Shloka 86

Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment

Parāśara’s Instruction

Devanagari script

नमोस्तु कृशनासाय कृशाज्ञाय कृशाय च | संदह्ृष्टाय विहृष्ाय नम: किलकिलाय च,आपकी नासिका कृश (पतली) है, इसलिये आप कृशनस कहलाते हैं। आपके अवयव कृश होनेसे आपको कृशांग तथा शरीर दुबला होनेसे कृश कहते हैं। आप अत्यन्त हर्षोल्लाससे परिपूर्ण, विशेष हर्षका अनुभव करनेवाले और हर्षकी किल-किल ध्वनि हैं। आपको नमस्कार है

Transliteration

namo'stu kṛśanāsāya kṛśājñāya kṛśāya ca | sandahṛṣṭāya vihṛṣṭāya namaḥ kilakilāya ca ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “Salutations to you whose nose is slender; salutations to you whose features are delicate, and to you whose body is lean. Salutations to you who blaze with joy, who are filled with exuberant delight, and who are the very ‘kilakilā’—the ringing, playful sound of laughter. To you I bow.”

Word by Word

• {"namo'stu (namaḥ + astu)": '“let there be salutations”

• a formula of reverential worship', 'kṛśa': 'slender, thin, delicate

• also ‘lean’ in bodily sense', 'nāsā': 'nose', 'kṛśanāsa': 'one with a slender nose (epithet)', 'aṅga (implied in kṛśāṅga)': 'limb, body-part', 'kṛśāṅga (sense reflected in the Hindi gloss)': 'one whose limbs are slender/delicate', 'kṛśājña': 'one of slender/keen discernment

• contextually laudatory)', 'sandahṛṣṭa': 'intensely thrilled

• brimming with rapture', 'vihṛṣṭa': 'exceedingly delighted

• rejoicing', 'kilakilā': 'a tinkling/pealing sound

• the playful cry or laughter-like sound of joy', 'ca': 'and'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse models dharmic devotion through praise: reverent speech that contemplates auspicious qualities (even bodily epithets) as expressions of inner bliss. It suggests that honoring the divine with focused stuti cultivates steadiness, purity of mind, and a joyful orientation toward dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma—teaching from his bed of arrows—utters a laudatory address (stuti), offering repeated salutations using descriptive epithets and joy-filled attributes, culminating in the image of ‘kilakilā,’ the very sound of jubilant laughter.