Shloka 25
Atithi-prāpti and the Brāhmaṇa’s Deliberation on Triadic Dharma (अतिथिप्राप्तिः धर्मत्रयविचारश्च)
मया हि सुमहत् तप्तं तप: परमदारुणम् | भूतं भव्यं भविष्यं च जानीयामिति सत्तमा:
mayā hi sumahat taptaṁ tapaḥ paramadāruṇam | bhūtaṁ bhavyaṁ bhaviṣyaṁ ca jānīyām iti sattamāḥ ||
« Ô disciples, les meilleurs parmi les vertueux : j’ai, en vérité, pratiqué une austérité immense, d’une rigueur extrême et douloureuse, afin de connaître le passé, le présent et l’avenir. »
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes that profound knowledge—especially insight into the workings of time and causality—requires intense self-discipline (tapas). It frames knowledge as something earned through ethical rigor and sustained effort, not merely acquired intellectually.
Vaiśaṃpāyana, speaking to worthy listeners, recounts that he undertook extremely severe austerities with the specific aim of gaining knowledge of the three times—past, present, and future—setting up an account of how such insight was attained.