मानसतीर्थ-शौचप्रशंसा | Praise of the ‘Mental Tīrtha’ and the Marks of Purity
सप्तविंशेडथ दिवसे य: कुयदिकभोजनम्,जो बारह महीनोंतक प्रतिदिन अग्निहोत्र करता हुआ हर सत्ताईसवें दिन एक बार भोजन करता है, वह प्रचुर फलका भागी होता और देवलोकमें सम्मान पाता है
saptaviṁśe ’tha divase yaḥ kuryād ekabhajanam, yo dvādaśa māsān yāvat pratidinam agnihotraṁ kurvan harasaptaviṁśe dine ekavāraṁ bhuṅkte, sa pracuraphalabhāgī bhavati devaloke ca sammānaṁ prāpnoti.
Bhishma berkata: “Sesiapa yang menempuh disiplin makan hanya sekali pada setiap hari kedua puluh tujuh, dan selama dua belas bulan melaksanakan Agnihotra setiap hari sambil mengambil makanan hanya sekali pada hari kedua puluh tujuh itu—dia menjadi penerima pahala yang melimpah dan dihormati di alam para dewa.”
भीष्म उवाच
Sustained self-restraint joined with faithful daily ritual (Agnihotra) is presented as a powerful dharmic discipline that yields abundant spiritual merit and an honored posthumous destiny.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma and vows, he describes a specific observance: for a full year one performs Agnihotra every day while restricting food to a single meal taken only once every twenty-seven days, and he states the heavenly reward for such austerity.