स तु ज्ञानगरीयस्त्वात् तपसश् च समन्वयात् ॥
अवतस्थे महाप्राज्ञो धैर्येण परमेण ह ॥
यस् त्व् अस्य सहसा राजन् विकारः समपद्यत ॥
तेन सुस्राव रेतो ऽस्य स च तन् नावबुध्यत ॥
स विहायाश्रमं तं च तां चैवाप्सरसं मुनिः ॥
जगाम रेतस् तत् तस्य शरस्तम्बे पपात ह ॥
शरस्तम्बे च पतितं द्विधा तद् अभवन् नृप ॥
तस्याथ मिथुनं जज्ञे गौतमस्य शरद्वतः ॥
sa tu jñānagarīyastvāt tapasaś ca samanvayāt ||
avatasthe mahāprājño dhairyeṇa parameṇa ha ||
yas tv asya sahasā rājan vikāraḥ samapadyata ||
tena susrāva reto 'sya sa ca tan nāvabudhyata ||
sa vihāyāśramaṃ taṃ ca tāṃ caivāpsarasaṃ muniḥ ||
jagāma retas tat tasya śarastambe papāta ha ||
śarastambe ca patitaṃ dvidhā tad abhavan nṛpa ||
tasyātha mithunaṃ jajñe gautamasya śaradvataḥ ||
"But he, by the weight of his knowledge and by his possession of austerity, stood firm, the wise one, with the utmost steadiness. Yet the change that suddenly arose in him, O king — from it his seed flowed forth, and he did not notice it. Leaving that hermitage and that apsaras, the sage departed; and his seed fell upon a clump of reeds, and, falling upon the reed clump, it split in two, O king — and thus twins were born to Gautama Sharadvat."
23a62b2fec3d · published Jul 12, 2026, 4:41:49 PM UTC
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Here both the strength and the limit of the ascetic reveal themselves. It is significant how twofold this is: in mind and will Sharadvan "stood firm with the utmost steadiness" — he did not fall, did not unite with the apsaras; and yet his body involuntarily yielded. Here is a fine distinction: one can stand firm in will and still be wounded in one's nature, so long as the body itself is not mastered; victory over temptation is incomplete if the flesh still responds. Significant too is the wondrous birth from the reeds: even the seed that issued involuntarily from the ascetic, filled with the power of tapas, is not lost but gives rise to life — twins. In this lies the might of accumulated austerity, which bears fruit even apart from ordinary conception. Thus scripture shows the birth of Kripa and Kripi — children of power, born not of passion but of an ascetic who stood firm yet was wounded; in their very origin lies both the grandeur of tapas and a reminder of the fragility of the flesh.