Shloka 60

Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa

Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results

Devanagari script

विसंज्ञा नाशकद्‌ गर्भ वोढुमात्मानमेव च । सा तु तेज:परीतांगी कम्पयन्तीव जाह्नवी

Transliteration

visaṁjñā nāśakad garbhaṁ voḍhum ātmānam eva ca | sā tu tejaḥ-parītāṅgī kampayantīvā jahnavī, ve acet ho gayīṁ | ataḥ us garbha-ko aur apne-āp-ko bhī na sambhāl sakīṁ | unke sāre aṅg tejasā vyāpta ho rahe the | vipra-vara! us samay jahnavī devī us garbha-kī śakti-se abhibhūt ho kāṁpatī huī-sī agni-se bolīṁ— “bhagavan! maiṁ āpke is teja-ko dhāraṇ karne-meṁ asamarth hūṁ”

Translation

Bhishma said: “Overcome and senseless, she could not bear the embryo, nor even sustain herself. Her limbs were enveloped in blazing energy. O best of Brahmins, at that time the goddess Jahnavi, overwhelmed by the power of that embryo and trembling as though in fire, spoke: ‘O Blessed Lord, I am unable to contain this radiance of yours.’”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'विसंज्ञा (visaṁjñā)', 'definition': 'unconscious

• fainted'}, {'term': 'नाशकत् (nāśakat)', 'definition': 'was not able

• could not (aorist/preterite sense)'}, {'term': 'गर्भ (garbha)', 'definition': 'embryo

• pregnancy'}, {'term': 'वोढुम् (voḍhum)', 'definition': 'to carry

• to sustain'}, {'term': 'आत्मानम् (ātmānam)', 'definition': 'herself

• one’s own self'}, {'term': 'तेजः (tejaḥ)', 'definition': 'radiance

• spiritual power'}, {'term': 'परीताङ्गी (parītāṅgī)', 'definition': 'whose limbs are surrounded/covered (by)

• enveloped-bodied'}, {'term': 'कम्पयन्ती (kampayantī)', 'definition': 'trembling

• shaking'}, {'term': 'जाह्नवी (jāhnavī)', 'definition': 'Jahnavi

• epithet of the river-goddess Ganga'}, {'term': 'विप्रवर (vipravara)', 'definition': 'O best of Brahmins'}, {'term': 'अभिभूत (abhibhūta)', 'definition': 'overpowered

• overwhelmed'}, {'term': 'अग्नि (agni)', 'definition': 'fire

• here: as if in fire/with burning intensity'}, {'term': 'भगवन् (bhagavan)', 'definition': 'O Lord

• venerable one'}, {'term': 'धारण (dhāraṇa)', 'definition': 'holding

• sustaining'}, {'term': 'असमर्थ (asamartha)', 'definition': 'incapable

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• भीष्म (Bhishma)
• जाह्नवी / गङ्गा (Jahnavi/Ganga)
• गर्भ (embryo)
• अग्नि (fire)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage highlights the ethical and spiritual idea that divine or ascetic tejas (radiant power) is not merely physical strength but a force that can overwhelm ordinary capacity; humility and truthful acknowledgment of one’s limits are themselves dharmic responses to overwhelming power.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma narrates that Jahnavi (Ganga), carrying an extraordinarily powerful embryo, becomes faint and trembles as her body is suffused with tejas; she then addresses the Lord, confessing she cannot sustain that blazing energy.