Shloka 23
Vidyā–Avidyā and the Twenty-Fifth Principle
Sāṃkhya–Yoga Clarification
नाप्राप्यं तपस: किंचित् त्रैलोक्येडपि परंतप । उपभोगपरित्याग: फलान्यकृतकर्मणाम्
nāprāpyaṃ tapasaḥ kiṃcit trailokye ’pi paraṃtapa | upabhoga-parityāgaḥ phalāny akṛta-karmaṇām, paraṃtapa ||
Parāśara dit : « Ô fléau des ennemis, dans les trois mondes il n’est rien qui ne puisse être obtenu par l’austérité (tapas). Pourtant, pour ceux qui n’ont pas accompli d’actes dictés par le désir ni d’actes interdits, le fruit de leur austérité est ceci même : le renoncement aux plaisirs des sens. »
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Austerity has immense power—nothing in the three worlds is beyond it. But the highest and most fitting result of tapas for the ethically restrained (those not driven by desire or transgression) is not acquisition; it is growing detachment and the renunciation of sense-pleasures.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, the sage Parāśara addresses a heroic listener (“Paraṃtapa”), contrasting worldly attainments possible through tapas with the superior spiritual outcome: renunciation for those whose conduct is free from desire-based or forbidden actions.