Shloka 50
Pratyakṣa–Āgama–Ācāra: Doubt, Proof, and the Practice of Dharma (प्रत्यक्ष–आगम–आचारविचारः)
अश्मना चरणोौ भित्त्वा गुह्॒ुकेषु स मोदते । साधयित्वा55त्मना>5>5त्मान निर्दधन्द्धो निष्परिग्रह:
aśmanā caraṇau bhittvā guhakeṣu sa modate | sādhayitvā ātmanā ātmānaṃ nirdvandvo niṣparigrahaḥ ||
കല്ലുകൊണ്ട് സ്വന്തം പാദങ്ങൾ പിളർത്തി അവൻ ഗുഹ്യകരുടെ ഇടയിൽ ആനന്ദിക്കുന്നു. ആത്മസാധനയാൽ സ്വയം സിദ്ധിച്ചവൻ—ദ്വന്ദ്വരഹിതനും പരിഗ്രഹരഹിതനും ആകുന്നു.
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse praises rigorous ascetic discipline: living with self-reliance, freedom from dualities, and non-possessiveness. Such sustained vow-observance is presented as producing a specific posthumous spiritual reward—attainment of the Guhyaka realm—highlighting the Mahabharata’s theme that inner restraint and renunciation can yield transcendent results.
Maheśvara describes the fate of an ascetic who completes a long vow (twelve years, per the accompanying gloss), lives without possessions and without being shaken by opposites, and finally relinquishes the body through an extreme act involving a stone and his feet. The narrative outcome is that he reaches the world of the Guhyakas and experiences joy there.