Shloka 89
नमो ज्येष्ठाय श्रेष्ठाय बलप्रमथनाय च । कालनाथाय कल्याय क्षयायोपक्षयाय च,आप अवस्थामें सबसे ज्येष्ठ और गुणोंमें भी सबसे श्रेष्ठ हैं। आपने बल नामक दैत्यको इन्द्ररूपसे मथ डाला था। आप कालके भी नियन्ता और सर्वशक्तिमान् हैं। महाप्रलय और अवान्तर-प्रलय भी आप ही हैं। आपको नमस्कार है
namo jyeṣṭhāya śreṣṭhāya balapramathanāya ca | kālanāthāya kalyāya kṣayāyopakṣayāya ca ||
Salutations to You—the most ancient and the most excellent. You subdued the demon Bala, crushing him in the form of Indra. You are the Lord even of Time, the all-powerful. You are both the great dissolution and the lesser, recurring dissolutions. To You I bow.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the Supreme as both auspicious and terrifyingly absolute: the Lord is beyond all hierarchy (eldest and best), governs even Time, and is the principle behind both periodic and final dissolution. Ethically, it teaches humility and surrender before the cosmic order that no power—human or divine—can escape.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and higher truths. Here he offers a hymn-like salutation, praising the addressed deity’s supremacy through epithets and mythic reference (the subjugation of the daitya Bala), and by identifying the deity with Time and cosmic dissolution.