Shloka 56
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
मुनिश्च स्थात् सदा विप्रो वेदांश्वैव सदा जपेत् । त्यागका सम्पादन ही सबसे उत्तम तपस्या है। ब्राह्मणको सदा उपवासी (व्रतपरायण)
muniś ca sthāt sadā vipro vedāṁś caiva sadā japet | tyāga-kā sampādanaṁ hi sarveṣāṁ uttamā tapasyā | brāhmaṇo hi sadopavāsī (vrata-parāyaṇaḥ), brahmacārī, muniḥ, vedānāṁ svādhyāyī ca bhavet | jñātvā nāmāni caivaiṣāṁ sarvān etān vināśaya | vinaṣṭeṣu tathā svairaṁ gaccha yatrepsitaṁ tava | vṛṣādarbhiṇe (uvāca)—yātudhāni! tvaṁ iha-sthānād vane gaccha, tatra aruṇdhatī-sahita-saptarṣīṇāṁ, teṣāṁ dāsyāḥ, tasyāś ca dāsī-pateś ca nāmāni pṛcchitvā, teṣāṁ tātparyaṁ manasi dhāraya | evaṁ sarveṣāṁ nāmnāṁ arthaṁ jñātvā tān vināśaya; tataḥ yatra icchasi tatra gaccha |
Bhīṣma dijo: «Un brahmán debe vivir siempre como un sabio: firme, disciplinado y recitando sin cesar los Vedas. La consumación de la renuncia es, en verdad, la austeridad más alta. Por ello, el brahmán ha de ser siempre devoto de votos y ayunos, célibe, contemplativo y entregado al estudio de los Vedas. Habiendo aprendido los nombres de todos ellos, destrúyelos; y, una vez destruidos, ve libremente adonde te plazca.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The normative teaching is that a brahmin’s highest austerity is renunciation, supported by vows/fasting, celibacy, contemplative life, and constant Vedic recitation and self-study—disciplines aimed at inner purification and dharmic steadiness.
Within Bhishma’s discourse, an embedded episode describes Vṛṣādarbhi instructing a demoness to go to the forest, learn the names of the Seven Sages with Arundhatī (and even their attendants), grasp the meanings of those names, and then use that knowledge to kill them—showing a plot where ‘knowing names’ is treated as a means to exert power.