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 ||
Maheshvara disse: “Tendo fendido os próprios pés com uma pedra e então abandonado o corpo, ele se regozija entre os Guhyakas. Quem, sustentando-se apenas por si mesmo, torna-se livre das dualidades e sem posses, cumpre uma disciplina votiva por doze anos; e ao fim, ao perfurar os pés com uma pedra e deixar o corpo, tal pessoa alcança o mundo dos Guhyakas e ali desfruta da bem-aventurança.”
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.