Shloka 115
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
उन्मादन शतावर्त गज्भातोयाद्रमूर्थज । चन्द्रावर्त युगावर्त मेघावर्त नमो<स्तु ते,आप जगत्को उन्माद (मोह)-में डालनेवाले हैं। आपके मस्तकपर गंगाजीकी सैकड़ों लहरें और भँवरें उठती रहती हैं। आपके केश सदा गंगाजलसे भीगे रहते हैं। आप चन्द्रमाको क्षय-वृद्धिके चक्करमें डालनेवाले हैं। आप ही युगोंकी पुनरावृत्ति करनेवाले और मेघोंके प्रवर्तक हैं। आपको नमस्कार है
unmādana-śatāvarta-gaṅgā-bhātoya-ārdra-mūrdhaja | candrāvarta-yugāvarta-meghāvarta namo 'stu te ||
Bhishma said: O Lord who casts the worlds into bewilderment, upon whose head the Ganga rises in hundreds of waves and whirlpools, whose matted locks are ever drenched with her waters; O One who sets the moon into its cycle of waning and waxing, who turns the ages in recurring revolutions, and who sets the clouds in motion—salutations to you.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches reverent recognition of the divine as the regulator of cosmic processes—delusion and clarity, lunar time, the turning of ages, and the movement of clouds—suggesting that dharma is lived best with humility before the vast forces that shape human perception and the natural world.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira and, in the course of his discourse, offers a hymn of praise describing the deity’s cosmic attributes—Ganga in the matted locks, the moon’s cycles, recurring yugas, and cloud-movements—ending with a formal salutation.