Shloka 11
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
भस्मप्रस्तरशायी च भूमिशय्या तलेषु च । वीरस्थानाम्बुपड़के च शयनं फलकेषु च
bhasmaprastaraśāyī ca bhūmiśayyā taleṣu ca | vīrasthānāmbupaḍake ca śayanaṃ phalakeṣu ca ||
Vasiṣṭha disse: “Ele se deita em leitos de cinza e pedra; às vezes dorme na terra nua e em chão duro. Às vezes repousa na postura do herói; às vezes jaz entre água e lama; e às vezes sobre tábuas de madeira e catres improvisados.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights detachment (vairāgya) through endurance of extremes: the disciplined person accepts any resting place—ashes, stone, earth, mud, or a plank—without craving comfort, indicating mastery over bodily preference and steadiness in dharma.
Vasiṣṭha is describing the varied, often harsh conditions in which an austere practitioner lives and sleeps. The catalogue of places and postures functions as a moral portrait of renunciant discipline rather than a literal travelogue.