Shloka 103
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
आप ही यज्ञके निर्वाहक अथवा उसे सब देवताओंतक पहुँचानेवाले अग्निदेव हैं। आप मन और इन्द्रियोंको वशमें रखनेवाले हैं। आप ही भक्तोंका कष्ट देखकर संतप्त होनेवाले तथा शत्रुओंको संताप देनेवाले हैं। आप ही तट हैं। आप ही तटवर्ती नदी आदि हैं तथा आप ही तटोंके पालक हैं। आपको नमस्कार है ।। अन्नदायान्नपतये नमस्त्वन्नभुजे तथा । नमः सहस््रशीर्षाय सहस्रचरणाय च,आप ही अन्नदाता, अन्नपति और अन्नके भोक्ता हैं। आपके सहस्रों मस्तक और सहस्रों चरण हैं। आपको बारंबार प्रणाम है
bhīṣma uvāca | āpa hi yajñasya nirvāhakaḥ athavā taṁ sarva-devatābhyaḥ prāpayitā agnidevaḥ asi | tvaṁ mana-indriyāṇāṁ vaśīkartā asi | tvaṁ bhaktānāṁ duḥkhaṁ dṛṣṭvā santaptaḥ, śatrūṇāṁ ca santāpa-kartā asi | tvaṁ eva taṭaḥ asi | tvaṁ eva taṭavartinī nadī-ādayaḥ asi, tathā tvaṁ eva taṭānāṁ pālakaḥ asi | te namaḥ || annadāya annapataye namas tv annabhuje tathā | namaḥ sahasraśīrṣāya sahasracaraṇāya ca ||
Bhishma said: You are the very sustainer of the sacrifice—indeed, you are Agni who conveys the offering to all the gods. You are the one who brings the mind and senses under control. You burn with compassion on seeing the suffering of devotees, and you scorch enemies with your power. You are the bank that gives boundary and safety; you are also the river and all that abides along the bank, and you are the guardian of those banks. Salutations to you. You are the giver of food, the lord of food, and the enjoyer of food. With a thousand heads and a thousand feet, to you again and again I bow.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents the Supreme as both immanent and transcendent: the power that sustains ritual order (yajña/Agni), grants inner discipline (control of mind and senses), protects devotees with compassionate concern, and governs cosmic nourishment (food as giver, lord, and enjoyer). It frames ethical life as sustained by divine order and self-mastery, while devotion recognizes the One behind all functions.
In Śānti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and related teachings. Here he offers a hymn of praise (stuti), addressing the divine as the universal principle manifesting as sacrificial fire, moral restraint, protection, and cosmic form, culminating in salutations to the all-pervading thousand-headed, thousand-footed Lord.