पाण्डुर् उवाच
यदि व्यवसितं ह्य् एतद् युवयोर् धर्मसंहितम् ॥
स्ववृत्तिम् अनुवर्तिष्ये ताम् अहं पितुर् अव्ययाम् ॥
त्यक्तग्राम्यसुखाचारस् तप्यमानो महत् तपः ॥
वल्कली फलमूलाशी चरिष्यामि महावने ॥
अग्निं जुह्वन्न् उभौ कालाव् उभौ कालाव् उपस्पृशन् ॥
कृशः परिमिताहारश् चीरचर्मजटाधरः ॥
शीतवातातपसहः क्षुत्पिपासाश्रमान्वितः ॥
तपसा दुश्चरेणेदं शरीरम् उपशोषयन् ॥
एकान्तशीली विमृशन् पक्वापक्वेन वर्तयन् ॥
पितॄन् देवांश् च वन्येन वाग्भिर् अद्भिश् च तर्पयन् ॥
वानप्रस्थजनस्यापि दर्शनं कुलवासिनाम् ॥
नाप्रियाण्य् आचरञ् जातु किं पुनर् ग्रामवासिनाम् ॥
एवम् आरण्यशास्त्राणाम् उग्रम् उग्रतरं विधिम् ॥
काङ्क्षमाणो ऽहम् आसिष्ये देहस्यास्य समापनात् ॥
pāṇḍur uvāca
yadi vyavasitaṃ hy etad yuvayor dharmasaṃhitam ||
svavṛttim anuvartiṣye tām ahaṃ pitur avyayām ||
tyaktagrāmyasukhācāras tapyamāno mahat tapaḥ ||
valkalī phalamūlāśī cariṣyāmi mahāvane ||
agniṃ juhvann ubhau kālāv ubhau kālāv upaspṛśan ||
kṛśaḥ parimitāhāraś cīracarmajaṭādharaḥ ||
śītavātātapasahaḥ kṣutpipāsāśramānvitaḥ ||
tapasā duścareṇedaṃ śarīram upaśoṣayan ||
ekāntaśīlī vimṛśan pakvāpakvena vartayan ||
pitṝn devāṃś ca vanyena vāgbhir adbhiś ca tarpayan ||
vānaprasthajanasyāpi darśanaṃ kulavāsinām ||
nāpriyāṇy ācarañ jātu kiṃ punar grāmavāsinām ||
evam āraṇyaśāstrāṇām ugram ugrataraṃ vidhim ||
kāṅkṣamāṇo 'ham āsiṣye dehasyāsya samāpanāt ||
Pāṇḍu said: "If this is your decision, in keeping with dharma, I will follow that imperishable way of life of my father: abandoning the ways of worldly pleasure, performing great austerity, clad in bark, living on fruits and roots, I will wander through the great forest; offering oblations to fire twice a day and performing ablutions twice a day, gaunt, moderate in food, wearing rags, hide, and matted hair; enduring cold, wind, and heat, bearing hunger, thirst, and weariness, drying up this body with hard austerity; given to solitude, contemplative, living on ripe and unripe fruit, satisfying the ancestors and the gods with forest fare, with prayers, and with water; so that I never do anything unpleasant even to the forest-dwelling ascetics, still less to villagers. Thus, desiring to keep the stern, even the sternest rule of the forest ordinances, I shall abide until the end of this body."
dc1d9822e06b · publicado 12 jul 2026, 16:30:27 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Here Pāṇḍu lays out in detail the rule of his life in the forest. It is significant how harsh austerity (the wasting of the body, rags, fasting) is joined with unceasing piety (oblations to fire, ablutions, the feeding of ancestors and gods): Pāṇḍu's renunciation is not godless but suffused with worship. Significant, too, is his resolve to "do nothing unpleasant" to anyone -- even to the forest ascetics themselves: the severity of the austerity does not remove gentleness but deepens it. Here is the fullness of vānaprastha and sannyāsa, the stages sanctioned by the Vedas for withdrawal from the world. It is telling that Pāṇḍu sets this course "until the end of the body": his renunciation is final, with no return to power. Yet a shadow of incompleteness also shows through: Pāṇḍu's austerity is a path of self-effort and asceticism, not a path of love and surrender to the Lord; and the very story to come will show that austerity alone is not enough, for the curse will overtake Pāṇḍu even here. Thus the scripture reveals the greatness of renunciation while also hinting at its insufficiency without devotion (bhakti).