Shloka 56
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
मुनिश्च स्थात् सदा विप्रो वेदांश्वैव सदा जपेत् । त्यागका सम्पादन ही सबसे उत्तम तपस्या है। ब्राह्मणको सदा उपवासी (व्रतपरायण)
muniś ca sthāt sadā vipro vedāṁś caiva sadā japet | tyāga-kā sampādanaṁ hi sarveṣāṁ uttamā tapasyā | brāhmaṇo hi sadopavāsī (vrata-parāyaṇaḥ), brahmacārī, muniḥ, vedānāṁ svādhyāyī ca bhavet | jñātvā nāmāni caivaiṣāṁ sarvān etān vināśaya | vinaṣṭeṣu tathā svairaṁ gaccha yatrepsitaṁ tava | vṛṣādarbhiṇe (uvāca)—yātudhāni! tvaṁ iha-sthānād vane gaccha, tatra aruṇdhatī-sahita-saptarṣīṇāṁ, teṣāṁ dāsyāḥ, tasyāś ca dāsī-pateś ca nāmāni pṛcchitvā, teṣāṁ tātparyaṁ manasi dhāraya | evaṁ sarveṣāṁ nāmnāṁ arthaṁ jñātvā tān vināśaya; tataḥ yatra icchasi tatra gaccha |
毗湿摩说道：“婆罗门应当恒常如牟尼而住——坚定自持，守戒精严，常诵吠陀。成就出离，实为最高苦行。因此婆罗门应常奉持誓戒与斋戒，守梵行，善于观照，并勤于吠陀自学。既已得知他们所有人的名字，便毁灭他们；待其尽灭之后，你便可随意往你所欲之处而去。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The normative teaching is that a brahmin’s highest austerity is renunciation, supported by vows/fasting, celibacy, contemplative life, and constant Vedic recitation and self-study—disciplines aimed at inner purification and dharmic steadiness.
Within Bhishma’s discourse, an embedded episode describes Vṛṣādarbhi instructing a demoness to go to the forest, learn the names of the Seven Sages with Arundhatī (and even their attendants), grasp the meanings of those names, and then use that knowledge to kill them—showing a plot where ‘knowing names’ is treated as a means to exert power.