Shloka 153
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
शश: शशाड्क: शमन: शीतोष्णक्षुज्जराधिकृत् । आधयो व्याधयश्रैव व्याधिहा व्याधिरेव च,आप अधर्मके नाशक, महापार्श्च, चण्डधार, गणाधिप, गोनर्द, गौओंको आपत्तिसे बचानेवाले, नन्न्दीकी सवारी करनेवाले, त्रैलोक्यरक्षक, गोविन्द (श्रीकृष्णरूप), गोमार्ग (इन्द्रियोंके संचालक), अमार्ग (इन्द्रियोंके अगोचर), श्रेष्ठ, स्थिर, स्थाणु, निष्कम्प, कम्प, दुर्वरण (जिनका सामना करना कठिन है, ऐसे), दुर्विषह (असहा वेगवाले), दुःसह, दुर्लडघ्य, दुर्द्धर्ष, दुष्प्र कम्प, दुर्विष, दुर्जय, जय, शश (शीघ्रगामी), शशांक (चन्द्रमा) तथा शमन (यमराज) हैं। सर्दी-गर्मी, क्षुधा, वृद्धावस्था तथा मानसिक चिन्ताको दूर करनेवाले भी आप ही हैं। आप ही आधि-व्याधि तथा उसे दूर करनेवाले हैं
śaśaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ śamanaḥ śītoṣṇa-kṣud-jarādhikṛt | ādhayo vyādhayaś caiva vyādhihā vyādhir eva ca ||
Bhīṣma said: “You are Śaśa, Śaśāṅka (the Moon), and Śamana (Yama). You bring about—and also remove—cold and heat, hunger, and old age. You are both the mind’s afflictions and the body’s diseases, and likewise the healer who destroys disease; indeed, you are at once the malady and its remedy.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Lord is portrayed as the ultimate ground of both bondage and release: He is present as the very conditions of suffering (ādhi, vyādhi, hunger, old age, heat/cold) and also as the power that pacifies and removes them. Ethically, this encourages equanimity toward life’s opposites and devotion/surrender to the divine source beyond them.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma—lying on his bed of arrows and instructing Yudhiṣṭhira—utters a hymn-like sequence of divine names and attributes. This verse is part of that praise, identifying the deity with cosmic functions (Moon, Yama) and with human experiences of affliction and healing.