Depletion of Personal Power of Penance.
Courtesy;Sri.Anantanarayanan Vaidyanathan from


अपमानात्तपोवृद्धिः सन्मानात्तपसः क्षयः।

अर्चितः पूजितो विप्रो दुग्धा गौरिव सीदति॥
आप्यायते यथाहस्तु तृणैरमृतसंभवैः।
एवं जपैश्च होमैश्च पुनराप्याते द्विजः॥
॥आपस्तंबः॥
apamānāttapovṛddhiḥ sanmānāttapasaḥ kṣayaḥ|
arcitaḥ pūjito vipro dugdhā gauriva sīdati||
āpyāyate yathāhastu tṛṇairamṛtasaṁbhavaiḥ|
evaṁ japaiśca homaiśca punarāpyāte dvijaḥ||
|'apastaṁbaḥ||

Some of my friends had raised a query whether a person having divine and spiritual powers will have those powers reduced or depleted if he blesses others and passes his spiritual power in that process.
A quote from the Dharmsastra of Apastambha.
(the text is given above)
If the tapas(or penance) of a person is ignored or not taken note of by others, the power continues to increase..
If the powers are noticed by others and the person is respected and worshiped for that reason the tapas or the power of penance gets depleted..
When a learned man is offered respects, his powers are actually taken away from him like a cow which is milched.
After receiving such worship, the learned man becomes almost powerless..
This is similar to what happens to a cow. When a cow is milched in the morning, it becomes weak.. but during the day the cow eats grass which is like amrutam or elixir for it and she becomes energetic again and her udders are filled with milk..
In the same way, the learned man regenerates his depleted power of penance by meditation, chanting of mantras and offering oblations to fire..

The quote from Apastambha is also seen in Bhaskara Raya's vyakhyanam of Lalitha Sahasranamam.. while explaining the meaning of the name
"Viprapriyaa" विप्रप्रिया( Saubhagyabhaskara Bhaashyam)