Shloka 105

Devanagari script

बालानुचरगोप्ताय बालक्रीडनकाय च । नमो वृद्धाय लुब्धाय क्षुब्धाय क्षोभणाय च,आप श्रीकृष्णरूपसे संगी-साथी बालकोंके रक्षक तथा बालकोंके साथ खेल करनेवाले हैं। आप सबकी अपेक्षा वृद्ध हैं। भक्ति और प्रेमके लोभी हैं। दुष्टोंके पापाचारसे क्षुब्ध हो उठते है और दुराचारियोंको क्षोभमें डालनेवाले हैं। आपको नमस्कार है

Transliteration

bālānucaragoptāya bālakrīḍanakāya ca | namo vṛddhāya lubdhāya kṣubdhāya kṣobhaṇāya ca ||

Translation

Bhishma said: Salutations to you who protect the children and their companions, and who delight in playing with them. Salutations to you who are the eldest of all, who yearn for devotion and love, who are stirred with righteous indignation at the sins of the wicked, and who cast wrongdoers into agitation—shaking them from their unrighteous ways.

Word by Word

• {'bāla': 'child

• young one', 'anucara': 'follower

• companion', 'goptṛ/goptā': 'protector

• guardian', 'bālakrīḍana': 'playing with children

• childlike sport', 'namo': 'salutation

• homage', 'vṛddha': 'elder

• venerable', 'lubdha': 'eager

• ‘greedy’ (here: longing for devotion/love)', 'kṣubdha': 'agitated

• moved (often by moral outrage)', 'kṣobhaṇa': 'one who causes agitation

• one who unsettles (here: of wrongdoers)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Śrī Kṛṣṇa
• bāla (children)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames the divine ideal as both tender and corrective: the Lord lovingly protects and plays with the innocent, yet becomes morally stirred by evil and actively unsettles wrongdoers. It presents dharma as compassionate guardianship combined with firm opposition to adharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma offers a hymn of praise to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, describing his qualities through epithets—guardian of children, playful companion, the most venerable, desirous of devotees’ love, and the one who is provoked by sinners and who provokes the wicked into turmoil.