या अशय्याश्च तथैवाभ्रावकाशकाः।।।।मुनयस्सलिलाहारावायुभक्षा स्तथापरे।आकाशनिलयाश्चैव तथा स्थण्डिलशायिनः।।।।व्रतोपवासिनो दान्तास्तथाऽर्द्रपटवाससः।सजपाश्च तपोनित्यास्तथा पञ्चतपोऽन्विताः।।।।सर्वे ब्राह्म्या श्रिया जुष्टा दृढयोगास्समाहिताः।शरभङ्गाश्रमे राममभिजग्मुश्च तापसाः।।।।
vaikhānasā vālakhilyāḥ samprakṣālā marīcipāḥ | aśmakuṭṭāś ca bahavaḥ patrāhārāś ca tāpasāḥ ||
dantolūkhalinaś caiva tathaivonmajjakāḥ pare | gātraśayyā aśayyāś ca tathaivābhrāvakāśakāḥ ||
munayaḥ salilāhārā vāyubhakṣās tathāpare | ākāśanilayāś caiva tathā sthaṇḍilaśāyinaḥ ||
vratopavāsino dāntās tathārdrapaṭavāsasaḥ | sajapāś ca taponityās tathā pañcatapo'nvitāḥ ||
sarve brāhmyā śriyā juṣṭā dṛḍhayogāḥ samāhitāḥ | śarabhaṅgāśrame rāmam abhijagmuś ca tāpasāḥ ||
Vaikhānasas and Vālakhilyas; those who ceaselessly purify themselves; those who “drink the rays”; many who mortify the body with stones and many who live on leaves; those with teeth like a mortar, and others who perform austerities immersed in water; those who sleep upon their own bodies without comforts, those who never lie down, and those who live exposed to cloud and sky; sages who subsist on water, and others who subsist on air; those who dwell beneath the open heavens and those who sleep on bare ground; observers of vows and fasts, the self-restrained, those clad in perpetually wet garments; those devoted to japa, those constant in tapas, and those practicing the five-fire austerity—all of them endowed with brahmanic radiance, firm in yoga, and deeply collected—came to Rāma at Śarabhaṅga’s hermitage.
Vaikhanasas, Valakhilyas, sages who continuously wash their bodies, Marichakas Asmakuttas sages who live on leaves only, those who have teeth like mortar, Unmajjakas, those who use limbs as their bed, those who practise penance without using a bed, those who do penance in the open, unmindful of rain or Sun or wind, those who live on water only, those who penance under the open sky, those who carry on penance on high places like the mountaintop, those who recline on bare ground only, those who observe fast as a part of religious tradition, those selfrestrained men, those who mutter sacred mantras, those who constantly perform penance and those who stand under the blazing Sun in summer placing fire on four sides while performing penanceall these types of sages met Rama in the hermitage of Sarabhanga.
Dharma is shown as disciplined living: varied forms of tapas and restraint aimed at inner purity and truth, forming the moral fabric that rākṣasa-violence threatens.
A wide range of ascetic communities gather and approach Rāma at Śarabhaṅga’s hermitage, setting the stage for their plea and Rāma’s response.
The sages’ virtue is austerity with steadiness (dṛḍhayoga, samādhāna), portraying spiritual authority grounded in self-control.