देवद्विजगुरुप्राज्ञपूजनं शौचम् आर्जवम् । ब्रह्मचर्यम् अहिंसा च शारीरं तप उच्यते ॥
deva-dvija-guru-prājña-pūjanaṃ śaucam ārjavam | brahmacaryam ahiṃsā ca śārīraṃ tapa ucyate ||
Bodily tapas: honouring Devas/dvija/guru/wise; purity, straightforwardness, brahmacarya, non-injury.
Word by word (3)
- deva-dvija-guru-prājña-pūjanam śaucam ārjavam
- — worship/honouring (pūjanam) of Devas, twice-born/dvija (brāhmaṇas), Gurus, and the wise (prājña); purity (śauca); straightforwardness/uprightness (ārjava) — the relational + internal qualities
- brahmacaryam ahiṃsā ca
- — continence/celibacy (brahmacarya); and (ca) non-harming/harmlessness (ahiṃsā) — the two restraints completing the eight components of bodily tapas
- śārīraṃ tapa ucyate
- — this is called (ucyate) the tapas of the body (śārīra = bodily) — the word śārīra specifies that these are physical/bodily austerities, to be contrasted with speech-tapas (V15) and mind-tapas (V16)
Worship/reverence of the gods, the twice-born, teachers, and wise ones; purity, uprightness, continence, and non-harming — these are called the austerity of the body.
A modern analogy
Bodily tapas is not fasting or self-torture — it is the discipline of how you carry yourself through the world. Whom do you bow before? Is your body pure? Are your actions upright? Is your energy disciplined? Do you cause harm? These eight qualities describe a person whose body is a refined instrument, not just a vehicle for comfort.
V14-19 give the three-fold tapas teaching — first the CONTENT of proper tapas (V14-16: body, speech, mind) and then the three guṇa-varieties (V17-19: sāttvic/rājasic/tāmasic). V14 defines bodily tapas as eight qualities — notably not including fasting, extreme postures, or mortification. This is the śāstric response to V5-6's āsurī tapas: what does legitimate bodily tapas actually look like?
The list in V14 is distinctly relational: deva-dvija-guru-prājña-pūjana names four types of beings worthy of reverence. The body's highest tapas is expressed first through RIGHT RELATIONSHIP — knowing whom to honor. The four represent the cosmic (Devas), the ritually initiated (dvija), the teaching relationship (guru), and wisdom itself (prājña). Only after this does V14 list the personal virtues: śauca, ārjava, brahmacarya, ahiṃsā. Body first serves others, then governs itself.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Worshipping the Gods, the twice-born, teachers and wise men — purity, straightforwardness, continence, and abstinence from injury are termed the bodily austerity. [1]
Worship of the Devas, the twice-born, the Gurus, and the wise; purity, straightforwardness, continence, and non-injury are called the austerity of the body. [4]
Reverence to the gods, the twice-born, preceptors, and wise men; purity, straightforwardness, continence, and harmlessness — these are called the penance of the body. [9]
Reverence to the gods, regenerate ones, preceptors, and men of knowledge, purity, uprightness, the practices of a Brahmacharin, and abstention from injury, are said to constitute the penance of the body. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Supreme bliss comes naturally to the yogi whose mind is fully at peace, passion quieted, stainless — Brahman-become.
Who measures others' joy and pain by the standard of their own — seeing the same everywhere — is the supreme yogi.
More daivī qualities: ahiṃsā, satya, akrodha, tyāga, śānti, apaiśuna, dayā, aloluptva, mārdava, hrī, acāpala.
Peaceful, fearless, vowed to brahmacharya, mind on Krishna — yoked in practice, with the Supreme as the final goal.
Practising thus always, with a controlled mind — the yogi reaches the supreme peace of nirvāṇa, abiding in the Supreme.
Where the mind ceases, stilled by yoga — where the Self sees itself and rests content in itself: this is samādhi.