Shloka 10

Tapas-śreṣṭhatā: Anāśana as the Highest Austerity

Bhagīratha–Brahmā Saṃvāda

Devanagari script

यच्चावसं जाह्नवीतीरनित्य: शतं समास्तप्यमानस्तपो5हम्‌ । अदां च तत्रा श्वतरीसहस्रं नारीपुरं न च तेनाहमागाम्‌

Transliteration

yaccāvasaṁ jāhnavītīranityaḥ śataṁ samās tapyamānas tapo 'ham | adāṁ ca tatrāśvatarīsahasraṁ nārīpuraṁ na ca tenāham āgām ||

Translation

Bhagīratha dit : «Bien que j’aie vécu sans relâche sur la rive de la Jāhnavī (la Gaṅgā) et pratiqué de rudes austérités durant cent années entières, et bien que j’y aie donné en aumône des milliers de mules et des groupes entiers de jeunes filles, je ne suis pas parvenu à cet état par la puissance de ce mérite.»

Word by Word

• {'yad ca (yacca)': 'and even that which

• moreover', 'āvasaṁ': 'I dwelt, I resided', 'jāhnavī': 'the river Gaṅgā (so called as daughter of Jahnu)', 'tīra': 'bank, shore', 'nityaḥ': 'constantly, always', 'śatam': 'a hundred', 'samāḥ (samās)': 'years', 'tapyamānaḥ': 'performing austerity

• being engaged in tapas', 'tapaḥ': 'austerity, ascetic discipline', 'aham': 'I', 'adām': 'I gave (in charity)', 'tatra': 'there', 'aśvatarī': 'she-mule (female mule)', 'sahasram': 'a thousand

• thousands', 'nārī-puram': 'a multitude/group/host of women (maidens)', 'na ca': 'and yet not', 'tena': 'by that

• through that (merit)', 'āgām': 'I came

Speaker

भगीरथ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhagīratha
• Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā)
• river bank (tīra)
• aśvatarī (she-mules)
• nārīpura (groups of maidens/women)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhagīratha emphasizes that even great tapas and lavish dāna do not automatically guarantee the highest spiritual outcome; external merit alone is not the decisive cause, implying the need for deeper inner virtue, right intention, or a higher principle of dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhagīratha recounts his long residence on the Gaṅgā’s bank, his hundred-year austerity, and his extensive gifts (thousands of she-mules and groups of maidens), then states that despite such merit he did not attain his present state by that alone—setting up a discussion on what truly leads to the intended spiritual result.