Shloka 21
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
कभी सूखे पत्ते और पेड़से गिरे हुए फलोंको ही खाकर रह जाता है। इस प्रकार सिद्धि पानेकी अभिलाषासे वह नाना प्रकारके कठोर नियमोंका सेवन करता है ।।
kadā śuṣkāni parṇāni vṛkṣāt patitāni phalāni caiva bhakṣayitvā tiṣṭhati | evaṃ siddhi-prāpty-abhilāṣayā sa nānā-vidhān kaṭhorān niyamān sevate || cāndrāyaṇāni vidhivat liṅgāni vividhāni ca | cāturāśramya-panthānam āśrayaty apathān api ||
Vasiṣṭha dit : «Tantôt il ne vit qu’en mangeant des feuilles sèches et des fruits tombés des arbres. Poussé par le désir d’obtenir l’accomplissement, il s’impose maintes disciplines rigoureuses. Tantôt il accomplit selon la règle le vœu de Cāndrāyaṇa et revêt divers signes religieux extérieurs ; tantôt il suit la voie des quatre āśrama, et tantôt même il se réfugie dans des chemins contraires et impropres.»
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Severe austerities and formal vows can be undertaken from a desire for ‘siddhi’ (attainment), but such ambition may lead to inconsistency—alternating between proper discipline and improper paths, or substituting outward signs for inner restraint. The verse cautions that dharma is not secured by display or extremity alone, but by right intention and steady, lawful conduct.
Vasiṣṭha describes a practitioner who sometimes lives on fallen fruits and dry leaves, sometimes performs the Cāndrāyaṇa vow correctly, and sometimes adopts various religious insignia. Yet his conduct is unstable: he alternates between the legitimate framework of the four āśramas and contrary ways, illustrating a spiritually ambitious but ethically unreliable pattern.