Shloka 5
अशान््त्रविदितं घोर तप्यन्ते ये तपो जना: । दम्भाहंकारसंयुक्ता: कामरागबलान्विता:,जो मनुष्य शास्त्रविधिसे रहित केवल मन:ःकल्पित घोर तपको तपते हैं तथा दम्भ और अहंकारसे युक्तरँ एवं कामना, आसिक्त और बलके अभिमानसे भी युक्त हैं फलको न चाहनेवाले योगी पुरुषोंद्वारा परमश्रद्धासे किये हुए-5 उस पूर्वोक्त तीन प्रकारके तपको सातच््विक कहते हैं
arjuna uvāca | aśāstra-viditaṁ ghoraṁ tapyante ye tapo-janāḥ | dambhāhaṅkāra-saṁyuktāḥ kāma-rāga-balānvitāḥ ||
Arjuna said: Those who undertake severe austerities not sanctioned by the scriptures—people devoted to such penance—torment themselves while driven by hypocrisy and ego, and propelled by desire, attachment, and pride in their own strength. In ethical terms, this points to self-discipline becoming harmful when it is cut off from dharma (scriptural guidance) and fueled by vanity and craving rather than inner purification.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Austerity is not automatically virtuous: when it is not guided by śāstra and is driven by hypocrisy, ego, desire, attachment, and pride, it becomes ethically distorted and spiritually unwholesome.
Arjuna is speaking and characterizing a type of practitioner who performs frightening, self-tormenting penance outside scriptural norms, motivated by vanity and craving—setting up a moral contrast between dharmic discipline and ego-driven self-mortification.