Shloka 122
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
ब्राह्मणा: क्षत्रिया वैश्या: शूद्रा वर्णावराश्च ये त्वमेव मेघसंघाश्न विद्युत्स्तनितगर्जित:,ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, वैश्य, शूद्र तथा अन्त्यज--ये आपके ही स्वरूप हैं। मेघोंकी घटा, बिजली, गर्जना और गड़गड़ाहट भी आप ही हैं
brāhmaṇāḥ kṣatriyā vaiśyāḥ śūdrā varṇāvarāś ca ye tvam eva meghasaṅghāś ca vidyut-stanita-garjitāḥ
Bhīṣma sprach: «Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas und Śūdras—sowie jene außerhalb der vierfachen Ordnung—sind allesamt wahrhaft deine eigenen Gestalten. Auch die zusammengeballten Wolken, der Blitz und das dröhnende Donnern bist Du.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a vision of the Divine as all-encompassing: social groups (the four varṇas and those beyond them) and natural phenomena (clouds, lightning, thunder) are presented as manifestations of the same ultimate reality, encouraging reverence, humility, and non-sectarian ethical regard.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher spiritual understanding. Here he speaks in a devotional-theological mode, describing the deity’s cosmic pervasiveness by identifying human society and the forces of nature as the deity’s own forms.