Shloka 24
Pratyakṣa–Āgama–Ācāra: Doubt, Proof, and the Practice of Dharma (प्रत्यक्ष–आगम–आचारविचारः)
ये च ते पूर्वकथिता धर्मास्ते वनवासिनाम् | यदि सेवन्ति धर्मास्तानाप्रुवन्ति तप:फलम्
ye ca te pūrvakathitā dharmās te vanavāsinām | yadi sevanti dharmās tān āpnuvanti tapaḥphalam ||
Maheshvara dit : «Ces devoirs des habitants de la forêt qui t’ont été décrits auparavant—s’ils les pratiquent et les maintiennent véritablement, alors ils obtiennent le plein fruit de leur austérité.»
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Austerity is not merely hardship; its true ‘fruit’ arises when one actually lives by the prescribed dharmas. Observance (sevana) of right conduct is presented as the condition for tapas to become spiritually effective.
Śrīmaheśvara continues instructing the listener about the dharmas appropriate to forest-dwellers. He concludes this point by stating that if those earlier-described rules are followed, the practitioners attain the complete result of their austerities.